Eleven-year-old Austin Qualls and his mother, Angela Qualls, take a 30-minute drive once a week from Washington to Strickland Pride Produce in Crawford.
The weekly journey has become routine for the mother and son since the store opened its doors just over a year ago.
For Austin, the trip means enjoying chilled spoonfuls of local, homemade ice cream and crisp yellow apples. Angela looks forward to browsing the neatly arranged tables of fresh, local produce.
“We’ve been shopping with him since he opened here,” Angela said. “We come here about once a week; we get great produce, everything is perfect.”
Customers say the collard greens are impeccable, the sweet potatoes perfect and the bell peppers crisp and fresh.
But for many customers, the draw isn’t just the produce — it’s Kendall Strickland himself.
It’s something he doesn’t take for granted.
“It’s hard to explain, but it’s almost a spiritual thing,” said Strickland, founder and owner of Strickland Pride Produce. “The amount of love and support that comes through my doors every day is surreal, but it feels very good.”
Last Friday, Strickland invited the community to join him in celebrating one year at his current location and nearly five years in business.
Regulars, local customers and visitors from neighboring counties came for slices of cake, free samples, new ice cream flavors and a chance to share their congratulations.
As his customer base grew, so has Strickland’s team.
“I love it — I’ve been here probably about six months,” said Xavier Sapp, 23, a friend of Strickland’s from Hartwell, who assists with the store’s operations. “I help to keep everything clean, stock everything up and carry stuff out to the cars.”
As Strickland looks ahead, he’s not just focused on the continued growth of his store but also on giving back to the community that has supported him from the start.
“I definitely want to bridge a gap with the high schoolers in the county,” Strickland said. “I did have a field trip to my store last spring from a class at the high school, and I gave them a little tour of my store. That was very fulfilling to me, and I think fulfilling to those students as well.”
While his years of expertise may make his journey as a business owner and founder appear effortless, he’s quick to share the truth: entrepreneurship is anything but.
“There’s a lot of budding young entrepreneurs that just need a boost, even just a confidence boost, to even think to set out on that path and try to pursue what they really have a passion for,” Strickland said.
He hopes to be a resource for students and aspiring entrepreneurs in the county, welcoming any opportunity to share his journey and lessons learned along the way.
Strickland told The Echo in 2023 about the new opportunities the storefront could bring to his business. It’s evident that those changes have paid off.
Wide garage doors preserve the open-air charm of Strickland’s original roadside stand, while the addition of freezers and refrigerators allows him to sell meat, eggs, ice cream and juices, as well as keep produce like collards and lettuce fresh longer.
“My business has over doubled since, I’ve gained a lot of new customers within the county and outside of the county,” Strickland said. “I mean, I get customers now all the way from Gwinnett County, Walton County, all the way to Lincoln County.”