Several business open in renovated Adamsville Gateway Center
By Rochelle Moore
Published in News on February 11, 2018 3:05 AM
Several businesses are now open in the newly renovated Adamsville Gateway Center on Berkeley Boulevard near the front gate of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
The 1950s-era shopping center, better known for a former longstanding business, McFly's Barber and Style, is now home to a tax service business, a women's clothing store, a barber shop, a plumbing business, a cash checking business and a future convenience store.
Owner Glenn Adams, who inherited the property in 2017, has taken more than a year to improve the shopping center with interior and exterior renovations. He's also secured new tenants that now fill each of the six tenant properties in the center.
The building has been painted, several tenant spaces have been renovated, the roof has been repaired, there is new landscaping along Berkeley Boulevard and repairs have been made to the parking lot.
"We are striving to renovate the building structure and appearance, and, in turn, revitalize the shopping center," Adams said. "Four of the six units have had their interiors renovated in the last 18 months, while extensive work has been done to the exterior structure and grounds.
"New shops opening are bringing a much wider variety of experiences than we have had in the past."
The shopping center is located along the 200 block of South Berkeley Boulevard, where a new sign will be added.
"My plan next it to get a marquee with all the names of the businesses," he said.
Adams renamed the center from the Adams Shopping Center to the Adamsville Gateway Center.
Adams' family was instrumental in the establishment of Adamsville, a small community located in the area near the shopping center and the intersection of Berkeley Boulevard and Ash Street. Adamsville was eventually annexed into the city of Goldsboro.
Adams' grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Adams, built the shopping center, in 1959, and later passed on the property to Adams' father, E. Lee Adams.
Since taking ownership, Glenn Adams has worked to not only revive the shopping center but also maintain a piece of his family's history.
"We are hoping to create a destination retail center, and the location was purposely renamed Adamsville Gateway Center to reflect our family's history of founding the Adamsville area, before Adamsville was annexed by the larger city Goldsboro in 1970," Adams said. "The term gateway honors the neighboring Seymour Johnson AFB, as we are the first property (drivers) see on their way out of the base gates, while it also represents the openness of our business center."
Businesses that recently opened in the shopping center include American Tax Professionals, which offers individual and small business tax services, and Velvet Hanger, a women's boutique.
For the past year, Headlinez barber shop has been operating and includes stylists who previously worked at McFly's barber shop, which closed a year ago after being open 20 years.
Plans are in the works for a March opening of a convenience store, Adams said. In the near future, a food truck is also planned to visit the center regularly.
"Now, it's becoming a more vibrant hub of businesses, and we have businesses that will make (the center) more of a destination," Adams said.