Main Street USA: New Life in Saint Albans

By Deb Austin Brown

Like many across America, West Virginia’s small towns have struggled in recent years. Main streets have often been filled with empty storefronts, peeling paint and only a sprinkling of shoppers. City administrators and chambers of commerce work hard to promote and support new business in towns across our state, yet main streets have seemingly stalled. Just what will turn things around? Saint Albans now knows. It is our youth.

In the last five years, Saint Albans, WV, has seen an amazing rebirth of new businesses. Main Street is filling back up, each storefront is creating its own color and character and business is beginning to boom. What do these new businesses have in common? The owners are young risk-takers who saw opportunity in those empty buildings. When they looked in the empty storefront windows, they saw the future. They are a unique breed; they dream big and work hard. They are inspired and driven to make a difference in their community by giving back life to the proverbial main street of their town.

Mayor Scott James has always felt that Saint Albans has been West Virginia’s best-kept secret, but with Main Street now soaring to new heights, the secret is getting out. During fiscal year 2020-2021, 20 new brick and mortar stores opened in Saint Albans. Thirty additional businesses registered and began paying business and occupation taxes. That is encouraging news for a small town in the midst of a global pandemic. As 2022 unfolds, residents stand on the horizon and look to the future of commerce and community in Saint Albans.

The three catalysts for change were Bryan England, T.J. Douglas and Jordan Garrett. These young men all have full-time careers: England is a teacher at Saint Albans High School, Douglas is a physician’s assistant at West Virginia Dermatology, and Garrett is an operations manager at the Toyota plant in Buffalo, WV. These best friends do more than hang out together in their free time—they dream, plan and build together.

In 2019, they started Crafts of the Coal—a premium handcrafted ice cream business that has expanded to include two food trucks and one storefront on Main Street. They have the support of the Saint Albans community and the surrounding areas. People follow their food trucks and make the drive to their storefront. Their delicious ice cream is more than a sweet spot in Saint Albans, it is a sparkplug that inspires and ignites others to take a chance in the business world.

England, Douglas and Garrett’s youthful perspectives give Saint Albans a jumpstart on an exciting new future. These kids grew up with roots in Saint Albans and saw the city as having an old-time, small-town feel, as well as an untouched market others often miss out on. They all agree that Saint Albans is a community where residents can stay to get what they need. Rather than seeing Main Street as a revolving door of businesses, they see it as a thriving and established core of the growing business community. Five years ago, there were eight empty storefronts at the Olde Main Plaza—now there is only one.

When seeking a start on their newest business, The TAP—a local tap house with a specialty food menu along with some of the finest craft beers, wines, ciders and seltzers from the state of West Virginia—they sought out and found support from the city, the chamber of commerce and the community.

“We love helping others,” says Douglas “We loved having others help us get a start on Main Street.”

These new business owners felt welcome, supported and loved.

“The response to our new business was great,” says Garrett. “Main Street is filled with people helping each other.”

According to England, when people come to Main Street, they stay.

“Main Street Saint Albans is beautiful,” he says. “It has a great vibe and vision.”

These young entrepreneurs are excited and happy to be part of the Saint Albans community. Where do England, Douglas and Garrett get their inspiration? Much of it came from the Coal River Coffee Company. Michael Ervin took a chance on an empty storefront in 2018 and turned his coffee business into a community must-stop. The company’s motto—roasting coffee and brewing community—has helped the store become a community hub.

Almost a dozen young entrepreneurs are now leading the charge in Saint Albans to revitalize the city. They have a common passion for succeeding and making a difference, and their creativity, dedication and hard work are contagious. They are helping bridge the established Saint Albans businesses with the newer emergent ones. They are cultivating friendships with each other and with the more established entrepreneurs by attending the chamber’s Business After Hours and talking with and learning from each other. They are forming strong bonds of support for area commerce and community.

In 1960 as young entrepreneurs, high school sweethearts Patty and Eddie Chandler opened Chandler’s Floor and Wall Coverings in Saint Albans. Sixty-two years later, this business is still thriving. Eddie explained that it is the young business owners who have initiated the relationships with the more established business owners. He says it is too easy for the older owners to shut their doors at 5:00 and go home. The younger owners seek them out just to talk and share ideas.

The Chandlers have seen the Saint Albans Main Street landscape change over the years—going from Main Street to the pedestrian Olde Main Plaza and then back to Main Street.

“Boom times of the 50s and 60s gave way to the shopping malls of the 70s, and Main Street was left with empty storefronts. There is not a city in the state that didn’t face the challenge,” says Saint Albans businessman Joe Bird.

According to Patty, when Olde Main Plaza finally went back to being Main Street in 2005, people were happy to have it back.

“Today, finding a parking space on Main Street can be a challenge—a sure sign of a lively downtown. Good things are happening. It’s an amazing turnaround,” says Bird.

Main Street Saint Albans is under the watchful eye of Parker Mulniex, the Chandlers’ grandson. Mulniex is a big-picture thinker who has worked with his grandparents for 12 years and is the bridge to all of the Main Street relationships. He knows and understands the history of Main Street, and he connects the newcomers to that history.

“I was born and raised in this town, and I want to watch it grow,” he says.

Mulniex has developed a close friendship and working relationship with the owners of The TAP. All four of these young men believe in shopping local and using their talents to work hard to move Main Street forward. Together, they are a remarkably powerful team.

About the Author

Deb Austin Brown is the communications director for the Saint Albans Area Chamber of Commerce.