Tucked away in a small retail space on Lauderdale Street is one of Selma’s newest gems. The Queen City Market is a charming home decor store providing one of a kind items and inspiration to future local business owners.

The market is a proven story of success. Co-owners Mandy Henry and AC Reeves, with the help of Julian Ann Burns, assembled the shop in five short weeks before opening on Black Friday.

“We pretty much sold out the store in the first couple of hours we were open,” Henry said.

Henry and Reeves are partners at The Real Estate Gallery. Henry said the idea for a shop developed from the need of more local businesses.

“We had a vacancy in this space,” Henry said. “We keep trying to get people to open businesses, and I thought Selma needs a little home decor store that has one of a kind items, things you just can’t get at a normal store.”

Located on 120 Lauderdale Street, the shop includes everything from stylish sofas to blankets and gift items to locally made art. Hours of operation are Monday – Friday from 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Employee Emily Adkins said the store is a nice addition to Selma being both convenient and affordable. Items in the store range from as low as $5 up to $1,000.

Henry often picks items at yard sales and flea markets to refurbish and showcase in the shop. Reeves is an artist and uses the space to showcase her creations.

Manager Sara Hogue said items picked and refurbished by Henry are one of the many popular sellers in the store.

“Just as soon as she puts it out, somebody comes in and buys it,” Hogue said.

The space is divided into multiple living areas to show off how furniture and accessories can be paired.

“A lot of times people don’t have an idea of what to put with some things. So it’s nice to set things up and kind of give people an idea they might not have thought of before,” Henry said. “They might see a piece of furniture and say, ‘I would have never used it that way, but that’s great.’”

Since the space is small, the store is constantly bringing in fresh merchandise to replenish fast selling items. Because of that, it’s consistently new and evolving.

“Someone will come in and buy this whole area and then it’s a whole new store because we have to bring in more stuff. So probably every time you come into the store, it’s going to be a little bit of a different store because things are going out fast,” Reeves said.

January and February tend to be slow for retail, but that hasn’t been an issue for the new business.

Reeves said the market is proof there is a demand for small local businesses in Selma and that they can thrive.

“What we have found is people really want to spend their money in Selma. If you give them something to buy, they will buy it. We as a community need to realize that and we need other people to jump out there and put more stores and restaurants because Selma really needs it and Selma wants to spend money in Selma,” she said. “You can make money in Selma. You really can. You don’t normally make money on a store this fast.”

Gallery 905 and Charlie’s Place are two other local businesses that have opened their doors within the past few months.

Henry said it is important for people to spend their money in town so the tax dollars can return to the city.

Henry and Reeves said they do their best to shop locally to support the city economy.

“How fun is that for your civic duty to go shopping?” Reeves said.

For more information about the market, visit Queen City Market on Facebook or follow QueenCityMarket on Instagram.