Big John Grocery Clerk Statue In Metropolis

Standing in front of Big Johns Super Store in Metropolis, Illinois is a larger-than-life statue greeting customers as they come in.

The Big John Grocery Clerk statues is between 28 to 30 feet tall and is made of fiberglass.

He where’s a red shirt, white apron, khaki pants, black boots and carries two large grocery bags in one arm. With his other arm, he is waving to everyone passing by.

They originally wore checkered shirts, blue jeans, and an apron and carried two giant bags of groceries in each arm. These statues were produced in the late 1960s by the General Sign Company.

Big Johns are often mistaken as Muffler Men, but are in a class of their own.

From a little research (couldn’t find much) I think there were around 30 originally made. Only a few are still around and I think only two are still in front of their original grocery stores.

We did some shopping in the grocery store and it was nice inside. There were murals on one wall showcasing Metropolis. We ended up picking up a lot of meat on sale too.

It’s a nice little photo-op while visiting the town and much larger than the Superman statue down the street.

Don’t get run over snapping pics though from across the street though!