For the last 30 years, Piggly Wiggly has serve the citizens of Uniontown, Alabama. Fast forward years later, citizens are now shocked after hearing the news that the only grocery store in Uniontown is closing!
Mary Taylor inherited the store from her late husband Bobby Taylor and have tried to maintain the store ever since. Mary stated., “it has cost me more to maintain the store than what's been coming in and I just can’t continue to do it.” Mrs. Taylor, had worked under her late husband who was a resident of Uniontown, and understood that the need of the store was far greater in rural Alabama than anywhere else. When Dollar General came to town, Mary stated that, “ she begin to see a decrease in sales.” Another factor that played a part in the decrease in sales were the rule changes that the government made in the use of EBT. EBT users were a large part of their business, the decrease in the amount of Food Stamps citizens were receiving, in turn amounted to less being spent inside of the store. Piggly Wiggly is supplied through the Birmingham warehouse and have happily served the community and have even tried to find a replacement for the store.
The Long brothers have leased the store for years to the franchisee, Taylor, and Ralston Long, one of the owners of the building stated, "that no-one had approached him about buying the store and that he has only spoken to an employee of Dave's Market", a Blackbelt franchise with stores in Valley Grande and Thomaston, "not the owner himself." When asked had he tried to reach out to other franchises, he stated, “that he was told that they did not have an interest at this time.”
The closing of Piggly Wiggly will definitely hurt the town's dwindling economy and in turn, hurt residents who don’t have the means to go out of town to shop. Ben Eaton, longtime Uniontown resident and candidate for County Commission, states, "as a citizen, I believe that the closing of this business, is another step of being on the verge of destroying Uniontown, and we as a city and officials have an obligation to preserve the city at whatever cost and we must sit down and talk publicly about issues instead of keeping it private."
The questions on social media and in private conversation have been, what will the citizens who don’t have access to other cities do about grocery shopping, no-one knows, in a town plagued with environmental issues, a declining economy, and lack of infrastructure, one can only hope that change is near. County Commissioner Cedric Hudson stated, “he has a meeting coming up next week about the issues and hope to find a solution for the community.”
In a statement to the Observer, Mary Taylor says, “ she understand that plight, and appreciate the residents of Uniontown for years of patronage, and want the citizens to know that this was a VERY DIFFICULT decision to make, and its not an attack on the citizens, but she can’t continue to pay out more than what she has brought in, she has to live and pay her bills, and the store is not allowing her to do that anymore.”
Whether the Long's try and find a replacement for the store or local leaders come together to open a store, the town is in need of another option at this time, right now,
Dollar general is the only other food supplier in the city and is very limited on what they are selling.
Piggly Wiggly is scheduled to close on April 21st and will be having sales surrounding the close date.