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U.G. White Mercantile will take over the former Crossroads building this fall in downtown Huntsville. (Courtesy)

A north Alabama institution hopes to breathe new life into downtown Huntsville's retail scene with an expansion of its Athens store this fall.

U.G. White Mercantile, an authentic general store serving the Athens community since 1917, announced today it will take over the former Crossroads Music Hall building on Clinton Avenue. Owner Derrick Young said he has purchased the building from entrepreneur Jim Hudson, who owned it through his downtown development company CityScapes.

U.G. White will occupy the ground floor level of the building, which spans about 14,000 square feet and will be renovated in the coming months. A few potential clients are interested in the space upstairs, Young added.

"There are some restaurants looking," he said. "There's some other people looking who have different ideas for the space. I'm not at liberty to say exactly who or what right now."

The building has been empty since May 2013, when Crossroads and Barrel House shut down. Young said they will open up the building, replace the old laminate floor and soften it to have the "same feeling" as the Athens location on 101 North Jefferson Street.

U.G. White, which will employ 15-20 at the new store, sells a variety of items, including clothing, outdoor gear, private-label foods, candy by the pound and other general store merchandise. Popular brands are Patagonia, Kuhl, Woolrich, W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery, Frost River, Wolverine Boots & Apparel and more.

Young, who took ownership of U.G. White in April 2007, said he is looking forward to bringing something special and unique to the downtown area.

"The retail scene there for the most part doesn't exist," he said. "We're coming in and hoping that we can change that and help downtown Huntsville with all the efforts that are happening now."

Chad Emerson, chief executive officer of Downtown Huntsville Inc., said getting U.G. White to the city center was a year-long courtship. He said the small business looked at several other cities in the Southeast for its expansion, but ultimately landed on Huntsville.

Emerson said U.G. White fits perfectly with the downtown brand and other retailers, including Lewter Hardware, Harrison Brothers Hardware and the Greene Street Market store.

"The four of those combined with Railroad Station really provide some very complementary shopping opportunities in downtown," he said. "Add in Clinton Row and you can see this trend of very local and regional centric branding."