HANCEVILLE, Ala. – Saturday saw the grand reopening of Redline Leather Workz in Hanceville. The hand-crafted leather business geared toward the motorcycle community showcased its new retail store and motorcycle service center and introduced the team for its new addition, All the Rage Tattoo.
Those gathered enjoyed food and drinks, door prizes and live music provided by Jesse Priest, Dennis Jennings (Coach D Music) and C.J. Harris. Adding to the festivities was a “rehydration drive.” Redline asked everyone to bring cases of bottled water or sports drinks to be distributed to fire departments across north Alabama.
Redline owner Ben Wilson was thrilled with the turnout, especially with the support shown to local firefighters.
“I spent 22 years in the fire service myself. I’ve seen firsthand the struggles on the political side of things with volunteer departments and the ins-and-outs of how to do things the right and wrong way,” Wilson said. “There’s a lot of things that departments across the state could use a voice in Montgomery for to make some changes. After talking with a couple of other departments around here, we just took the opportunity to try to be that voice and put the word out there to show everybody the struggles that departments around Alabama face. It gives us an opportunity to put ourselves out there and garner up some donations for everyone within the county. We’ll try to make it a statewide event and see how it goes.”
Wilson said he’d like to see a pallet of bottled water at every fire station, noting how local fire departments benefit businesses statewide.
“The average pallet of water is $300. My store went two weekends ago and bought a whole pallet of water from Wal-Mart for $292. It don’t have to be a name brand or a specific brand,” he said. “Every business in the county and the state benefits from having a local fire department. Whether the department is next door or 2 miles down the road, every business benefits from it. I would love to see every business step up and be a contributor to this and see what we can do, see how much we can grow this and how far we can go. I look at this as an opportunity to give back to the community in a different way. That’s what got me in the fire service in the beginning.”
As of Saturday evening, Redline had collected more than 200 cases of water.
Wilson’s business has flourished since opening in September 2021, and now he’s adding more services at the new 4,800-square-foot location, quadruple the size of the old space.
“As part of the deal when we moved down here into this location, we got the Thrifty Treasures thrift store next door. We’re going to put in a tattoo shop, and we’ve got a barbershop in the works,” Wilson said. “It will give the motorcycle community and the entire community of Hanceville as a whole something to do. My whole plan, when setting up this store after purchasing this building, was to set up a destination-type spot. People in the motorcycle community want something to do when they go somewhere. The more you can put in one location, the better off it is in the long run. It’s been a huge blessing. I’m thankful for it. We’re looking forward to seeing how it continues to grow.”
Redline Leather Workz is located at 318 Arkadelphia Rd. in Hanceville.
