South Main Furniture & Mercantile now open in downtown Rocky Top
Staff members prepare for the opening last Friday morning of the new South Main Fur- niture & Mercantile store in downtown Rocky Top. They are, from left: co-owner Maria Hooks, her sister Christa Coday, niece Gracie Coday, and co-owner Jeff Fredricks. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Owners Maria Hooks and Jeff Fredricks opened their antiques and home décor store last Friday at 522 South Main St. in a century-old building that started out as a country store, but most recently was a TV repair shop.
Hooks, who also is human-relations director at Powell Clinch Utility District in Rocky Top and heads the Rocky Top Chamber of Commerce, said she and Fredricks purchased the building in July 2023.
“It’s a lifelong dream, and we’re very excited about it,” Hooks said. “We’ve tried to give it a vintage farmhouse vibe.
“It was Donnie Nelson’s TV shop, and we bought it from him,” she said Friday as she prepared to open the doors for business for the first time, at 11 a.m.
“We’ve tried to do this for years, but couldn’t find a building until this one became available,” Hooks said.
“It was in terrible shape, so we’ve spent most of the last year restoring it,” Hooks said of the building, which was opened as a general store in 1924.
“The Hudson family operated it originally, and they lived in the little house right behind the building,” Hooks said. “Next door, where Truist Bank is, they had an orchard with fruit trees – apples and pears, long with pecan and chestnut trees.”
The extensive remodeling was all done by Fredricks, including the exquisite wooden floor and the restored wood tongue-and-groove walls, which the new owners found when they ripped away the paneling that was covering them.
The ragged old carpet was removed, and Hooks and Fredricks moved out a bunch of broken TV sets that had been left behind when the repair shop closed decades ago.
Helping Hooks and Fredricks get the store ready to open were Hooks’ sister Christa Coday and niece Gracie Coday.
“They have been on this journey with us the whole time,” Hooks said.
The store, which has about 2,150 square feet of floor space, will sell and refinish vintage furniture, and also will feature “antiques, some handcrafted items such as blanket ladders, home décor items, new spoon jewelry, T-shirts and more,” Hooks said,
“Christa and Gracie will be on hand to run the store,” she added.
Hours will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
This is yet another new downtown business to open over the past year or so, as people are beginning to invest in the revitalization of Rocky Top’s once-bustling commercial district.
Sandy Smith of Powell and her sister, Susan Riggs of Rocky Top, in early March opened their Thrifty Treasures antiques and home décor store at 305 S. Main St. in the building that formerly housed Rocky Top Dentistry.
Other recent additions to the downtown area include Coal Creek Coffee, opened last summer by Jesse and Nikki Dymond, and the Coal Creek General Store, opened in late September by Jason Deel, a Clinton auctioneer and real estate developer.
Both of those are close by, also on South Main Street.
Rocky Top Mayor Kerry Templin said Friday that he was happy to see yet another new business open downtown.
“We’re excited for them,” he said.
