Smithville hosts ground-breaking ceremony for new Freshly’s Market
SMITHVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Tornado recovery can be a long process. Just ask the people of Smithville.
Among the buildings destroyed in an EF-5 tornado 11 years ago was the town’s grocery store.
Since then, residents have had to drive to Fulton, Amory, or other surrounding towns to get groceries and other necessities.
That’s about to change.
Aberdeen-based Freshly’s Market broke ground on Tuesday, September 30, on what will be its next location in Smithville.
Mayor Phil Goodwin said it’s a project he’s been working on since he was an Alderman, but Smithville’s size and population made it difficult to find a company willing to invest in building in the town.
That is, until he talked to Katina Holliday at Freshly’s.
“We had a few not local, local, but some we tried to get, but the first time I asked Miss Katina, she didn’t say ‘no’. She said we’re going to look into it, and she called me back in just a few days, and we came to an agreement, and we started working on it,” said Goodwin.
“As you know, the Mayor talks about how he reached out to several grocery stores, and nobody would answer the call. Because if you do the survey, you wouldn’t answer the call. So, I didn’t do the survey, because it was a God-led assignment, and so when you’re working on purpose, all the rest will come,” said Holliday.
State and County leaders and the Three Rivers Planning and Development District helped make the project a reality.
