The Ark restaurant in Riverside complete with its storied – and perhaps even checkered past – begins a new chapter this summer. After nearly a century, folks can now enjoy those fabled catfish and hushpuppies – arguably the best ever served, anywhere – at a second location, on Main Street in Springville.
“That’s right,” smiled Kyle Ostermeyer. He, along with his wife, Amanda, are co-owners of the iconic restaurant. “After 94 years, we decided to expand it and have a second location. Springville has welcomed us with open arms.”
Preparing some of the Ark’s famous dishes
As Amanda recalls, her husband learned about the restaurant and its fabled history when he worked as a food service distributor and sold to two of the original Ark’s three previous owners.
“When Shirley (Shirley Abts) decided to retire in 2022, we purchased The Ark from her, becoming the fourth owner in 94 years,” said Amanda. “We kept the recipes and most of the staff, making just a few cosmetic upgrades to the original location. We always thought we might open another location in the distant future, but when the opportunity to purchase a historic restaurant building in downtown Springville presented itself, we couldn’t pass it up.”
The Ark, Springville, is located in what used to be The Springville Café. Touting the slogan, “Where Springville Meets to Eat,” the eatery proved to be a favorite with the townsfolk for 24 years, until COVID claimed it as yet another victim.
Nobody is happier to see the old restaurant up and running than Springville Mayor Dave Thomas. And he’s especially happy it’s opening as The Ark.
“Anybody who knows catfish knows about the Ark,” he said. “Their reputation precedes them.”
And what a reputation that is. As Kyle proudly points out, awards and accolades just keep on coming for the iconic restaurant. The Ark’s catfish platter is listed on the Alabama Bureau of Tourism and Travel’s “100 Dishes to Eat Before You Die” list. The Ark was also a finalist in a competition sponsored by the Alabama Catfish Producers Association called Bama’s Best Catfish Restaurant and was featured in USA Today’s list of the “Top Ten Catfish Restaurants In The Nation.”
“Opening up here in Springville is significant for everyone involved,” said Thomas. “Significant for the Ark because, I believe, they picked the right market and the right location to be wildly successful. I am thrilled to have such a notable establishment with a following that brings people from far and wide. And a restaurant that has such a rich history.”
That history is the stuff of which legends are made. It reads like pages straight out of a Southern novel with a plot both outrageous and irreverent.
As the story goes, seems the Ark’s first owner, “Red” Thompson didn’t let prohibition or lawmen from two countries deter him from selling alcohol to his patrons. With a rather ingenious, albeit illegal scheme Red bought a dredge barge, moored it just off the Coosa riverbank and operated a floating bar or if you prefer speakeasy.
The original Ark floating on the Coosa
Looking back, Red had a sweet deal going – all the booze thirsty patrons could drink and all the catfish he could catch and cook, right from end of the barge. The wily business owner continued to hoodwink authorities for several years, until the barge was destroyed by fire.
The Ostermeyers aren’t expecting any of that kind of drama in its Springville location, but they are expecting to continue serving up those long famous crispy catfish and hushpuppies.
There is nothing different here in Springville,” said Kyle. “We are duplicating it exactly. People who come here will get the same look, taste and feel that they do at Riverside.”
That’s good news for the Micah Shelton family who represent three generations of Ark aficionados.
“I can’t get enough of the catfish, and my three-year daughter can’t get enough of the catfish nuggets,” he said. “It’s a place we can consistently get good food and good service. We are a family of four but the generation before me, my parents and my children’s grandparents used to eat at the Riverside location for years.”
Shelton says he is now following that family tradition and carrying his own family to the familiar restaurant. He says his wife Hannah’s favorite Ark offering is the deviled crab “and at the rate we’re going,” he laughed, “it wouldn’t surprise me if our three-month-old cuts his teeth on the hushpuppies.”
We’re really glad to have something that’s familiar to us and more accessible to my family. We’re much closer now that they have a Springville location.”
Mayor Thomas dittos the sentiment. “Folks don’t have to go all the way to Riverside now,” he said. “They can come here and enjoy the same food, the same people. The Ark is part of the Springville fabric and family now.”
Allied Mineral Products breaks ground on $23.5M expansion in Pell City
Allied Mineral Products President and CEO Paul Jamieson didn’t expect to be standing where he was on June 11, addressing a crowd of over 100 people to break ground on a $23.5 million expansion. At least not this soon.
It is the company’s second expansion in five years at the Pell City plant, adding a 200,000 square foot production facility, which will generate 13 new jobs and boost the employment roster to 100.
“Our partnership with Alabama is strengthened yet again with the expansion of this plant which we built in 2019,” said Jamieson. “Our theme for this event is ‘Growth Propels Us.’ This is true for Allied globally, but nowhere more apparent than here in Pell City,” he told the crowd.
“Locating our facility in Alabama was part of a long-term strategy to expand our manufacturing presence in the South to be closer to our customers. Because of the quality of this workforce and the local support here, our growth in Alabama has been faster than we planned,” Jamieson added. “We are excited to be expanding our facility so soon and are confident this will help us to continue that growth.”
County Commission Chairman Stan Batemon
“Since its founding over 60 years ago, Allied Mineral Products has grown into a global company, serving multiple industries and registering sales to more than 100 countries,” said Alabama Commerce Secretary Ellen McNair. “With a worldwide presence, the company could have selected another location for this investment, so this expansion in Pell City is truly a testament to the workforce there.”
Jamieson, too, talked of the quality of Allied’s employees, which ensured growth in Alabama quicker than planned. “The global standard is being set right here in Alabama,” he said.
The employee-owned stock company produces a variety of heat containment refractory products used in industrial applications. Construction on the new facility, now under way, will be competed in late 2025. In addition to the new building, the expansion will include installation of new manufacturing equipment including cranes, drying ovens and mixers.
Allied will increase the Pell City facility’s production capacity, improve efficiency, prepare it for growth and increase its ability to serve the company’s Southern region.
Joining Commerce to support the project were the Pell City Industrial Development Board and the Alabama workforce development agency AIDT, which will provide services including skills training on automation technologies for company workers.
“We are happy that Allied Mineral chose its Pell City facility for this new investment. It is always good to see our growth in our industrial base and is a reflection of the quality of the workforce in St. Clair County,” said Stan Batemon, chairman of the St. Clair County Commission. “it validates that we’re doing something right in providing a quality workforce.”
Pell City Mayor Bill Pruitt also cheered the company’s growth plans. “The City of Pell City is proud to see the continued growth and success at Allied Mineral Products,” Pruitt said. “New investment and job growth will stimulate the local economy and highlight the fact that Pell City is a great place for business.”
Besides Pell City, Allied has U.S. locations in Brownsville, Texa,s and Columbus, Ohio, where it is headquartered. The company also has facilities in Canada, South America, Europe, India, China, South Africa and Russia.
Latest national chain to open location in St. Clair
Another national brand is heading to Pell City. Construction is already underway on Planet Fitness on Vaughan Lane, further populating the commercial stretch that runs by the expansive Walmart Supercenter shopping area known as Bankhead Crossings.
That district already includes Home Depot, Holiday Inn Express, Buffalo Wild Wings, Premier Cinema and Entertainment Center, Hampton Inn, Comfort Suites, City Market, Freddie’s Steakburgers, Zaxby’s, Krystal and Wendy’s. Under construction next to Home Depot is TownPlace Suites by Marriott.
City and company officials project an opening date in December for Planet Fitness. “It’s such a big name,” said City Manager Brian Muenger. “It will pair very well with business travelers. It’s a very welcome amenity to our community as a whole, but it will be attractive to business travelers, too.”
The two-story complex calls for massage and training areas, tanning beds and more. With more than 2,500 locations, Planet Fitness says its goal is “to provide a clean, safe, welcoming environment for anyone who walks through our door, and all the equipment, amenities and support you need once you’re here.”
Membership allows you access to other locations in addition to your home club.
“It’s exciting to see another building coming out of the ground and filling Bankhead Crossings,” said Muenger, referring to the commercial district.
And it is another sign of more growth for the future of Pell City overall.
A new subdivision is being developed nearby on Florida Road, where 200 homes are expected to be built. Sewer, curb and gutter work is “moving right along” on what is to be called Oak Village, Muenger said. Planet Fitness and other developments should be quality of life amenities attractive to residential growth.
Just across the interstate, Pell City Square is performing well. In the first eight months since opening, “it is substantially ahead of projected numbers. It is performing above expectations.”
Pell City Square is home to Hobby Lobby, TJ JMaxx, Ross Dress for Less, Ulta, PetSmart, Old Navy and Five Below. Under construction nearby are Whataburger and Outback Steakhouse.
What else can Pell City expect? Muenger hints that more growth is up ahead. “A lot of sites are getting interest.”
Freedom’s Finds uses thrifting to help survivors of human trafficking
Story by Roxann Edsall Photos by Richard Rybka
Gabby Martin knows human trafficking is not just a big city problem, a fact she has heard repeated in a number of training events aimed at helping victims. It can happen anywhere at any time.
A recent report by the Federal Bureau of Investigation defines the potential area of vulnerability to human trafficking as “any U.S. community – cities, suburbs, and rural areas.”
Martin and two close friends, having been stirred by viewing the movie, Sound of Freedom, started a not-for-profit mission in Pell City that hopes to help victims of human trafficking. Named Freedom’s Harbor, the mission gives a nod to the movie’s name and its mission in helping women who have escaped from or been rescued from traffickers. They are raising money to build a home for those who have survived this unspeakably painful horror.
One of the avenues they are using to reach that goal is through the opening of a new resale store called Freedom’s Finds. Located in downtown Pell City, the 2,900-square-foot store features a variety of previously owned, but well-maintained merchandise at thrift store prices.
A21’s Kimberly Thompson (left) visits with Ann and Gabby to offer advice on the mission’s direction
“We started the store to build revenue for the house itself and to pay the bills for running the home,” said Martin. “The plan further down the road is for the ladies who will be living in the home to work in the store if they want to. We want the store to support the mission of giving these ladies a safe harbor to begin the healing process.”
Seven years ago, The WellHouse opened in St. Clair County for women who have been victims of human trafficking. Carolyn Potter, The WellHouse’s chief executive officer, has met with Martin and welcomes any help for these victims. “There are times when we are full and we could always use help with a place for a lady to stay until we have a place for her,” says Potter.
Martin plans to position Freedom’s Harbor as a stabilization home for short-term living while waiting for a placement in a facility like The WellHouse, which offers long-term transitional care and counseling.
Why St. Clair? The very busy Interstate 20, the thoroughfare that bisects the southern part of the county and connects Atlanta to Birmingham, is commonly referred to as the superhighway of human trafficking, because it connects Atlanta to Dallas and is close to Interstate 65 for northbound and southbound travel.
Adding to the county’s vulnerability is the proximity to Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport, which has been identified as the second busiest airport for human trafficking in the country by the Polaris Project, which operates the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
According to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, in the 17 years since its inception, it has received over 10,000 cases, with more than 16,000 victims, and those numbers are rising.
In 2021, they issued a report by state, and Alabama’s hotline received 80 cases with 216 victims involved. It is difficult to quantify the exact number of victims of human trafficking because of the complex nature of the crime and mental health impacts it leaves on its victims.
Countless victims never come forward due to the physical and psychological abuse from their traffickers.
In a move to bolster resources and to better focus on ways to help, Martin has reached out to several agencies who have firsthand knowledge of the human trafficking crisis.
She has gone through training from a number of those resources, including from A21, an anti-human trafficking group whose name stands for Abolishing Injustice in the 21st Century. A21 operates on six continents and in 21 countries with their mission to “abolish slavery everywhere forever,” a daunting task, considering the International Labor Organization’s estimate of 49.6 million victims of human trafficking worldwide.
They consider education to be an important part of their focus, including providing information for those, like Martin, wanting to offer services to victims, and offering programs to educate first responders on how to help victims.
“We also have a school curriculum that is available, designed for ages from kindergarten through high school,” said Kim Thompson, A21’s chief development officer. “Educating children and youth on what to look out for is an important step in the prevention of human trafficking.”
Thompson tells about launching the pilot program for education in a junior high school and having several students come forward as potential victims of grooming, trafficking and exploitation.
“One of these students was planning to meet with someone she had connected with online, and because of what the student learned through A21’s curriculum, she shared with her teacher what was happening. Her teacher alerted law enforcement officers, who were able to identify the individual and keep the student from a potentially dangerous situation.”
Thompson has had a heart for victims all her life. Her first exposure to human trafficking was early in her career when she was working as a summer camp director and had one of her campers become inconsolable.
“We were not able to get her to tell what the problem was at first,” said Thompson. “But eventually she told us her father was raping her and letting others in their apartment complex do the same. She desperately didn’t want to go home with him. I was heartbroken. I didn’t even know what trafficking was at the time.”
The camp staff contacted the sheriff’s department, who got the FBI involved. “In the end, the father was arrested, and the girl was removed from the home,” Thompson added. “Oh, and she was just 12 years old.”
Even the term, “human trafficking,” is often misunderstood. People tend to focus on the perceived “movement” part of the words. “Movement is not what makes a situation human trafficking,” explains Thompson. “People who are smuggled are not necessarily being trafficked. They’re vulnerable to human trafficking, though, because of their loss of control. Force, fraud or coercion is what defines human trafficking.”
Human trafficking includes both sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Victims of both are lured by the prospects of a better job, better future, other fraudulent promises or are forced into trafficking by a family member.
They never receive the job, promised future or compensation but, often, stay with their trafficker in response to threats by their captor, which often include threats against the victim’s family.
“The vast majority of people know their trafficker,” says Thompson. “They are recruited or groomed by people they know or think they know. Our children are especially vulnerable because of their online activity.”
While the number of cases of trafficking in Alabama remains lower than surrounding states, neighboring states Georgia and Florida are among the list of top 10 states for human trafficking cases, according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
Gabby Martin knows trafficking knows no community size. “Anywhere people feel trapped or stuck, desperate or abused,” says Martin, “that’s where people are vulnerable.”
Having been in an abusive relationship over a decade ago, she knows what desperation feels like. She feels lucky to have escaped that situation and to have found a room at a YWCA domestic violence shelter in Eden, a home which has since closed. “We want to be that beacon of light for women who have escaped a trafficking situation, to help them with a place to shelter, to receive life skills, counseling and to help them become self-sufficient.”
Editor’s Note:For more information or to donate – www.freedomsharbor.com. Freedom’s Finds is open Wednesday-Saturday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Coming in August – A deeper look into the hope and help provided by another organization that supports and provides help to survivors of human trafficking in St. Clair County.
BJ’s Diner and McWatering Hole add flavor to Ashville’s food and beverage mix
Story by Elaine Hobson Miller Photos by Graham Hadley and submitted
Two women returning to their rural roots now run businesses in Ashville, one serving coffee and sweet treats, the other full Southern meals. Bonita Johnson and Ashley McWaters are part of the growing list of female-owned businesses now thriving in the city.
Johnson opened BJ’s Diner in Ashville Plaza on U.S. 231 in January. It was the brainchild of her husband, Darrin, who saw it as a way to repay her for all she did for him during a lengthy illness a few years ago.
“My husband has been a chef for 30 years,” Johnson says. “He was at Flemming’s, Perry’s and other upscale places around Birmingham. Chef Dee is his professional name, and I met him when he worked at Whole Foods on Highway 280. At Whole Foods, you picked your own foods from the grocery section, and he prepared it for you. I would not eat there when he wasn’t cooking. He stopped working there in 2017.”
When they met, she told him she would be rich one day and would hire him to cook for her. “He said he would cook for me for free,” she points out. They married in 2017, and within three or four days of their wedding, Darrin went into kidney failure. Bonita nursed him back to health.
The couple lived in Birmingham during the first few years they were married but wanted to get back to their rural roots. “I’m from Boligee, and he’s from Greenville,” she says. “We live in Oneonta now.”
Their hallmark is Southern foods made from scratch using as many locally sourced ingredients as possible. “Our recipes are from watching our grandmothers cook and tweaking their recipes,” Johnson says. “We buy fresh foods as much as possible, and our goal is to serve no canned foods at all. Our salmon croquettes are from canned salmon, but the croquettes are made by hand. We are connected with local growers on Sand Mountain, in Blount County, and at area farmers’ markets.”
Their entrees and veggies change daily, except for one particular dish. “The only thing that does not change is the ‘liquid gold,’ which is our mac-and-cheese,” Johnson says. “We always have some kind of greens and some kind of beans, too.”
Other dishes include meatloaf, beef stew, fried or blackened catfish filets, fried or blackened Gulf shrimp, catfish nuggets, grilled or fried pork chops and D’s Crack Fried Chicken. They serve traditional sides such as potato salad, corn or onion hushpuppies, garlic mashed potatoes and several types of greens, plus their own Hawaiian coleslaw, which has pineapples in it. Desserts include peach cobbler and banana pudding. They’ll soon be adding homemade ice cream to that mix.
They start prepping as early as 8 a.m. “This isn’t fast food,” Johnson says. “It takes time to hand-cut fries. It takes four hours to make our chicken and dumplings because we roll out our own dough. We also make chicken and dressing. Our veggie menu changes depending on which fresh ones we can get that day. We do have to import some due to seasonality.”
She says Darrin does not season vegetables with meat but has his own special seasonings. He prepares purple potatoes when they can get them out of Pennsylvania.
BJ’s is decorated like an old-timey diner, too, from vintage tin signs advertising RC Cola, Dr. Pepper, Shoney’s Big Boy and various old service stations. She has a juke box on order. The diner seats 75 people and has truck parking available. A big sign is slated to go up next to the road soon.
The printing on BJ’s door says, “Open 7 days a week,” but in truth, it isn’t open every Sunday. “We’re here one Sunday per month,” Johnson says. “We put a sign on the door and post on our Facebook page which Sunday.”
Employees are part-timers who the Johnsons consider family. They also like to bring their customers into the family fold. “It’s not about the dollar, it’s about family,” Johnson says. “We want to know not just how they like our burgers, but did they get that job or raise and, ‘How are your babies?’”
Sometimes customers will give them money to pay for other peoples’ meals when those folks cannot afford to eat. “Sometimes people come in to use the restroom or get a glass of water, for example, and we feed them.” She has dubbed this the Mathew 25:35 Initiative because that passage of Scripture reads, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.”
The Johnsons don’t want anyone to leave their diner hungry or thirsty.
BJ’s is open Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. until 8:30 p.m.; Wednesdays from 10:30 a.m. until 4 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays from 10:30 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. The one-Sunday-per-month hours will be posted on their Facebook page and on their front door.
The McWatering Hole a local favorite
More than a coffee shop
Ashley McWaters worked as a dispatcher in the St. Clair County Sheriff’s office in Pell City for 13 years. Born, raised and residing in Ashville, every time she passed by the old Canoe Creek Coffee location on U.S. 231 South in Ashville, she would mutter to herself, “That place really needs to re-open.” One day, she decided she would make that happen. And that’s how the McWatering Hole was born.
“I love this town, and I wanted to be back (working) in Ashville,” she says. “I love to cook, and I like to love people with food. Coming home, seeing people I know and went to school with, keeps me smiling all the time.”
Although not a barista, Ashley has learned through experimentation over the two years she has been open. Her Hot Mama, for example, is an espresso named in honor of her mom, Misty Pruitt, because the latter never drank coffee until a few years ago and would not drink espresso at all because it sounded too bitter. “This one contains Americano coffee with caramel sauce and cheesecake syrup, and a dash of heavy cream,” Ashley explains. She uses only Red Diamond Coffee because it’s local. (The plant is in Moody.)
She offers a Red Bull Refresher for people who don’t like coffee. It contains coconut water and Red Bull in flavors such as Dessert Pear and Blue Raspberry. “It’s a caffeine kick, but you are hydrating as well,” she says.
Blueberry muffins, sweet and savory scones, sausage balls and mini-quiches top her list of edibles to go along with the 20-40 cups of coffee she sells per day. She uses local blueberries for her muffins and features seasonal flavors such as pumpkin scones in the fall. Right now, her seasonal feature is lemonade poppyseed muffins.
“Our sausage balls sell out every day,” she says. “They are about the size of a meatball, and one serving is seven or eight balls, depending on their size that day.” The size varies because she and her mom eyeball everything during preparation. “We don’t use a scoop,” she says. “We stop when our ancestors tell us to stop.”
She developed her menu through trial and error, not knowing what would sell until she tried it. Most of her recipes came from her own home, and many had been in her family for two or three generations. “Momma cried the first time she remembered making some of these recipes with her grandmother,” Ashley says of her primary employee. “I remember making some with my own grandmother, too.”
Her best-selling sweets are the banana pudding cookies, which require an early-rising customer to sample because they’re gone by 9:30. “Mom and I had been saying if we ever opened a shop, we would sell these,” she says.
She used to serve sandwiches, making the chicken salad filling from her mom’s recipe. But they didn’t sell as well as the sweets, and she frequently had too many left over at the end of the day. “We sold sandwiches for the first six months, then went back to the basics,” she says. “That has worked.”
The newest additions to the menu are the mini-quiches. She makes them in a muffin tin on alternate days than her sausage balls, so she always has something savory on the menu.
As for decor, several tables made by the owner of Canoe Creek Coffee remain, because Ashley didn’t want to erase their imprint from the shop. She has added a vintage record player that is awaiting a new needle and felt pad before it can play those vinyls again. “It’s a 1948 model,” she says. “That’s the year my Maw-Maw was born.”
Weekday clientele consists of locals, while on weekends she gets more interstate traffic. That was boosted when she got the shop listed on Yelp!, Google Maps and I-Exit. “People look up ‘coffee shop near me,’ and we pop up,” she says.Employees besides Ashley and her mom are Meghan Frondorf and on some weekends when Ashley needs a day off, her niece, 16-year-old Kiki Walker. “We’re a family-run business,” Ashley says.
In addition to drinks and treats, she sells logo tees, crystal jewelry by local resident Cody Syler, who owns Unicorn Man Crystals; hair bows by Ashley Mills of Beauty from Ashes; and potted cacti from Terri Goolsby. “Terri is doing a project to catch, spay and neuter stray cats,” Ashley says of Goolsby, another local vendor. “Her proceeds go to her Shoal Creek Community Cat Project.”
She keeps crayons and games to occupy children who come in with their parents or grandparents. During the school year, her own two kids can be seen coloring or studying, because she home schools them and takes them to work with her. “My kids get to see me doing something I love and to see my dream become a reality,” she says. “It lets them know they can do whatever they want in life.”
The McWatering Hole, 36245 U.S. 231, is open Tuesday – Saturday, 7 a.m. – 1 p.m.
It has not even been a year yet since Pell City Square opened and already, predictions and promises are right on target.
Two new eating places are about to call Pell City home – one a national brand sit-down restaurant and the other a national fast-food chain.
Whataburger is already under construction on an outparcel near the south end of Pell City Square and is expected to open in a few months. Outback Steakhouse is clearing ground to make way for its arrival in late 2024 or early 2025 on an outparcel next to it.
Whataburger was founded in 1950 in Corpus Christi, Texas. As its history of its name goes, the aim was to serve a hamburger so big it would take two hands to hold it and after a single bite, the customer would say, “What a burger!”
From that single stand the chain grew to more than 890 locations across the country.
Construction on Pell City’s newest addition to the dining scene began about three months ago, according to Pell City Manager Brian Muenger. “They’re moving at a pretty good pace,” he said, noting that the storefront is already in. Company officials projected opening would be in the third or fourth quarter of 2024. “They’re definitely on pace to hit that.”
Meanwhile, excavation work has begun on Outback in preparation for the company’s general contractor to begin the build. Projections call for opening in the fourth quarter of 2024 or first quarter of 2025.
The Outback project has been much anticipated. The city, in its agreement to lease the property, required location of a national sit-down family restaurant, preferably a steakhouse. “Outback is a very established brand,” said Muenger. “This is a new type of restaurant for the city. We don’t have a name brand out there.”
Outback’s location of a 187-seat restaurant in Pell City should serve as a signal to other corporate restaurants to follow suit.
The Australian-themed restaurant began in 1988 in Tampa and is owned by Bloomin Brands, which operates Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill and Flemings Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar.
It is the latest economic boost in what officials had envisioned for the city when it assumed ownership of the old St. Clair County Hospital property.
But while the focus has been on the Pell City Square and surrounding property of late, retail and restaurant development in other areas has not stopped in areas like Vaughn Drive and Hazelwood Drive, Muenger said. Interest is growing, and “feedback from prospects has been very strong. Looking forward, people will see a lot more of sit down dining. We’re a viable location. We’re actually working through the development process.”
It’s all part of an ongoing quest by the city, Muenger said, to grow its retail and restaurant community and “provide shopping closer to home so we can keep dollars closer to home in Pell City.”
St. Clair Economic Development Executive Director Don Smith agreed. “The city and county officials have done a great job working with everyone to bring retailers into the Pell City Square that draw from the region, and not just locally. This has opened up more potential customers coming into the city, which then grows the market so more retailers are attracted to invest in the community.”
