By Elliott Brack
MARCH 22, 2022 | Let me invite GwinnettForum readers to join me on a quest that will tell us more about Gwinnett. See if you can come up with what is the oldest business in your city under continuous operations, and try to figure out, too, which is the oldest business in Gwinnett.
You see, no governmental agency keeps tabs of businesses that way. We’ll just have to figure it out.
With all the fast growth that Gwinnett has had in the last 70 years, it’s getting harder to pin down exactly what are the oldest businesses in each of our cities. Or the oldest business in unincorporated areas of Gwinnett.
But many of our Forum readers have hidden in their minds information such as this. So let your mind wander, and then send along to us, by phone, email or U.S. Mail, what you think is the oldest, and we’ll check it out.
Snellville Mayor Barbara Bender says certainly one of the oldest continuously operating businesses in Gwinnett is E.R. Snell Contractor in Snellville, the highway paving and asphalt people. That company dates back to 1923…and will mark its 100th birthday next year. Very few other businesses opened earlier than that.
One guy suggested we check it out by the number on a company’s business license. But some cities don’t have this information in such order. We did find that Dover and Cheek Plumbing in Buford has business license No. 125, dating back to 1945. Another older firm in Buford is Willard Towing, which Jimmy Willard says also dates back to 1945.
It might be expected that several other firms may date back to just after World War II. For instance, Tom M. Wages Funeral Home in Lawrenceville started in 1949.
Down in Loganville, Robbie Schwartz of the city says that Gene’s Barber Shop on Main Street, operated by Gene McDaniel, is quite old. He says he bought the business in 1973 from Johnny Higgins, who had started the barber shop in 1960.
In Lilburn, City Clerk Melissa Penate says that Cofer Electric Company was started by Lamar Cofer in 1964. Today it continues under Alan Cofer. This may be the oldest firm in Lilburn.
Peachtree Corners is only 10 years old, so the oldest business there probably began before the area was a city. So far, we have few leads as to which business is the oldest there.
In most of the Gwinnett cities, we simply have no idea which firm is the oldest. That’s where we’re counting on our readers to help us out.
So put on your Thinking Cap and get busy, then when you have any thoughts as to which might be an older firm, let us know. We’ll check it out. Let’s solve this Gwinnett question for each city and for the county as well.
Another Forum is in the news. It’s the Forum on Peachtree Parkway. We’ve learned that it has a new owner, North American Properties of Atlanta, through a joint venture with Nuveen Real Estate, a subsidiary of TIAA-CREF mutual funds of Kansas City, Mo. North American has major interests in other northern suburban properties, including Avalon in Alpharetta and Avenue East Cobb.
The Forum’s anchor stories include Belks, Barnes and Noble and Trader Joe’s. The Forum was purchased by AEW Capital Management for $150 million in 2014.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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