One family helped shape Cape Coral into what it is today by contributing one of the first businesses to the city in the early 1960s. Elmer Tabor moved to Cape Coral in 1960 from West Virginia with his family. He said after his grandfather retired to the area in 1957, his family began to spend more time in Fort Myers during the summer. When the development of Cape Coral began in 1958, Tabor’s grandfather asked his father to pack up the kids and open a grocery store in Cape Coral, due to his knowledge of having a business in West Virginia for many years. In 1960, Elmer’s father opened a grocery store for a total of 13 Cape Coral residents. Elmer’s Grocery Store remained in business through 1966 and then changed ownership when Big John opened the grocery store, which remained open until 1987. “That is a good example of what kind of guts it took for people like my parents to do this,” he sai.