♪ The city of Greer was incorporated in 1876, and it became an area of commerce around the turn of the last century around this very area where we're standing.

As you can hear in the background, that is the sound of commerce getting ready to come through the town of Greer.

[train whistle blowing] It is a train as you can tell, and this is an occurrence about 25 plus times a day.

[train whistle fades] At one point in time, Greer had a number of textile mills.

Into that economy was a boon economy through the last century up until we began to see the decline of the textile communities.

Fortunately, this was a resilient community.

As you have seen over the last 20 years in Greer, a real resurgence of this authenticity of a small southern downtown.

It is very walkable, a feel that is very easy.

It's still got restaurants that are owned and run by the chef, clothing stores that are owned by families, and I think that's one of the things that attracts people to this area.

>> I've been in Greer for about eight years now.

We absolutely love Greer.

We are a high end upscale men's consignment and tuxedo haberdashery.

I do a lot of business with teenagers, high school, college, entry level college, college grads, entry level job market, and generally men who have needs for funerals, weddings.

We service about five or six high schools during prom season.

We tend to have a lot of out of the city business coming more since the city of Greer has become more revitalized.

>> The Greer Farmers Market started back in 2015.

Now we are located in downtown Greer City Park, and we are held on Tuesday nights 4:30 to 7:30 PM.

We have approximately 30 to 40 vendors here at the Greer Farmers Market, and those range from farmers, bakers, artisans, and makers.

They're selling local produce, things like soap, candles, all locally made.

We have fresh fruit vendors that come out here with strawberries, peaches, apples.

We've started doing little cook off competitions, and we have judges taste it and see which one's their favorite, and everyone wins a trophy.

>> Greer Relief is the oldest nonprofit in Greer.

It has been serving the community of Greer and the surrounding area for over 85 years.

Neighbors coming in and asking for assistance in a variety of ways.

They may be walking in, needing food.

They may need assistance with their utility bill.

They may be coming in for a class on job skills.

They may be coming in for resume writing.

They may be coming in for a health class on nutrition.

So when our neighbors are coming to Greer Relief, they are coming because they need help right then, and there's a crisis going on in their home.

It's a medical crisis or a job crisis.

With the stability assistance, we want to end the crisis.

So we want to try to help educate, show them the tools, give them tools in their own tool belts so that they also can end the crisis for themselves.

Rick>> Well, the actual revitalization is a 25 year project.

We started that in the late 1990's, and our most recent project started in 2019 was a complete redo of our main street called Trade Street.

We have taken that area and converted it to what we called a "shared surface space."

James>> One of the best attractions to downtown Greer is not only the lighting, but the brick streets.

It's one of the very few cities and towns that has a downtown that is completely brick, the sidewalk and the street.

Rick>> It still handles two way traffic.

It still has walkable areas.

It has outdoor dining.

It took what was typically a autocentric feel or design and turned it into a pedestrian feel and design, by intention.

James>> We actually had some say in the design as merchants.

We helped design it so we could create an entertainment space.

So there's no curbs and gutters, and if there's no cars on the street, it's a flat landscape.

Rick>> We can use it for festivals and gatherings.

It really has proven to be a game changer for us.

It's so unique, and yet it hasn't altered any of what makes downtown downtown.

[singing and strumming] ♪ ...to try to get a date ♪ ♪ My boss says, no dice, son, ♪ ♪ you gotta work late ♪ Jessica>> City of Greer is fabulous supporter of the Greer Farmers Market by allowing us to use the Greer City Park out here.

It's a beautiful location.

We often have music out on the lawn.

People will come in with their picnic blankets, shop from our vendors, grab them some dinner at a food truck and listen to the live music on the lawn, and you don't get that option at many locations.

Rick>> One of the things that we like to do is talk about Greer being a community, and I think that conveys a sense of something a little different than just a city.

>> As an offshoot from our Empire Limited studio, we also have created a nonprofit called Rural Threads, where we actually teach young men and women social and wardrobe etiquette.

We teach them how to iron, how to sew, how to shine shoes.

I'm most proud of that as my contribution to this community.

>> Greer Relief is supported by the community.

It's the community and our individual donors, our churches, our religious supporters, and then the corporate supporters, as well.

One of the most beautiful things with social media is, when our pantry is low, is just posting a picture of our shelf, and it is amazing how fast things fill up when we show an empty shelf.

It's a community effort.

It takes a village.

♪ Rick>> We're certainly blessed in the Greer area to have a number of manufacturing companies and particularly international companies.

The most famous one's either going to be Michelin or BMW.

There are other companies here from 30 to probably 50 different countries, all that call Greer home.

South Carolina Inland Port is located here in Greer.

It was a vision of the South Carolina Ports Authority to have a centralized place away from the port in Charleston that they could ship goods on a rapid basis so that they could be distributed faster.

It gives them the ability to take a container literally off of a ship, put it on a train, have it in Greer that day or the next day, on a truck the next day and on its way to wherever it needs to go.

One of the real amenities besides the inland port that we have too is the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport.

Now as they have grown and are servicing literally the world, from a freight standpoint, that is another advantage for a lot of the companies in the Upstate to have here.

It's certainly an amenity, not only to the city, but to the Upstate.

James>> Being a minority business owner, it doesn't feel like being a minority business owner.

I think that's the best quality of how the support has been given to us, but one of my focuses is to treat everyone that comes through that door the same, and I guess they treat me the same as well.

Caroline>> What attracted me to Greer was the small town atmosphere.

People really are truly genuine, and that is something that's very special, that warm, welcoming, inviting spirit.

Jessica>> And it's that small town feel that you're really wanting from home, even though it's got a lot of amenities of a big town.

It's such a small town feel.

Rick>> It feels like home to most people, though, regardless of where they're moving from.

There's always something that they can connect.

Caroline>> My hope as Greer keeps developing is that Greer Relief is going to be able to continue to develop with them.

Rick>> I think one of the most exciting things to me about Greer is it's future.

We've had significant growth since 1990.

As we continue to grow, we are creating this community here that this is the place that you choose to live, that you want to work, that you can raise a family here and know that it's a good place to do that.

Jessica>> Greer is our town!

James>> Greer is our town!

Caroline>> This is our town!

Rick>> Greer is our town!

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