Gainesboro And Thrift Store Come To An Agreement On Storefront

The city of Gainesboro and owners of the Real Deal Thrift Store have came to a verbal agreement to keep the store front more presentable.

The city reportedly received several complaints from residents about the store’s merchandise sitting outdoors in the past. In response, city officials began drafting an ordinance limiting storefront items.

During Thursday’s Board of Alderman meeting, Co-Owner Steve Hamlet made a public objection on past quotes made from some city officials calling store items “Trash.” Alderman Travis Agee said he is not against the business, but the appearance needs to improve.

“Sometimes, I go by there, and I don’t think that, what I think personally, the effort made to keep it clean and looking presentable has been made,” Agee said. “Sometimes I go by, there is not hardly anything out there. All I am asking is just keep it as clean as possible.”

Hamlet said trailers of merchandise come in daily from different distances, so unloading and organizing the items can be difficult. As a compromise, Hamlet said trailers and unloaded merchandise will now be placed behind the building.

“We bring them in. It is all just different times. We go to Kentucky. A lot of times when we get back here, we are just beat. But, we are going to unload it first thing in the morning. (…) If we ain’t going to unload it for a week,” Hamlet said. “Yes sir, I’ll park it out back.”

The owner of the property Brittany Dyer said since becoming aware of the issue, she has told the store owners to keep the area clean.

“I went last week,” Dyer said. “It looked much better. I went last Monday. This is all happened in the last few weeks, and I have been on them.”

As for the storefront ordinance, Agee said MTAS is still in the process of reviewing.