Pictured left to right are : Lori Cullins of Cobblestone, Clay Cullins of Bob's Printing, Terri Rutland of Terri's Treasures, Krystl Dawn of Flip N Cheer, Randal Wilson of Price hardware, Megan Adcock of Flip N cheer, Ted Brabham of Grandma's Antic, Ageli
Association is helping revitalize downtown
Charming, beautiful, friendly, and safe have all been used to describe the downtown Atlanta area. Indeed, with its many shops, eateries, and even events, the downtown area is a thriving hub of dining, retail therapy, serving all manner of needs. However, as the saying goes, it takes a village and that village comes in the guise of the Atlanta Downtown Merchants Association.
Leading the way is Krystl Dawn, Waskom transplant, and Atlanta’s 2020 Woman of the Year. It was nine years ago that her husband, a native to Atlanta, asked her to move to the area and it has since become her home. It is with that love of her transplanted home town that she has dedicated herself to the betterment of the downtown area.
The Atlanta Downtown Merchants Association is a group consisting of not only retail store owners but, also building owners within the downtown area who meet once a month to discuss the various needs and concerns of merchants.
They meet to share information and training ideas, social media ideas and even ways to share customers. However, they do so much more than just meetings.
During the COVID-19 shutdown, the Merchants what they called their Association organized Boxes. Merchants from Downtown Surprise downtown worked together to provide items for the boxes and the boxes were sold to customers from $85-$100 and were for $50. Box values ranged stuffed with many goodies such as coupons, free samples, spices, candles, and many more items.
The money raised from the sale of the boxes was given back to the merchants and the sale of the items helped merchants to get rid of inventory that may otherwise have gone unsold due to the shutdown.
The Merchants Association also helped some businesses develop websites to sell their items online during the shutdown and set up a curbside pickup.
Dawn, who has had her business in the downtown area now for seven years, says she couldn’t imagine having it anywhere else. “We love the fact that people can come and drop their kids off and go downtown and do things. I don’t think we would ever really want to be anywhere else.”
When asked about becoming Woman of the Year, she is humble. Her friend and owner of Tumbling Tots and Teens, Megan Adcock says, “She deserved it. She does a lot for downtown. They can call her and she’s going to help in whatever way she can.”