by Michael Hibblen | Apr 21, 2026 | Arkansas Business, Arkansas News, Arkansas Preservation
This story, published in The Glenwood Herald on April 17, is a good example of how much I enjoy the unique storytelling opportunities that are available while reporting for small town newspapers.
Building owner Ethan Blackman and Tasha Harris inside the recently cleaned out storefront where she will open her store Farm Fresh Beauty. Photo: Michael Hibblen
Soon the creamy smell of soap being made will be wafting through downtown Glenwood, Ark., emanating from a shop at 223 E. Broadway. It’s the expansion of a business run by Tasha Harris of Kirby who is opening her first brick-and-mortar store.
For 13 years, she has been making small batches of artisan soap from fresh goat milk. It was first intended for a son who had severe baby eczema. Soon she began giving it to other family members and neighbors with some, she said, eventually asking if they could buy it. Thinking she might be able to make a little money, Harris took some bars to sell at a farmers market in Waldron.
“I was so excited that I called my grandmother, my mother-in-law, and I was like, we made $60 today. It didn’t even cover our expenses, but we were so tickled that people would actually want to use our soap,” Harris said. “A lot of the people in the community use our soaps and we’re very grateful for them. Everybody in our family uses them. Our family also drinks goat milk, so, I mean, we’re a goat milk family, that’s for sure.”
She began traveling to events in states throughout the region to sell her soap and eventually launched an online store, shipping soap to customers all over the U.S. But when she recently saw an empty storefront downtown, she decided to end the driving and pursue her dream of putting down roots by opening a soapery called Farm Fresh Beauty.
Earlier this month, a crew spent a few days removing the old interior — things like cheap wood paneling, plaster over walls and lowered ceilings — to get to the bare structure so that she can begin designing how her store will be laid out.
Harris said it’s “exciting and nerve racking. It’s like, it’s all happening really, really fast, but at the same time, it’s just taking forever to get there. So I don’t know how you can feel both, but I totally do.”
She’s working with Ethan Blackmon, who recently bought the building, primarily to use a large warehouse in the back. The storefront, which he estimates is about 1,800 square feet, was just being used for storage.
The two recently walked through the building, marveling at its newly-exposed brick walls and original tin ceiling tiles.
“My crew had a little bit of time on their hands. I was like, yeah, we can go ahead and start on it, but it just worked out perfect,” Blackmon told her.
“I love it, and the best thing is all this natural light is so beautiful,” Harris responded, gesturing toward the front windows.
Looking toward the front of the shop as renovations are underway. Photo: Michael Hibblen
Now visible for the first time in decades is a sign on one wall from the period when this space was a shoe store. It says “self-service,” inviting customers to pick up shoes themselves rather than wait for a salesperson. The sign offers shoes for $2.88 a pair or two pairs for $5.
Blackmon says his family is from Glenwood and has memories of coming to the shoe store.
“My mom grew up, you know, not too well off and so they would come up here and take advantage of the two for $5 shoes. They’d get their new new shoes for school every year,” he said.
Harris and Blackmon looked at the floor and began deciding where to place counters and how she wants her shop to be laid out. Harris is extremely enthusiastic about what’s being planned.
“So we’re going to turn it into a soapery where you can buy all the handmade artisan soaps. You’re also going to be able to get different things like luxury robes, anything spa-like, you’re able to get it there,” Harris said. “We also have an entire men’s line. All kinds of shaving stuff. We’ll even carry the old-timey straight razors and the belts to sharpen it.”
Toward the back of the shop, customers will also be able to watch Harris and her sister-in-law make the soaps.
“We’ll do everything except milk the goats right there. We’re not going to bring goats in, but we are going to make everything back there from the lotions, soaps, everything,” she said.
Harris says her family currently makes 300 to 400 bars of soap a week. On her farm, she has 36 nubian goats and her mother-in-law does the milking. She says the production process has them going through about ten gallons of milk a week.
She’s aiming to open the store by the beginning of July. In the meantime, the key structural work that Blackmon will need to do is replace the roof. Wood that was once used for bowling alley lanes will also be incorporated into the shop. He said one of his hobbies is looking through online marketplaces for old material that can be reused and he found this wood which had been used for a bowling alley in Oklahoma City.
While Harris is excited about her future shop, she’s equally thrilled that it will become part of the revitalization of downtown Glenwood.
“I really feel in five to 10 years it’s going to be even bigger than it is now. So I knew that if I was going to do this, this is where I wanted to be,” she said. “I feel like downtown is really starting to come alive, and it’s just going to get bigger. So if I was going to get in, now is the time to do it.”
Veteran news reporter, editor and manager spanning more than 30 years at newspapers, radio and television stations. I’m also a photographer, historian and author, having written the 2017 book Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas and hosting a podcast of the same name.
by Michael Hibblen | Mar 26, 2026 | Arkansas News, Arkansas Preservation
I wrote this story for The Glenwood Herald, which ran in the March 20 edition. The newspaper is one of six purchased recently by Newsroom Ventures LLC, which is owned by Roby Brock.
The Glenwood Revitalization Group is trying to find a tenant for the first floor of the historic Alford building. Photo: Michael Hibblen
Walking through the Alford building, Kayla Hartsfield, president of the Glenwood Downtown Network, imagines the possibilities while acknowledging what’s at stake. She hopes to find an ideal business that will move into the 4,000-square-foot first floor of the historic building, becoming an anchor in the revitalization of the city’s two-block downtown area.
Respondents to a survey conducted last fall overwhelmingly said a restaurant is the kind of business most needed to fill a void in dining options for the many visitors who come to the city for its outdoor recreation, she said.
”We need a tenant and would love to have dining. We have a shortage of a variety of dining.”
Maybe it could be a steakhouse, perhaps a restaurant that features live music — there are many possibilities, she said. Second in the survey was a business that provides family entertainment, while tied for third was having an event space or a fitness/wellness center.
Kayla and her husband Ki Hartsfield, an executive vice president at Southern Bancorp, are among six couples in their 30s and 40s who are part of the Glenwood Revitalization Group. All were raised here, then after most had attended college, came back and opened businesses or took over family businesses. They’re wanting to improve the community by rejuvenating the downtown, which she says in recent decades had become a “ghost town” and an “eyesore.”
The Alford, which is the largest building downtown, was constructed around 1915 at the corner of Broadway and 2nd Street. The bottom floor was originally a general store while the second floor was a hotel.
Until work began a couple of years ago, the brick structure had a weathered whitewashed look with the second-floor windows boarded over while an awning hid the original arched front entrance. Now the exterior has been restored with walls that are painted dark green while the architectural features are tan. A mural painted on the side says “Welcome to Historic Downtown Glenwood Arkansas.” Inside the first floor, the brick walls are now exposed and the original ornate tin ceiling tiles are bright and clean.
The Alford building as it appeared on Nov. 12, 2011 can be seen across the street at the corner of Broadway and 2nd streets in Glenwood, Ark. Photo: Chris Litherland/Creative Commons
Kayla Hartsfield inside the Alford building, with construction waiting to be completed when a tenant is selected for the first floor. In the back is an entrance that leads up to the second floor. Photo: Michael Hibblen
For two years the group has been actively seeking a tenant for the first floor, while the plan for the second floor is to again house visitors to the city.
“We would love to eventually — longterm — be able to have nightly rentals up there to help feed our downtown district,“ she said. “The boarding rooms are still intact on the top floor. We still have some of the original doors intact. It’s a really cool place.”
For the business on the first floor, rent will be decided based on several factors, Hartsfield said. Most important will be the cost to complete the renovation.
“We’re building out to suit our tenant’s needs, so we haven’t completed the inside or the outside yet because we’ve been still trying to find that perfect tenant.”
Hartsfield said the goal isn’t about profitability, but finding a tenant who will be successful and a good fit for the downtown. About 10 entities have inquired with some sending business proposals, but she says none have worked out.
Since November 2024, several businesses have opened or relocated to downtown. Hartsfield said they include Mercantile on Broadway, which she manages selling gifts, baked goods and seasonal produce, while a cafe in the back is run by a third-party vendor.
Caddo River Realty and Jackson Title Company moved a few weeks ago to a building on a corner. Legacy Boutique sells women’s clothing, while the Beauty Haven salon offers high quality facials and other skin treatments. Next door to Hartsfield’s shop, Fillabulous Aesthetics has begun moving in. When it opens soon it will provide weight loss management, IV therapy and lip filler treatments.
“So, just a variety,” Hartsfield said. “Its been great because we’re all different types of businesses, so we’ve been able to really feed each other. They send people to us, we send people to them.”
While speaking about the overall downtown project earlier this month at Henderson State University, Ki Hartsfield estimated that at least $1.6 million has been invested in the area by the Glenwood Revitalization Group.
It’s hoped that finally landing a tenant for the Alford building will help achieve the group’s goals for the downtown.
“We’re ultimately wanting to do something that the community can be proud of again. So just community pride and then economic development,” Kayla Hartsfield said. “We have all of these tourists come and they’re driving to Hot Springs. They’re driving to other towns for shopping and dining and entertainment and things to do, so [we’re] trying to change that and get them to stay here and then spend their money here.”
Veteran news reporter, editor and manager spanning more than 30 years at newspapers, radio and television stations. I’m also a photographer, historian and author, having written the 2017 book Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas and hosting a podcast of the same name.
