Mr. Green and Green's Mini - Mart Honored as 2009 RiverBuisness Award Winners

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by karen cragnolin
on Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Each year the RiverLink Board of Directors selects a business or businesses in the Wilma Dykeman RiverWay to honor for their contributions to the rebirth of the French Broad River as a destination where everyone can live, work and lay.   The urban riverfront in Asheville was the city's industrial corridor at the turn of the last century.  The arrival of the railroad in 1880 made it possible for factory owners to send and receive the materials needed to operate their factories.

But the river, especially the areas known as Chicken Hill and the Southside, housed many families in addition to the factories.  Some of the residents worked in the mills and lived in mill houses.  Many of the residents worked for the railroad. The African American Community had a strong presence in this area as well.  Many of the black owned businesses and homes were located near the river.

All that changed when in the 1960's urban renewal came to Southside and destroyed single family homes and black owned businesses.   Southside suffered the double whammy of urban renewal and forced integration.  The businesses that catered to the black community closed and never reopened after urban renewal redeveloped Southside.  Families who had lived in the neighborhood were moved to public housing projects.  In fact, the very first project for public housing was here in Asheville and the word "project" became associated nationwide with public housing.

RiverLink is proud to honor Mr. James Green, owner of Greens' Mini-Mart on Depot Street.

James has a long history in this neighborhood.  After James mother moved to Cleveland with his two older brothers to find work, Mr. Green lived with his grandmother on Clingman Avenue.  He attended the all black Hill Street Elementary School.   After school he helped Mr. Owen, who owned Owen Groceries off of Clingman Avenue deliver bread and milk throughout the neighborhood.  He went on to graduate from Stephens Lee High School in 1955 and immediately after graduation enlisted in the US Army.

The Army took him to Europe and he spent four years in Frankfurt Germany where he earned a Stationary Engineer degree.  After leaving the Army, Mr. Green moved to Cleveland to be closer to his family and find work.   It wasn't long before the Army veteran found a good job as a stationary engineer and started a long career with the Cleveland Board of Education and the City of Cleveland as a certified and licensed engineer.

It was in Cleveland that he met the love of his life, Frances Young, a student at Finn College, which is now Cleveland State University.   They were married 1961 after she graduated from College.

Frances and James had two sons, Kevin and Keith. Both of their sons graduated from Moorehouse College. Frances and James always knew that a good education would be essential for their boys and they worked hard to provide it.

By 1983 Mr. Green has accumulated enough funds in his retirement account to come back to Asheville and start a business in the neighborhood where he grew up.  He and Frances opened Greens' Mini- Mart which includes a deli with the best fried chicken and fish in the city, a laundry and gas station.  It was the very first business, black or white, to come back and invest in the neighborhood since the urban renewal of the 1960's.   Mr., Green bought the land with his retirement funds and turned to Clyde Savings Bank, today Home Trust, for a loan to start his business.  According to Mr. Green, "The people at Home Trust then and now made it possible for me to start up this business and keep it going.

Money was so tight in the early days that the Green's couldn't even afford an alarm system. Many nights he just slept in the store until they established their reputation as a community asset. Over the years Greens' Mini – Mart has provided employment for about 100 neighborhood families. The Greens' business is an anchor and meeting ground providing neighborhood interaction and stability. The Green's trusted their neighbors and would often provide employment for neighborhood parents or someone on probation and in need of work.  To this day in a neighborhood dominated by subsidized public housing units, Greens' Mini- Mart has never been robbed or broken into.

And it is to this day a family run business. Mrs. Green passed in 2007 but before she became ill she was at the store every day by James' side.  She always kept the books and paid the bills for the store and greeted every customer by name.

Kevin Green, their oldest son, is with First Citizens Bank in Ashville but can sometimes still be found behind the counter. Keith, their youngest, helps out at the store and uses his BA in Management to help run the business.   This is a great family that invested in a neighborhood revitalization project because it was the right thing to do.  As Mr. Green says, "I started this business not to get but rich, rather to help lift up the community in which I was born.

RiverLink is proud to honor Mr. James Green and Greens' Mini- Mart on Depot Street as a true RiverBusiness.  His efforts span a lifetime and have helped make the French Broad River a better p0lace for everyone to love work and play.

Prior recipients of the RiverLink RiverBusiness Award include 12 Bones Smokehouse, Clingman Avenue Café, The Phil Mechanic Building and Flood Studios and AvL Technologies.

For more information about how you can become involved in the riverfront revitalization efforts or to sign up for our online monthly newsletter please visit our website at www.rivelrink.org or email us at information@riverlink.org .

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About the Author - karen cragnolin

Contact karen cragnolin:
RiverLink
828-252-8474, ext 110
KAREN@RIVERLINK.ORG
www.riverlink.org

Learn more about karen.