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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Emily’s Heirloom Pound Cakes, one of this year’s Retailers of the Year, at the production kitchen in west Homewood.
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The city of Homewood was the only city in Alabama in 2021 with two Alabama Retailer of the Year award winners, as determined by the Alabama Retail Association.
This year’s winners in the city were Emily’s Heirloom Pound Cakes, which took home the gold award among companies with sales less than $1 million, and Alabama Goods, which has stores in both Homewood and Huntsville and took home the gold award among companies with sales between $1 million and $5 million.
EMILY’S HEIRLOOM POUND CAKES
In 2013, April McClung just wanted to find a way to raise money for her son to travel Europe and learn the world was bigger than Pelham.
“This was just a mother’s heart,” McClung said.
McClung and her family began praying over how best to raise money and decided to make pound cakes using McClung’s grandmother’s 100-year-old recipe.
In nine months, she raised more than $14,000 and a year later began Emily’s Heirloom Pound Cakes, which offers a variety of flavors of pound cakes, along with custom orders, handwritten cards, a signature loaf tote and more, with orders going all over the country. McClung’s idea to raise money for her son’s trip has turned into a successful business that is on Amazon, has been featured on a home shopping network and given her family a chance at a better life.
“What I see is legacy,” McClung said. “We prayed for years to be out of debt, to have something we can leave behind for our children. I believe God has honored that prayer.”
Pound cake is like a “little black dress,” she said. It can be dressed up or dressed down, depending on the occasion and what the customer wants. The shop only uses the freshest ingredients in its all-butter recipe, which is good in the refrigerator up to 30 days and freezes up to a year.
McClung loads up her van and travels to weddings, funerals and big event shows, showcasing her family’s now-famous recipe, which has become a not-so-well-kept secret in Homewood.
“Word of mouth is how this business has grown,” she said. “The location is just phenomenal where we are.”
McClung said after being located in other cities, she sees more foot traffic and walk-up traffic in Homewood than anywhere else.
It’s meaningful to see other people enjoy her grandmother’s pound cake as much as her family does, she said. It’s also meaningful to be recognized by her peers and those around the state as one of this year’s Retailer of the Year honorees.
“It means everything to me,” McClung said. “I have built this company from the ground up.”
There have been hard days over the past seven years, but being honored like this allows her to keep moving forward, she said.
“It means keep going,” McClung said. “We’re doing something right.”
For more information, visit emilysheirloompoundcakes.comemilysheirloompoundcakes.com.
Photo by Neal Embry.
Shoppers peruse the merchandise at the Homewood location of Alabama Goods, which was named one of the Alabama Retailers of the Year..
ALABAMA GOODS
Sherry Hartley and Beth Staula first opened the Homewood location of Alabama Goods 11 years ago, and they have since doubled their space and, last year, opened a second location in Huntsville.
To be honored as one of the Retailer of the Year winners was something special, Hartley said.
“We were absolutely thrilled,” Hartley said. “It validated for us what we’ve known all along.”
Alabama Goods is special, offering its customers a chance not only to shop local in Homewood and now Huntsville, but to purchase items, as the name implies, that are made in Alabama, she said.
“We carry so many unique things that are made in Alabama,” Hartley said.
The store offers pottery, jewelry, gourmet food, hats, metal art, pillows, ornaments, and bath and body products, among other items.
Hartley and Staula are constantly fine-tuning the store’s offerings based on the desires and feedback of their customers, she said.
They also benefited last year from their change to a new web platform, which Hartley said made the online purchasing experience much easier and user-friendly. That came in handy during the COVID-19 pandemic, as more shoppers began shopping online. The store experienced a major increase in online sales, Hartley said.
Being in Homewood for more than a decade, Hartley has seen how supportive the community has been.
“This is a fantastic community,” she said.
Hartley said the store enjoys a lot of support from the Homewood Chamber of Commerce and even draws in visitors from all over the region. Many have said when they Google things to do in the Homewood and Birmingham area, Alabama Goods is one of the stores that pops up, Hartley said.
For more information, visit alabamagoods.com.
