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Harrells sell store to enter retirement

The former Hayneville QV convenience store is taking on a new look. After a recent change in ownership and current renovations, the store at the center of the Lowndes County seat is transitioning to become a Shell station — Beeline No. 150.

Manager Jay Patel said the store is undergoing a remodel, both inside and out. Inside work is expected to finish by Dec. 25. Outside, holidays have delayed equipment orders and Patel expects new fuel dispensers, lights and canopies to be up around the end of January or beginning of February.

“We are remodeling because it’s going to be a Shell branded station,” Patel said. “It will be Beeline 150 under new management. We are targeting the 25th of December inside, but outside, because of the holidays it takes a while to get everything in.”

Sandy and Leanne Harrell, natives of Hayneville, purchased four different businesses to get the corner lot on which they built the store in 2003. The Harrells owned and operated the store until recently when they made the decision to sell the business and transition into retirement.

“We’re at retirement age,” Leanne Harrell said. “We just felt like God was leading us to do this. We have prayed about it for about a year now.

“Sandy and I, we’ve worked our entire lives. He has some health issues and has had leukemia since 2010. We just felt like God was saying, ‘It’s time.’”

The couple has plans to spend more time with family and enjoying pastimes, like Sandy’s beekeeping. Leanne said she will also continue helping with the store’s catering, when needed.

“We’ve already started to do more with the grandchildren,” she said. “We have five and two of them are under five years old. We like to go to all the ballgames and extracurricular activities.”

Current renovations will give the store a whole new look, Harrell said. Patel said the new management team prefers to showcase the changes once work is complete, Harrell did offer a sneak peak into what community members can expect.

“They want to give it a bright new look,” she said. “They’ve done a lot of tiling and [replaced] countertops, cabinets, and things like that. We patched things up for the last 20 years and installed new [fuel] pumps last year, but inside we mostly did repairs.”

Harrell said the couple plan to continue enjoying an active role in the community but will miss seeing customers who visit the store.

“We would like to thank all of our customers,” she said. “We consider them like our family. It’s a sad time, but God has a season for every part of our lives. We just feel like it’s a different season for us now.”