YOUR SOURCE OF NEWS IN SELMA AND DALLAS COUNTY, ALABAMA March 21, 2019 | Volume 4, Issue 9
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Dave’s Market to anchor new $3M shopping complex in Valley Grande Project to include restaurants, stores, gas station and more
Dave’s Market is building a larger grocery store and retail shopping center in a new location. BY CINDY FISHER Selma Sun Staff
The popular Dave’s Market is about to get even more popular in Dallas County. After 10 years of operating in the former Valley Grande Market, owner Dave Oliver is building a $3 million shopping complex that will include a larger grocery store, two restaurants, about 10 retail stores, a gas station, tire lube business and a “village” of about 25 rental units for local startups to sell their products. The new development will bring 60 new jobs to Dallas County. Oliver received a 1 percent sales tax break from the city of Valley Grande as an incentive to make the move and bring more businesses and jobs.
Crews are already clearing the property Oliver bought for the development that is closer to Selma on Highway 22 but still in the Valley Grande city limits. The new Dave’s Market will have a pharmacy and triple the square footage of the current grocery store. The meat and produce sections will be double the size, it will have wider aisles and eight registers instead of only five. It will also include a Beer Cave with a larger selection of craft beer and wine. The new Dave’s will still have a strong Alabama-made section with Selma favorites like Uncle Clyde’s and Revival Coffee, to name a few. Oliver came up with the village concept to give small businesses a shot at success. The units are like storage facilities that will rent for $200 a month each.
“I like to encourage to shop local,” he said. “People have to have a chance to get started.” Oliver still credits the guy who gave him a chance. It was a banker named Henry Lavert, who gave him a loan when he “didn’t have a dime of my own.” That started Oliver’s ownership of grocery stores, that includes one in a renovated old high school gym in Thomaston. The list of businesses coming to his new development is impressive. There will be a vape shop, phone repair shop, woodworking shop, windshield repair shop, Federal Express retail office, consignment store, health food store and barbershop. Also, Uncle Clyde’s will manufacture their goods at the Village and Joyce’s Cheese Straws plans to move out there for more space. Oliver says there is still room for more stores.
Dave Oliver has owned Dave’s Market since 2010 and several other grocery stores.
The current Dave’s Market has five registers and the new one will have eight.
Pilgrimage to the Past Selma natives show off their city’s Southern charm BY CINDY FISHER Selma Sun Staff
The Selma Historic Pilgrimage is a boon for Dallas County’s tourism. But it’s also a chance for residents to show off what they love the most about their hometown: Its history. That’s why Lillyann McClellan, 16, has been a Junior Hostess for four years, welcoming “pilgrims” at various homes on the last week-
end of the tour while wearing a Southern Belle gown. “There are so many rundown houses in Selma that need fixing, but all have historic value, so it’s important people come see what these houses look like redone,” said the soft-spoken and polite teen. She wore a royal blue gown with lace trim, a dress she made herself for the Pilgrimage last year. The Selma Historic Pilgrimage committee accepts
applications for the Junior Hostess spots every year, with about 26 girls ages 12-18 selected this year. Annabelle Bone, Pilgrimage committee chair and local Realtor, said many girls used to apply for the spot, but there are far fewer these days. Teens have many activities competing for their time, and preserving history is just not one of their interests anymore, she said. “We need more education to push history so we can pre-
Colleen Jones and Lillyann McClellan bundle up on a chilly Pilgrimage day Saturday at Gillman Hall.
Annabelle Bones shows pilgrims an early 1800s tea set at Gillman Hall.
serve the good things from the past,” she said. The Pilgrimage, in its 44th year, used to include a ball or cotillon where senior girls were announced into society with a Marion Institute cadet escorting them. But they haven’t held that event in years. “I have a goal of getting it back to its former glory,” Bone said. The South’s past – with slavery, succession and the Civil War – has given a “negative
connotation” to the Pilgrimage, but Bone says Southerners should still honor the good parts of their history. “Just because we are celebrating this era doesn’t mean we are celebrating slavery,” she said. “We know what we did was wrong and have learned from it.” There is a way Bone can see interest increasing for history: DNA testing. She believes the popularity of investigating heritage will lead people to
have more interest in preserving the past. Colleen Jones, a junior at Morgan Academy, hopes the Pilgrimage can encourage locals to see what the current dilapidated historic homes could look like. She also likes meeting people from all over who come to enjoy the city she loves. “I like showing off our Southern charm,” she said. “I add a few extra ‘y’alls’ when I talk to them. They like that.”