Empty storefronts of former businesses — some closed by COVID-19 — have caused concern for city and county coffers and the quality of life in the community.
Nearly everyone would agree we need more businesses, more variety, more opportunities to shop and keep dollars moving within our borders. “Shop Local,” more than ever, has taken on a whole new meaning. For years, more U-Haul trucks and trailers have left than arrived in Hinton and Summers County as high school graduates head to college, and college graduates head out into the world to start their careers.
Residents long for days when businesses bustled and our young would return home, long for variety when eating out, convenient access to products from shoes to shovels, seasonal clothing or seasonal items like feeds and fertilizers. Beckley, Princeton and Lewisburg sometimes seem so far away and inconvenient; however, a few young entrepreneurs are moving into empty stores and restaurants and the tide could be changing.
For those out and about, lights are on or renovations are underway, new signs and multiple cars are parked at several locations. Adam’s Gotta Stop in Hilldale is expanding into a second location at the former Pop’s, River City Grill and Pub has quietly opened in the former Bobcat’s Den, WaterDawg Outdoors has a new building on the Hinton Bypass, and Lucky Leaf Café occupies the kitchen of Chestnut Revival.
Hinton City Manager Cris Meadows said “it is exciting to see these new businesses open up. Young people are deciding to make their own future instead of relying on the same old things to provide for them. Our community embraces new business and loves to try new things. My Facebook feed is filled with the posts of my friends enjoying the new places.”
The recent exit of Missy’s Market from Stokes Drive has created the opening John Adam Gilbert has been looking for. Gilbert, owner of Adam’s Gotta Stop, has said he bases his business decisions around, “location, location, location.”
Gilbert, the young entrepreneur, who has successfully transformed Hilldale’s gas station into a profitable location for gas, pizza, feed and seasonal gardening necessities, has leased the commercial property on Stokes Drive and intends to expand on or around March 1. The new location, according to Gilbert, will be a convenience store and year-round retailer for seasonal items, and will offer many of the same things customers find in Hilldale: mulch, topsoil, plants and hanging plants, fertilizer, all kinds of feed, and something new.
While there will not be indoor seating, extensive renovations have been made to accommodate a partnership with pressure cooked deep-fried Broaster Chicken. Newly invented equipment has been ordered from Pennsylvania for never frozen, battered and marinated chicken, freshly fried to perfection and ready all the time. He said 410 feet of road frontage offers additional opportunities at his new location.
Across the waterfront and already open to business, River City Grill and Pub offers flatbread pizza, a variety of burgers, sandwiches like chicken grinders and steak bombs, wings, local craft beers and domestics on draft.
Craig Cantrell with Cantrell Rafting purchased the building at auction a few months ago adding to the road frontage Cantrell already has, which includes the building housing Subway.
He explained that “COVID-19 keeps occupancy to a minimum but when the temperatures are right the new grill and pub hosts an excellent view of the New River from an open deck for extra seating.”
Cantrell said he “softly opened the grill and pub because of COVID restrictions limiting indoor seating.”
Cantrell joins others in hoping the pandemic will soon be history.
Lucky Rivers Café and Catering, an order and pick-up enterprise opened by Sarah Gleason, opened late last year, offering different, nutritious home-cooked and baked meals and desserts. Some recent menu items included healthy breads, salads and a weekly changing menu of dishes like Creamy Gouda Turnip and Potato Soup, Asian Beef Brisket Stew, wraps, hummus, sourdough breads with or without olives, pastries and cooking unavailable anywhere else.
The creative chef cooked alongside Verona at Chestnut Revival and leases the kitchen at 401 Summers Street. Gleason accepts orders through several convenient ways and offers up new menus on Lucky Rivers Café and Catering’s Facebook page.
WaterDawg Outdoors, at 308 Hinton Bypass, takes you back along the New River and offers a few convenience foods and an assortment of groceries like farm fresh eggs in spring-summer, plants and flowers, but is more generally an outdoor superstore.
Owned by Greg Berry, and connected Berry’s Campground and Tigers, WaterDawg sells bait and fishing supplies, footwear and apparel, seasonal needs from hunting supplies, watersports items like and outfitting for outdoor adventures during watersports season. Brands include Muck, Rocky, Carolina, Under Armour, Twisted X and Justin, and River Float Trips are offered from 1 to 6 hours in length in kayaks, tubes, duckie rafts, catamarans and fishing rafts. Greg Berry, Seth Adkins and Terri Ward also sell Kayaks.
Other businesses are just beginning, and others are establishing cottage industry ventures, from baking and catering to photography, wreath-making and upholstery.
