small business<\/a> has fallen on hard times after weathering COVID-19 impacts and costly storm damage repairs that required around-the-clock generator operations to keep coolers running.<\/p>\n“There’s a cash flow issue,” said Jon West.<\/p>\n
Neighbors noticed warning signs when the market began selling assets like its box truck. The community quickly rallied together with a solution: a good old-fashioned bake sale.<\/p>\n
“What do I pay? It’s donation so donate what you can,” organizers told customers.<\/p>\n
The fundraiser drew crowds, with people waiting as early as 8:45 a.m. to show their support.<\/p>\n
“It’s the power of the community of Old Hickory and what it means to the community,” one supporter said.<\/p>\n
The market’s owners have been transparent about their struggles, explaining that tariffs are driving prices up and putting the mom-and-pop shop in financial jeopardy.<\/p>\n
“I think we would lose the identity that we’ve built here,” one person said about the potential closure.<\/p>\n
“It’s kind of heartbreaking. I really want them to make it. They’re a happy face in the village,” a customer said.<\/p>\n
For this tight-knit community, losing Hamby’s Market would mean losing much more than just a place to shop.<\/p>\n
“We love this place. It’s right in our community,” one neighbor said.<\/p>\n
“They’ve been so supportive they’ve given supplies to me before they’re really involved with the kids,” another school teacher added.<\/p>\n
“The Hambys are active in charities here, cookouts you name it they are visible in this community so we are visible here too,” Gis Johannessen.<\/p>\n
“It’s more than just a store here. It’s a place where we could drop by and say hello,” he explained.<\/p>\n
The bake sale raised approximately $1,600, demonstrating the community’s determination to save a business that has become the heart of their neighborhood.<\/p>\n
Have a story about community members supporting local businesses in your area? Share it with me at Amanda.Roberts@NewsChannel5.com<\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by Amanda Roberts<\/a> and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OLD HICKORY VILLAGE, Tenn. (WTVF) \u2014 A beloved neighborhood market in Old Hickory Village is struggling to stay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[64,63,99,171],"class_list":["post-109252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-markets","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-markets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}