2 longtime Homewood businesses close this year

Two Homewood businesses that have been in the city for more than 50 years are closing their doors this year.

Huffstutler’s Hardware will be closing its doors after 85 years of business, and Nabeel’s Cafe and Market closed its doors after 50 years.

“It’s sad,” said Gracie Salmen, an employee at Huffstutler’s Hardware.

“All of the people we’ve met over the years, they tell us all the stories of when they came in here with their parents when they were kids and how now they’re coming in with their kids and grandkids. Huffsutler is just a part of Homewood’s history,” said Gary Martin, another employee at Huffstutler’s Hardware.

Owner Jean Huffstutler said she made the hard decision of closing the store because “it’s just time for me to retire.”

Huffstutler’s Hardware has been in Homewood since 1935 and has been at its current location since 1937, after moving from its location on 18th Street South.

The hardware store was founded by Tom Huffstutler Sr. before it was passed down to his son, Tom Huffstutler Jr., who ran the store with the help of his wife, Jean.

Jean became owner of the store in 2008 after her husband died, Martin said.

Salmen and Martin have been with the hardware store for 20-plus years, they said.

They both said working for the Huffstutlers and the community has been fun and eventful.

“All in all, they were all good to all of us,” Salmen said. “I was pretty lucky to be here because I moved from Arizona to here and I’ve been here ever since. Then of course, I met Gary and he’s got such a personality.”

Salmen said the Huffstutlers were caring and flexible to their employees.

One day when Salmen had a family emergency, she said, they told her, “Don’t worry about it, just go.”

“The good memories are the customers,” Salmen said. “They are so sad to see us go because this is like a staple to them. They tell us they don’t like going to the big box stores because they don’t get that personal service that we give them.”

“We’ve had a lot of adventures,” Martin said.

Nabeel’s Cafe and Market was founded by Nabeel Shunnarah in the early 1970s and was later bought by current owner Ramsey Duck in 2017.

Duck said Nabeel’s closing was brought on by a combination of factors such as COVID-19, cost of services, supply chain issues, changes in customer behavior and physical exhaustion of the workers and himself.

“Not too long ago, we were running seven days a week,” Duck said. “Sunday was a shorter day, it was like a brunch shift, but I was here seven days a week, pretty much open to close. I had a handful of people doing tremendous work to keep it going, but it was running everyone into the ground.”

Duck and his staff began using electronic means to get over “staffing hurdles” such as putting QR codes on each table so the customers could scan, order and purchase their food without going to the counter.

Some people didn’t like the QR codes, preferring to order their food through traditional means. The staff did its best to provide this method, but was still challenging, Duck said.

“We tried to carry on with as much traditional service as we could but it’s a big space, it’s spread out and you can’t see,” Duck said. “We were always trying to figure out a way to get through the staffing crunch and through all of the different pieces of COVID, whether it was taking off early for a while or limited seating. We were trying to adapt all those things while at the same time maintaining a level for the quality of food and the experience. At a certain point, you run out of gas.”

“Even early in COVID, with PPP and employee retention incentives and all of that stuff, we were able to keep going for a while there, but then some of those programs ran out and the labor market dried up but the pandemic went on,” Duck said.

Before the pandemic, he and the staff were “laying the foundation” for the future by upgrading the restaurant’s equipment and renovating the store by pulling grease stains from the floors and installing the bar, he said.

Soon after he bought Nabeel’s, he was getting positive feedback from old and new customers, Duck said.

“People said, ‘Hey, we stopped coming 10 years ago. We heard it was new and that someone new was making a go of it and this is great. The food is spot-on, the service is attentive and the place has been cleaned up,’” Duck said. “I feel like we had some good traction, but there were just too many things going on all at the same time.”

Duck bought Nabeel’s with the intention of “keeping this Homewood, Birmingham, staple up and going, introducing it to a new set of customers, maintaining its old customers and just keep it going and growing over the years.”

Before Duck bought Nabeel’s in 2017, he worked at Panera Bread and then Shindig’s Catering but decided he wanted something for himself, he said.

The best memories Duck has of running Nabeel’s are the “solid core of people” he got to work with and the old and new customers he got to serve, Duck said.

“Restaurants are tough places to work,” Duck said. “They’re hot, physically demanding and there are always issues with just addressing the public. The core staff that has carried on and stood by every crazy idea I had means the world.”

He said he’s thankful the regulars Nabeel’s had before he became owner were willing to trust him and that his employees stuck with him, even after he told them the restaurant was closing.

“Ever since I moved to Alabama, I’ve lived in Homewood,” Duck said. “I hadn’t been a big customer of the place or anything but I knew its brand, reputation and what it meant to the neighborhood. I saw it as a great opportunity.”

“I think that a place like this has meant so much to literally generations of people,” Duck said. “To have had the opportunity to be a part of that, to continue to see multiple generations of people come in, relive special memories and enjoy special occasions has been great.”

Nabeel’s Cafe and Market had its last dinner on Friday, Sept. 30.