There is a storefront shop in Harlem that serves as a new home for old treasures.
Southern Branches is a consignment store on Louisville Street that gives forgotten finds a second chance.
“I just believe everything needs to be re-loved,” said owner Barbie Graham. “Everything needs to be fixed up.”
Graham has a predilection for acquiring used items and making them anew, from furniture and housewares to quaint old decorative pieces, whether by collecting them or refinishing them herself.
When she’s not running the store, Graham is often traveling around, sometimes as far as Tennessee, to yard sales and estate sales looking for discarded merchandise waiting to be made precious again.
“I’m really bad about finding stuff on the road,” she said. “I want everyone to be able to come in and redecorate on a budget. I love to decorate, and I’ve just got too much, and I’ve got to get rid of it.”
Graham and a friend of hers had been collecting old items, or “junking,” for years and had rented booths to sell what she had found and refinished before setting up shop at her current location in 2016.
The Harlem native was a hairdresser for 32 years, most recently at Heather’s Classic Cuts salon on Milledgeville Road, before leaving two years ago to focus on the shop full-time.
“This is my retirement,” said Graham. “Going shopping for junk and rebuilding furniture. I love it. It’s kind of a hobby that got out of control.”
The peculiar pastime has managed to keep Southern Branches a mainstay in Harlem for the few years it has been open. Graham notes that her customer base isn’t limited to Harlem, as people regularly visit from all over the county and beyond.
The shop’s stock doesn’t only consist of quaint collectibles that Graham has found. Since opening the store, Graham has set up a shop at her home for refinishing. The collectibles that Graham has acquired and refurbished are complemented in the store by several that others have found and offered to her for consignment. A significant portion of Southern Branches inventory is comprised of arts and crafts designed by fellow Harlem residents.
“I have a man that makes homemade furniture, who makes all my wood items,” said Graham. “I have a lady who makes all my wreaths. And all these people are local.”
The upcoming fall and holiday months, she says, tend to be the most lucrative. Events like the Oliver Hardy Festival, Ladies Night Out in Harlem alongside the Christmas season attract people going out and eager to find unique used wares. The COVID pandemic slowed things down for Southern Branches, and Graham had to close for about eight weeks at the pandemic’s height. Graham and Southern Branches have persevered through it and the summer months, and Graham is still eager to show off all manner of furnishings, decoration, trinkets and toys brought back to life, even if for no other reason than that she loves it.
“Doing hair is a form of art where you’ve got to make them happy,” said Graham. “This is a form of art that makes me happy.”
Southern Branches is at 191 N. Louisville Street in Harlem. For more information call (706) 305-8966 or visit its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/southernbranchesharlemga/.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering Columbia County with The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
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