When Tabitha Burden and her husband, Mike, moved from north Alabama to Petal about four years ago, they wanted to bring something new to the Friendly City – and better yet, something that would help bring the downtown community together.
They accomplished that goal in August 2017, with the opening of Grand Central Outfitters at 126 East Central Avenue, across from Petal Middle School.
“Ever since I saw this little house, it kept calling to me, and I said, ‘We’ve got to do something with that,’” Tabitha said. “And I just wanted to stay downtown – I feel like everything is closing up or moving out to the (Evelyn) Gandy (Parkway) in the new spots.
“We wanted to show everybody there are still a lot of businesses down here that need your support. And also, we wanted something different, because we’d go on vacation and walk around towns and see little shops that had different things to offer. So we thought we’d try it out.”
Grand Central Outfitters offers a wide variety of outdoor/sporting goods, clothing and accessories, including shirts, jackets, Petal-branded wear, ice chests and Chaco shoes. Other brands include Mountain Hardwear, Bear Tree and Bogg Bag.
The store also carries several veteran-owned brands, including a selection of coffee, soaps, barbeque sauce, seasoning, dog treats and beef jerky.
“We love our country and want to support (veterans),” Tabitha said. “They put their lives on the line and support us, so that’s the least we can do to help give back and support them.
“We try to give other Petal people an outlet to do their crafts or their baked goods, and try to help support other small businesses and entrepreneurs.”
To enhance community togetherness even more, the Burdens worked with Valerie Wilson, the executive director at the Petal Area Chamber of Commerce, to institute the Petal Farmers Market. The market – which offers baked goods, family activities and homemade items like soap, candles, cheese and bread – is held from 9 a.m.-noon on the third Saturday of every month in the area outside Grand Central Outfitters.
“I had just thought of doing something in my parking lot on the weekends – maybe get a couple of items of produce or something like that,” Tabitha said. “There used to be a farmers market behind Petal City Hall, and I guess the visibility wasn’t that good. So they told me, ‘There’s a whole binder of vendors – here you go.’
“And then Mrs. Valerie came in and said she’d help. For us, we kept going to other towns to do things that I feel like Petal could support, and I think we could do that here. So we wanted to do it to see if we could get the community support, and try to do some of the stuff the other towns do.”
For the future, the Burdens would like to institute a concert series similar to Live at Five, which is held in Town Square Park in downtown Hattiesburg.
“I just feel like we need to do stuff like that here, to where Petal reaps the benefits of it,” Tabitha said. “People (would be) spending their money in Petal and the money is staying in Petal, versus going three miles down the road and supporting another town.”
Wilson said the Burdens and Grand Central Outfitters have been a great boon to Petal.
“It’s really a cute store, and Tabitha has absolutely been essential in helping to redevelop downtown Petal,” she said. “She opens her doors during the farmers market for people to come in and see her shop, as well as everything else around us.
“So she has really been a terrific asset to the whole area down there, in helping revitalize it. She’s been awesome.”
Grand Central Outfitters is open from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturdays. For more information, call (769) 390-7190.
