Shop local: Support community, EVFD with First Saturday tomorrow
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Equality & NIxburg News
Jennifer Williamson
Welcome to my column for the Nixburg and Equality communities, where we like to live life at a more relaxing pace.
Coosa County is one of the least populated counties in the state of Alabama, and it has unfortunately been lagging behind in developing our economy so as to attract new businesses. With each new increase in shopping opportunities here in our own county, there will be a reduction in the needs for Coosa citizens to travel outside of our county to meet their personal needs, and with more revenue being spent here at home, there will be a reflected increase in the economies of our home communities. To do this, we will need to develop each new business one at a time, addressing their needs, so that they may in turn address our needs.
Simply put, people need options, and with more options to choose from, the incentive to “stop and shop” will increase proportionally. An increase in shoppers will also correlate directly to revenue coming into communities. And with an increase in income revenue, local business owners will in turn be enabled to then feed some of that revenue back into our society.
At the present time, the town of Equality only has one full time business, the Quality Food Mart; with several businesses with limited hours, including Jenny’s General and CJ’s Fishing Hole, and Rita’s Antiques only open on the weekends. If Equality were able to add another business, that would help to anchor Equality as a place to shop.
In Equality, next to Jenny’s General Store, there is a building that until recently held a resale store and several years earlier housed an antique store. I am only speculating, but our old farmhouse in Equality was originally built by Dr. John T. Hunter in the early 1900s, and I have always believed that this building possibly was originally the doctor’s office here in town.
Nonetheless, that building has been vacant for the last couple of years and is now on the market, and it is my hope that whomever eventually buys the house behind this building that fronts Alabama Highway 9 will also have future plans to put a business into this prime location here in this corner of our county.
From my understanding Nixburg has Dollar General. There are also a couple of empty buildings in Nixburg on Highway 9 that I can envision having some small business occupy. Again, good for the community and surrounding businesses.
I am not sure who owns these properties, or what business they may housed in the past, but it would be nice to see them cleaned up and being utilized with something like a thrift store, resale shop, or maybe a welding shop and repair, antiques, or even a feed store.
I believe in entrepreneurship, living the American dream, family-run businesses, supporting the community, and old fashion small town values. Shop local; shop small. No chain stores please.
If you were not at the Equality Performing Arts Center (aka the EPAC) last Friday, November 25, you missed a great performance by Lara Herscovitch. There is no performance tonight (December 2), and next Friday, December 9, is “Open Mic Night.” If anyone is interested in a Square Dance, the EPAC is considering hosting one in the future if enough people contact us to express their interest.
Don’t forget tomorrow morning; Saturday, December 3; is “First Saturday” in Equality with the EVFD fundraiser bake sale, rummage sale and hamburger and hot dog lunch plates.
Jenny’s General offers a 20% off First Saturday sale and has a number of holiday gift sets available in all price ranges, as well as your holiday cooking and baking spices and herbs.
Williamson Way Farm has USDA processed pork sausage (hot and mild), pork chops, Boston butts, and uncured fatback for $3 per pound, as well as uncured trotters (pigs feet) for $12 a pair. Contact me for more information.
Next week I hope to share more about the community, but that is dependent upon you the readers sharing with me what is happening within your organizations, churches, neighborhoods, groups, or family (if you are willing, birthdays, anniversaries, baby announcements, garage sales, or retirement if you are so blessed). Please contact me; call or text 256-531-6460 or email coosacafe@gmail.com, or look me or the store up on Facebook.