BY MALLORIE MCCOY
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
VALLEY — The Greater Valley area’s newest business, Five Below, held its grand opening on Saturday, March 15. Located in the Village Square Shopping Center at 3418 20th Ave, Five Below is a retail chain that sells a variety of games, clothes, snacks, room decor, beauty products and more.
In 2022, Chambers County Development Authority’s Executive Director, Chris Busby, showcased the Valley community to a Five Below tenant representative of Alabama. After receiving approval from the city of Valley, the business project started in October 2022.
“The community has expressed their desire for a business like this,” said Busby. “I think it’s going to be great because it provides a service that is not there.”
According to Busby, a gap analysis showed that more Valley residents are buying the type of items sold at Five Below outside the Valley community. For economic growth, Busby said Five Below’s opening “was a need” in the local area.
Most Five Below products are priced at $5 or less, but there are other specialty items for sale that range from $10 to $30. There are 35 Five Below stores in Alabama alone, making Valley the 36th location.
“We hope it will bring more retailers to the community and allow residents to shop local,” said Busby. “With this growing retail sector, we hope it attracts more people to move to our community.”
The new business has contributed to rising job opportunities in Valley and there are still open positions. One of Five Below’s sales associates, Sharon Glenn, is glad to give back to her community.
“I hope it offers something fun and helps the local economy grow,” said Glenn. “For people to come and experience something awesome.”
Five Below also offers positions of leadership opportunity. Fenick Darden, Customer Experience Manager, trains staff in customer-service techniques and helps maintain the store overall.
“Getting to interact with our customers every day and therefore trying to make every experience the best one is what I look forward to most,” said Darden.
The Five Below store is a part of a bigger expansion project within the Village Square Shopping Center with five other retail spaces to be filled. Later in 2025, Marshall’s, Petsense and Express-Oil will open in the shopping center as well.
