Fayetteville supports Feena’s dessert shop as Murchison Road lease expires

Feena’s, a long-standing dollar store and dessert shop in Fayetteville’s Bronco Midtown shopping center on Murchison Road, has been bustling with customers since news broke last week that the store may close when its lease expires in early September.

The store is across the street from Fayetteville State University and has seen a steady flow of university employees, Fort Liberty soldiers, at least one elected official and others this week wanting to show their support for owner Hafeena Ali-Martinez.

Ali-Martinez said her lawyer is currently negotiating a new lease with Grant Murray Property Management, the mall’s operator.

“They’re working on a deal,” she said Friday. “The first one was really insulting. It was like a one-year lease.”

Previously: The future of Feena’s, a long-standing business on Murchison Road, is uncertain after its lease expires

An online petition to keep Feena’s in the mall had collected more than 1,200 signatures by Friday.

“For the past two decades … it has been a cornerstone of our community on Murchison Road,” the petition states.

Feena’s plans to open a location on Reilly Road later this year

Ali-Martinez told the Observer last week that she plans to open a Feena’s on Reilly Road this fall in a 3,680-foot building that will also offer commercial kitchen space for lease.

In comments on an Aug. 9 post on the Fayetteville Observer’s Facebook page, the Hope Mills Chamber of Commerce, the Sweet Factory candy store at Freedom Town Center and the future Fayetteville food hall Railyard FVL each expressed interest in collaborating or helping Ali-Martinez open a new business in the area.

Other commentators expressed hope that Feena’s will remain in the Murchison Road area.

“The students need you at FSU,” said one comment.

“How can we stop this or help? The students are going to need her. She was everything when (I) was in school, so helpful and resourceful,” another person commented.

Backpack raffle expected to attract crowds on Saturday

On Saturday, from noon to 5 p.m., Feena’s will host a backpack drive, an annual tradition that has been going on for about a decade to distribute school supplies to community members in need.

“Feena’s has always been committed to providing thousands of backpacks and school supplies to our youth in need,” the online petition states.

Related: Former owner of Fayetteville Pie Company now serves grilled cheese from a ’90s school bus

Free samples of the Frulato, the fruit gelato for which the shop is known, will be available on Saturday, Ali-Martinez announced on her Facebook page on Wednesday.

The store will maintain its regular opening hours Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. until further notice, the post said.

Reporter Taylor Shook can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared in the Fayetteville Observer: Is Feena’s leaving its Murchison Road location in Fayetteville?