Wood’s Mercantile’s new look livens up downtown

A staple in Downtown Clarkesville, Wood’s Mercantile can pride itself on being the oldest retail store in Habersham County.

Current owner Kevin Wood purchased the shop back in 2019 and began renovations in the same year. The renovations consisted of lots of changes throughout the store, including a new ceiling, lighting, flooring and exterior renovations as well.

“In 2019, (we) started with renovating the back of the store to move our mattress/bedding gallery to that area,” said Owner Kevin Wood. “...We then removed the window displays at the front of the store. This opened up the front of the store and added so much natural light to the store… In the summer of 2019, we started remodeling the downstairs. When we bought the store, there was an area of small rooms that was dark and not very shopable. We removed all the small rooms and it really opened up the entire downstairs.”

Even though the renovations began in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the completion of renovations to October of 2022.

“We had planned to renovate the exterior in early 2020,” said Wood. “The building plans were completed in 2019, but Covid put a hold on that project. After we opened back up after the Covid lockdowns, we were very busy and did not have to do the project at that time. Building materials quickly rose and I decided to hold off for a while. In the beginning of 2022, I decided it was time to complete the renovation of the exterior. I secured financing and we started in late June. The exterior was completed in early October.”

After the renovations were completed, Wood noticed that foot traffic within the store has gone up, and the customers of Wood’s as well as the Clarkesville community are huge fans of the new Wood’s Mercantile.

“I’ve had so many people come up to me and thank me for improving the look of Clarkesville,” said Wood. “We have people coming in all the time who say they didn’t realize we were here until we painted the building. It is very satisfying to know we have had a positive impact on our little town. I am excited for the future of Wood’s.”

With the rising costs of almost everything imaginable, one can only imagine how much the renovations to Wood’s cost the company. Despite the large project, Wood feels that the money used to renovate the building will come back to the company in one way or another.

“My philosophy is if you want to compete in today’s world, you must stay relative,” Wood said.

What is now known as Wood’s Mercantile furniture store used to be a hardware store. Because it was built in 1972, Wood knew that some aesthetics had to change to serve the store’s new purpose.

“When I bought the business in 2019, I knew we would have to do renovations. The building was tired and had only been updated minimally since it was built in 1972… I felt like there were areas to improve in the look of the space. I also had the vision to bring mainstream fashions to update the overall look of the store,” Wood said. “The most impactful part of the exterior renovations was painting the brick on the building. I was a little worried on how it would turn out, but I am very happy with the finished product. It looks very fresh and noticeable without looking out of place.”