Andrews I t would be really cool if we had a skating rink in Andrews so kids don’t get into stuff they shouldn’t get into,” employee Kinsleigh Dartez offered through the ordering window at the Burger Basket.
The busy burger joint on U.S. 19 Business is owned by sisters Della Jordan and Teresa Carpenter.
“We worked up at Lee’s until one Friday we showed up to work and they sent us all home; no money, no notice, we were just all sent home,” Jordan said, referring to the VF Corp. clothing factory that shut down 20 years ago, sending about 500 local residents home without a job.
That is only one of the financial hits Andrews has endured in its history. But the sisters had a dream. Jordan and Carpenter pulled all the money they had saved and anything they could borrow, including maxing out their credit cards to buy the Burger Basket.
Their business thrived and their customers “became
like family,” Jordan said. The sisters don’t look back at the harder times.
“We can’t work for anybody anymore,” she added. “We wouldn’t do no good with somebody else bossin’ us.”
Sisters in business
The Burger Basket sisters aren’t the only family owned gig in town. Shannon and Eric West run the Parting Glass Pub on Main Street. Shannon said, “The name refers to an old Scottish song about gathering with friends, and that’s what we want to do here.”
The Wests opened their pub under the weight of COVID in November 2020. Eric was born and raised in Andrews and was always attracted to the 1929 building they bought. Shannon loves cooking “for our friends and neighbors,” lamenting that the business end of the business is less appealing to her.
“The hospitality part, the cooking, that’s the best, but management and licensure requirements are much less fun,” she said. Their three children work within the family business, and they hope one day to leave the pub to them.
Down on Main Street
Dean Williams sits inside his music shop aptly named Dean’s Music & Art, blasting Nina Simone and looking peaceful. He surveys his vast store like a king overlooking his kingdom. It’s lucky Williams is organized, as his inventory is incalculable.
“I started back in 2001,” he said. “I was at a flea market and, on a whim, bought 30 albums.”
Williams was a sign painter at the time, but music was always an inextricable part of him, so he opened his business to “put all my eggs in one basket,” he added. “And I watch over that one basket.”
Williams’ store has been open for 20 years, making him one of the elders among local business owners. He credits his success to his predictability, as “everybody knows I’m someone who’s going to stick around until 6:00.”
All these years, Williams has run the business as a solo artist. “I can’t have any employees,” he said. “I just can’t handle it.”
By “it,” Williams may refer to sharing his unwritten mission statement of “the big rush of finding an item and then finding someone else who can attach to it.” When asked what his most prized possession is among the original artwork, the artifacts, the thousands of vinyl albums, CDs and even DVDs, he answers without hesitation: “My ambition.”
Williams sees life “as liquid,” meaning “it’s always changing.” His purpose each day is to unite a piece of music with an unsuspecting customer in hopes they find the treasures he knows are hidden within.
“Music and art are everything,” Williams said, adding that his shop – full of secondhand and thrift shop finds – was “an extension of myself – broken, scratched and discarded, but so basic.” Williams never intends to retire, saying, “I want to be buried in a record crate.”
Just like mom made
Marianna Wynn loves her job at Granieri’s, which is owned by Frank Colontonio and his wife, Kelli Norris. They have been in downtown Andrews for five years, cooking recipes passed down from his mother.
Colontonio said his Andrews’ customers,“are solid people, a bunch of friends.” He claims to makes most of the decisions in the business.
“I follow my instincts and they are right all the time,” he said with a laugh. He and his wife sometimes struggle to keep good workers, but he nods toward Wynn and her co-worker raving, “They show up on time and work hard.”
His lease runs out next May, but Colontonio has no plans to retire. “I’ll probably concentrate on the food truck,” saying he doesn’t “want to crawl up and die,” but rather “keep moving” and – most importantly to him – keep cooking.
Cookin’ for the country
In any other town, Grandpa Charlie’s Country Cookin’ – which is owned by Angie Callahan and her husband, Greg – would be considered competition to Granieri’s. However, like most things in Andrews, everybody here just seems to want to get along.
Callahan said that she serves lasagna on her buffet, a premier dish at Granieri’s, but she and Colontonio both agree that more restaurants in Andrews is good for business in general. Both restaurant owners named their restaurants after their grandfathers.
Callahan said, “Grandpa Charlie used to cook in the Army during World War II. I was 5 years old when he married my grandma, and he became my favorite person.” Callahan was 13 when he died, but she opened Grandpa Charlie’s in his honor.
“I still use his recipe for the meat loaf,” she said proudly.
Signs of the times
Dartez’ dream of Andrews having a roller rink may be closer to a reality than she knows. Mitch Briggs, owner of Smokey Mountain Signs, has dreams of turning the former grocery store beside him in West End Plaza into a roller rink.
Briggs agrees with Dartez that “the kids don’t have anything to do.” He opened his business in April after a long convalescence with COVID.
“I was going stir crazy and wanted to find a business that could support Andrews,” Briggs said. His business “fills a need for Andrews. They don’t have to drive all the way to Murphy to get their printed work done.” As far as the roller rink goes, he knows he has an uphill climb, with some people believing a roller rink will “bring in a bad element.”
From the top down
Two doors down from the sign shop, Harvey Kephart echoes Briggs when asked why he opened his barber shop.
“I am filling a need. I didn’t want my neighbors to have to drive over to Murphy to get a good haircut,” Kephart said. He has been open 8 years now and stays very busy.
Like so many other business owners in Andrews, he has no employees. However, he connects to his customers as if they are family. His waiting room was full, and he said he knew every single person there.
Among the men waiting were Alex Wood and his friend Dakota Gibby. They both graduated from Andrews High School and have no intention of leaving the town or Kephart.
“It’s pretty quiet here,” Wood said. Gibby added, “I’ve been coming here for years. I used to come down here with my grandpa.”
Looking for revival
Despite the numerous vacant storefronts dotted along the commercial district, there are signs of a revival.
Brothers Patrick and David Howell plan to open The Blue Stage. It’s an ambitious project that will feature a store front art gallery with a stone walkway made to look like a river, complete with tile fish which will lead to their main event behind the gallery, a live music venue and beer garden.
With Patrick living in Chattanooga, Tenn., and brother David in High Point, Andrews became “halfway meeting place for them.” Like the Wests with their Scottish pub, the brothers fell in love the 1940s building.
While the building is an empty shell, the brothers plan to build a large stage, complete with a dance floor. The Howells envision hiring local folks to display their art, play their music and drink with their neighbors by next April.
They chose Valleytown for their project because “we see Andrews as on the rise.”