Belle Foods: Competition for Publix?

Many Shoals residents can't wait for Publix to open its doors to the promised land of fresh and exotic groceries, but newcomer Belle Foods is determined to make a dent in their market. Between Halloween and Thanksgiving, three local markets will be rebranded Belle Foods. Belle purchased the parent company of Bruno's, Southern Market, Food World, and Piggly Wiggly (select franchises).

Expect to see Florence and Muscle Shoals Food Worlds not only turn purple and green, Belle's trademark colors, but to completely overhaul the limited selections the chain had come to be known for the past few years. Some Belle stores even furnish a staffed nursery where mothers can drop their little ones while they shop; no word yet on the availability of that option in the Shoals. We hope Belle Foods lives up to its press--certainly many of us don't look forward to a weekly trek onto the parkway and its ubiquitous traffic signals just to purchase groceries.

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Two sets of rumors, but no one seems to know even who's on first. There are apparently no plans for Halloween festivities at the Weeden Home this year. We will revert to calling Sweetwater Plantation, or what's left of it, by its common name since owner Susan Leigh Smithson has completely disbanded the committee that had been in charge of these events for the past two years. Readers have asked if there are pending lawsuits. While there may be, we have found no record of any filed in Lauderdale County. If any readers have updates, please send them our way.

A second set of questions concerns the shooting of Jesse Rainey at Crooked Oak. We're sure rumors abound for many reasons; it seems no two news sources are reporting the same facts in the case. Even the number of youths present (8 or 9) at the unsupervised house party is in question. We have a contact in the Colbert County Sheriff's office and will post an update as soon as we can verify some of the information we've received.

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Shoalanda