Four decades of tradition found at Stamps Burger

Dwayne Joseph Jr.
MC Contributor/Staff Writer

Many students, faculty and staff are very familiar with the little white business located down the street from Jackson State University.

At the corner of Dalton Street and Topp Avenue, Stamps Burger has been serving up one of the biggest, tastiest treats in the Jackson metro.

Stamps Superburger put the Washington Addition Neighborhood on the map more than four decades ago.

Serving almost a pound of meat on a large bun with your choice of toppings, the Superburger has fed the appetites of many JSU students and alumni.

Debra Divinity, a 1993 graduate of Jackson State, said that she can remember walking to Stamps to get a burger on many given days.

“I remember almost every other day, me and my friends would get out of class just to get a burger because they were just so addicting,” Divinity said.

Algernon Stamps, Sr., the original owner, bought the building on the 1800 block of Dalton Street in 1970 from a man who did not want to sell the store. But due to the Gibbs-Green shooting that happened on Jackson State’s campus in the early 70s, boycotts caused the owner to reluctantly sell the store to Stamps; thus sparking the grand opening of Stamp’s Grocery.

Many people do not know that the small grocery store did not start selling burgers until 1984.

“Stamps Burgers was a name that the people gave us,” said Phil Stamps, the current owner of Stamps and the youngest son of Stamps, Sr. “When we started making burgers, people only knew us for that. They started referring to it as a Stamps Burger.”

Ron Dotson believes you are not a true Tiger until you partake of the infamous Stamps Superburger.

“Those burgers are good and should be on the bucket list for every Jackson State student while they are here,” said Dotson, a senior accounting major from Vicksburg, Miss.

The family-owned business sells the massive burgers that some call a “heart attack on a bun.”

“I love Stamps, but the way we were eating those burgers, it looked bad for our health,” said Cary Smith, a 2007 JSU graduate. “And we knew it but we kept eating because the burgers were good.”

The cooks, wearing their normal jeans and Stamps t-shirt attire, cook the burgers to perfection. Adrian Hawkins, a cook at Stamps, believes the Superburger is what has kept Stamps open for so many years.

“The biggest success that kept Stamps going was the burger and the fact that people loved to eat it. That’s as simple as it gets,” said Hawkins.

One thing Jacksonians love is tradition and Stamps provides just that.

“Stamps is a Jackson State tradition. We have been here all these years and have maintained due to family values because I’m still here working it for my father,” said Stamps.

Tradition or not, the family-owned business is a go-to place for past, present, and future Jackson State students.