Greenville is in the spotlight once again.

Several of the town's businesses are featured in the travel section of the May issue of &#8220Southern Living” magazine. Subscribers received their issues in their mailboxes last Thursday, and the buzz has already kicked in.

Travel writer Morgan Murphy's one-page article, &#8220Exit for Excellent Shops,” encourages interstate travelers to venture into downtown Greenville.

First stop? Just Julie's Caf\u00E9 and Catering, where the fried green tomato BLT and the Tay's Frozen Hot Chocolate get especially high marks from writer Murphy.

&#8220We are already getting a response…I got the magazine in the mail on Thursday, and we had people here Friday who came in specifically due to that article,” caf\u00E9 proprietor Julie Autrey said on Tuesday morning.

Another eight travelers from Birmingham and Huntsville on their way to the beach stopped in on Monday to eat and shop, Autrey said.

&#8220They have all wanted to know where else to go and visit, and I direct them downtown – not only to the places mentioned in the story, but other places like The Pineapple.”

Other businesses highlighted in the article are Karen Rainey Interiors, West Point Home Outlet, Alissa's Closet and Grayson's of Greenville.

&#8220It's just fabulous to be featured in a magazine like that,” Vesta Taylor of Alissa's Closet said.

At Karen Rainey Interiors, Janice McLendon said several &#8220Southern Living shoppers” had already been in the shop browsing and buying.

&#8220We are keeping a tally of those who are coming in due to the magazine article, and I think we have had at least eight people so far. It's wonderful. I just wish even more businesses could have been featured,” McLendon said.

Autrey credits Greenville's own Linda Horn with helping the spotlight shine on the city's unique spots.

Horn actually met writer Murphy a year ago at a conference in Birmingham. &#8220He was telling me about the types of places he had visited and written about, and I said, ‘Listen, you've got to come and do a story on Greenville, Alabama'…well, there were the storms, and other delays, one thing and another,” Horn recalled.

Murphy did stop in at Just Julie's for coffee

after Hurricane Katrina last year and &#8220put me on the Website for about a month as part of his Katrina's journal, I thought that was really nice,” Autrey said.

One day last fall, the travel writer called Horn and said, ‘We're coming down this afternoon at two.' Well, we got ourselves ready in a hurry.”

The travel writer and his photographer visited a number of places that day and took &#8220plenty of photographs,” Horn said.

Horn was thrilled when she heard the article had already made an impact on local businesses.

&#8220I'm tickled to death about that…it goes to show you people really do read those travel stories. And ‘Southern Living' is a magazine that has an impact far beyond this region, I've found.”

Autrey said she is looking forward to an &#8220interesting summer.”

&#8220With people headed to the beach, I think we will have more people stopping in. Morgan is a super-nice guy. I'm just so appreciative to Linda and glad we had this opportunity.”