Frugal shoppers may recall C&M Liquidators in Union Center, where everything from household items to toys and school supplies could be found at low, low prices. It was the kind of store you visited for one item, and then found all sorts of things you didn’t know you needed.
The business closed six years ago, but it will be resurrected Saturday as Fleatiquing Mall & More. The new owner, Kimberly Brown-Schweitzer, formerly lived in Kendall but recently purchased a home next to the store in Union Center.
Brown-Schweitzer promises the new store will have plenty of liquidator items, along with new items, thrift and even some antique furniture. She also has attracted 15 vendors that will offer glassware, jewelry, purses, pillows, craft supplies and a wide range of other items.
Brown-Schweitzer also will carry the popular Leaning Tree line of cards and gifts, as well as Wild Berry Incense.
Drawing from her own experience of destitution, Brown-Schweitzer said she is determined to make items available at prices people can afford. In 2005, she was a victim of Hurricane Rita and lost her home and everything she owned in Louisiana. With the help of FEMA, she was relocated to Kendall, where she could continue working for a contractor at Fort McCoy. Her full-time job was traveling to high schools, administering the Army’s ASFAB test to candidates for military service. She says she well remembers the humiliation of relying on charity for basic items until she could reestablish herself and return to her job.
It has been a major project to return the store to respectability, as it has sat empty for so long, but Brown-Schweitzer is ready to swing open the doors on Saturday.
Store hours will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and may expand to Mondays later on. Sunday, she said, is the day to attend church in Kendall.
“That is what Southern girls do on Sunday,” she says with a twinkle in her eye. And as busy as she has been, that day of rest is probably well appreciated.