The Christmas shopping season is underway for many, for others it will come later….
Never been one to battle large crowds….but some enjoy…
Ever wake up with something on your mind…and it just lingers? Last night, began to think about how businesses come and go, kinda run their course and especially so in small towns, as in Bladen County….
If my memory is correct, only two establishments in the 100 block, on the south side of Broad Street, were there in the 60s when I came to town….Melvin’s Hamburgers (1938) and Kinlaw Furniture….and some have had numerous tenants (businesses).
Beginning at the corner of Broad and Poplar…Cole’s Feed and Seed, with attorney’s office upstairs… and in no special order and not all inclusive…Hutchinson’s Drug Store, Bank of NC, (missing one or two) Fowler Simmons Department Store, Collier Gas, Bennett Stone Pharmacy, Mann’s Department Store, Bladen Ace Hardware and Register’s 5 & 10 on the corner, as well as the two I mentioned earlier…more I am sure and many more have come and gone over the years….
Make the turn at the stoplight, headed south on Martin Luther King Street, Melvin’s Bait Shop, Parker Farris Department Store, Vann Electric, Inman’s Red and White, at one time Ideal Cleaners and the bus station, others I am sure…A&P was across the street (now Cape Fear Farmers Market, The Sweet Shop and others)…..Oh yes, Post Office was on the corner where CresCom Bank is today…and Ellis Clark Ford and Mercury across the street…..
Slept a little, but…kinda fun reminiscing….about yesteryear….More later…maybe…
My point, change is inevitable, or the town dies….big box stores do not come downtown, takes local entrepreneurs to keep a bustlin’ downtown alive…..keep the stores open attracting shoppers…..providing employment, paying taxes….and hopefully, making a profit….They deserve our support….
Vision without action is daydreaming and action without vision is a nightmare. Chinese Proverb
To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart. Thomas Watson, Sr.
The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing. Walt Disney
robert g hester
rgh4612@gmail.com
910-876-2322
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