Merle Norman comes to Main Street

SALISBURY — A Merle Norman cosmetics studio has opened in downtown Salisbury.

The store, located at 207 S. Main St., will offer personalized service, said owner Jennifer Cannon. The store will focus on customer satisfaction, Cannon said, offering trials of makeup before the purchase.

The shop will carry a full line of products, Cannon said.

Cannon said she has been wearing Merle Norman makeup since she was 13. After a lifetime in the cosmetics industry, she took over ownership of a Merle Norman store in Kannapolis in 2006.

Cannon’s Salisbury store will her third Merle Norman store. The company asked her to open the store because of her experience in cosmetics and with the Merle Norman brand, she said.

In the downtown location, Cannon hopes the store will reach millennial customers.

All Merle Norman products are made in the U.S., she said.

New Sarum brews beer with Patterson Farm strawberries

MOUNT ULLA — Salisbury’s New Sarum Brewing Co. used strawberries from Patterson Farm in China Grove to brew a new strawberry beer, according to Andy Maben, co-owner and brewmaster.

Brewhouse employees picked a truckload of berries at Patterson Farm to start the process of brewing and canning. The new beer, called Strawberry Hazycakes, is available at local restaurants.

After introducing the beer at its taproom this month, New Sarum quickly sold out.

“It has been an amazing success, and we will do it again next year,” said Maben.

He attributes the success to quality and the current “knowledge-based movement in the U.S.”

“People want to know where their food comes from,” he says. “They want local food.”

From the truckload of berries, New Sarum processed 150 gallons of puree to make 1,000 gallons of beer. By picking the fruit themselves, Maben said, the brewhouse staff became invested in the process.

“It gives us a connection to the beer.”

Groundbreaking held for SECU’s Granite Quarry branch

Habitat for Humanity aims to improve home affordability

RALEIGH — Last week, many of North Carolina’s Habitat for Humanity affiliates joined other organizations across the country to launch a national advocacy campaign aimed at improving home affordability for 10 million people in the U.S. over the next five years.

The Cost of Home campaign seeks to identify and improve policies and systems through coordinated advocacy efforts at the local, state and federal levels.

Cost of Home focuses on improving housing affordability in four specific policy areas: increasing supply and preservation of affordable homes; equitably increasing access to credit; optimizing land use for affordable homes; and ensuring access to and development of communities of opportunity.

Nearly 19 million households across the nation are spending at least half of their income on a place to live, often forgoing basic necessities such as food and health care to make ends meet. In North Carolina, one in eight households spends more than half of its income on housing.

Many of North Carolina’s Habitat organizations have already been involved in advocacy work, and Habitat NC hosts an annual Legislative Day in Raleigh to encourage and facilitate conversations between local affiliates and their legislators.

“We’re very excited to have this opportunity to expand conversations between affiliates and their local, state and federal legislators,” said Greg Kirkpatrick, executive director of Habitat NC. “Building and fostering these relationships is our best opportunity to create lasting, meaningful policy change around affordable housing that will help more North Carolinians have a place to call home.”

For more information or to speak to Habitat for Humanity of North Carolina about the campaign, contact Sara Thompson at sara@habitatnc.org or 919-258-8685.