Mr. W. A. Brown started working with his father, Henry Miller Brown, in the family owned fish market located in Salisbury, North Carolina late in the 1890's. W. A. Brown moved on to open his own fish market in 1901, which was also located in Salisbury.

In 1908 W. A. moved his market and expanded it to include fresh meat. As his market offering grew, he searched for a better method to preserve the quality of his meat products. He had heard of Hill Refrigerated meat display cases. Making a special trip by train to Trenton, New Jersey, W. A. met Mr. C. V. Hill Sr. where he became very interested in this new method of refrigerating food products. W. A.'s market in Salisbury became the first in the Southeast to purchase a Hill Refrigerator and a Brunswick refrigerating machine, which used ammonia as the refrigerant. The advanced equipment required a factory specialist to come to Salisbury for installation of the unit and Mr. Brown provided room and board for the factory man at his home. The early refrigeration unit was electric motor driven and very crude. After all, electric motors were not all that common in those days. It required daily, manual, adjustments for proper operation.

After a few months of operation, out of town market owners heard of the Brown Market's mechanized equipment. They came to Salisbury to see the Mechanical Refrigeration and how it operated. W. A. Brown wrote to Mr. Hill and ordered units for the impressed market owners. After several installations, Mr. C. V. Hill wrote in 1910 and asked Mr. Brown to be his sales agent for Hill Refrigerators. The same arrangement was made with Brunswick to provide the refrigerating unit. The business grew into a dealership, as W. A. Brown's sales grew. World War I caused the newly established business to struggle as business slowed due to the war effort, but they steadily grew.