Long time friends partner up to open Sweet South Market

Published 12:00 am Saturday, July 6, 2019

Jennifer Bradley and Rosemary Guilford partnered up to make their dreams a reality when they opened the Sweet South Market last month.

“We are at the point in our lives where we just want to do something fun,” Bradley said. “We love working with people and working with the public.”

Bradley said that both of them have always loved being outside on the farm.

“Rosemary is really inspired by Joanna Gaines and has done a great job decorating everything,” Bradley said. “My aunt grew peanuts, and we just always wanted to have a little peanut stand growing up.”

Both women being nurses by trade, Bradley said that they want to the Sweet South Market into a full-time gig.

“We are both nurses and teach nursing in Brewton,” Bradley said. “I also teach nursing online. This is a great little side gig, but we want it to be full time.”

The best part of the shop to Bradley, since they have been open, has been the variety of people to come through and shop.

“We have met people from all different parts of the world,” Bradley said. “We have had people from Sweden, Bolivia and Australia. Just name a country and they have been here. It is just amazing.”

Bradley said that the local support has been amazing, as well.

“We live right here next to the shop,” Bradley said. “We have had a tremendous amount of local support. We love our locals and they keep us going. I mean, we have locals that come every day. We even utilize people in our local community to buy local produce.”

The women chose the spot that they are in because of the beach traffic.

“We figured that it would be a good investment,” Guilford said. “But the local support has been amazing.”

The Sweet South Market sells boiled peanuts, watermelon, okra, squash, peas, peaches, tomatoes and different soft drinks and water.

“Not everything that we sell is grown from us,” Guilford said. “Everything that we have planted is not ready yet. So, we have to outsource different people. Like, with our peaches we pick them from Chilton County.”

The main goal for the women is to make sure that all of their food is fresh, no matter where they get it.

“If we can’t grow it or have it, we try to get it from the freshest source possible,” Guilford said. “Everything we get is straight from the ground because we want people to have the freshest option available.”

Currently, the market is open from 6 a.m., until 6 p.m., but Bradley said those hours could change.

“We are trying to go off of public response,” Bradley said. “Right now, we are open Monday through Sunday from 6 a.m., until 6 p.m., and if people come and it stays this way, then we will keep those hours.”

Sweet South Market is located directly on the corner of the U.S. 29 and AL-137 Y turn, on the way to Pleasant Home.