JOPPA, Ala. – While many consumers are staying away from bigger chain stores during the pandemic, you can still find produce from local sellers and farmers, one seller being Tim Kelsoe, owner of Tim’s Produce in Joppa. Tim’s Produce is located along Alabama Highway 69 across from the Joppa Sunoco gas station.
Kelsoe shared a bit on his business, saying, “We’re just, we have a little bit of everything. Starting in the middle of March, we have a lot of fresh vegetables that come in from Florida, like watermelons and cantaloupes, and all of our flowers and other stuff is coming in. We have ferns of all kinds and palm trees, you name it, a lot of planting stuff. I go from season to season. We’re here from March 1 to December. In January and February, it’s slower, (then) I’m here two or three days a week.”
Tim’s Produce offers produce, gardening items and local honey with other jarred goods, as well as various knick-knacks like college football merchandise.
“We sell a lot of different stuff,” Kelsoe noted. Kelsoe also purchases his produce to sell from local farmers.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, business has grown and been usual for Kelsoe and his market.
“If anything, it’s helped our business,” he said. “I think a lot of people would rather buy locally from here than be in a big chain store with 50 people. It’s been a steady trail. A lot of them have been great; they’ll stand out on the porch and wait, because they know it’s a small building. It’s worked out well. We’ve done good, we’ve made it really good through it.”
As for what his business is doing to ensure both consumers and employees stay safe, Kelsoe said, “We try to wash the door handles two to three times a day and we wash the check-out counter too. We spray Lysol morning and night. We also wear masks if we feel like we need to. We also wash our hands any chance we get.”
Kelsoe has also installed a clear protective screen to separate the cashier from the customers.
He laughed, “It’s been ‘unusual good,’ I guess you could say.”
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