Taylor ShookFayetteville Observer
A longtime business in the Bronco Midtown shopping center on Murchison Road may be closing near the end of this month.
Hafeena Ali-Martinez, owner of dollar store and frulato dessert shop Feena’s since 2005, received a letter from Grant-Murray Property Management on Tuesday that her lease would not be renewed and that she must vacate the building by Sept. 5.
The Army veteran, known around Fayetteville as "Miss Feena," said she wasn’t sure if she wouldclose the shop this month.
“It’s breaking my heart,” she said Wednesday. “I’m depressed.”
Trinidad-born Ali-Martinez, 60, said that when she opened nearly 20 years ago, the Murchison Road neighborhood had a reputation for drugs and violence and most business owners wouldn't open shops in the city's historically Black corridor.
Now, she said, she believes her lease is being terminated to make way for more chains in the shopping plaza, like McAlister's Deli, which opened a few years ago, and Chick-fil-A, which is set to open this fall.
In the last two decades, Ali-Martinez and her shop have endured many ups and downs.
She faced pandemic shutdowns and increased competition from the short-lived Murchison Road Walmart Neighborhood Market. Most recently, she said she received pushback from property management regarding logos on Feena's shop windows and her occasional giveaway events.
Unlike fellow Bronco Midtown tenant McAlister’s Deli, Ali-Martinez said, her business never got a boost from Fayetteville State’s “bronco bucks” system in which students can use dollars from their university meal plans to purchase food.
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Despite those setbacks, however, Feena’s has managed to build a loyal following with Fayetteville State students, Fort Liberty soldiers and local families, the mother of two said, which would make closing the store a sad occasion.
“I'm thinking, 'Oh my God, this is how I have to go out? I have to be kicked out?'” Ali-Martinez said.
Fayetteville State administrator says he's 'not involved' in Bronco Midtown management
Wesley T. Fountain, a Fayetteville State administrator who is listed as the registered agent for Bronco Development, which owns the shopping center, said Wednesday that he is "not involved" with the management of the shopping center.
He said he doesn't have oversight of the comings and goings of Bronco Midtown tenants, and he didn't know who at the university would be involved.
"This is the first I'm hearing of it," he said. "I haven't communicated with Feena."
Grant-Murray property manager Becki Ross did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Ali-Martinez kept shop open through family deaths, breast cancer
The shop owner's personal life has been turbulent, she said. She kept the store open while grievingthe death of her father and two of her brothers and during a years-long battle against breast cancer.
“I was going at 5 o’clock in the morning to get my radiation, thencoming here and opening the store,” Ali-Martinez said.
After several surgeries and rounds of radiation treatments, she said she’s grateful to be in remission now.
“I was always fighting for my life,” she said.
Ali-Martinez worked her way up from humble beginnings
Raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Ali-Martinez said she immigrated to the U.S. at 19 years old with just $500 in her pocket.
She joined the Army in her 20s, was deployed to Iraq during The Gulf War, and was eventually stationed at Fort Liberty. Ali-Martinez said she medically retired in 2003 and made the Fayetteville area her home.
A couple years later, she opened a dollar store and art gallery across the street from her alma mater, Fayetteville State, in Bronco Midtown.
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A few years ago, she started serving ice cream, smoothies and frulato, a frozen dessert made from fruit akin to Italian ice.
All the while, Ali-Martinez said, she’s hosted backpack giveaways each falland served Christmas dinners to locals in need each winter.She said she’s given away thousands of dollars in school supplies and food.
What’s next for Feena’s?
The future of the Murchison Road store is up in the air, Ali-Martinez said.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do,” she said. “I don’t want to leave.”
Ali-Martinez has a Reilly Road location in progress that she hopes to open in the fall. Part of it will be the Feena’s frulato shop Fayetteville has come to love, and part of the building will be commercial kitchen space available for rent, she said.
Food, dining and culture reporter Taylor Shook can be reached at tshook@gannett.com. Want weekly food news delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the Fayetteville Foodies newsletter.
