Shelby Thrift Store owners Kerry and Judy Nutter have been in business for the past six years, but have only been owners of the current building on West Main Street for six months and recently they made a historic discovery.
“We spoke with the previous owner, Barry Britt, and talked about removing the wood siding along the building. We knew the east side of the building is where the Castamba Theatre used to be, but we didn’t know what to expect when we removed the wood siding,” said Nutter.
In 1972, the Castamba Theatre was closed. In 1973, the wood siding was placed on the building. 40 years later in July 2013, Castamba Theatre was rediscovered. The Castamba Theatre was a one-screen movie theatre and it was opened in 1918. “This building has a lot of meaning to people in the community and we want to restore it because it is historic.”
Nutter had plans to place vinyl siding on the historic building after the removal of the wood, but once the Castamba Theatre was discovered, they knew a restoration was essential.
“This has brought back a lot of memories for people in Shelby,” said Kerry Nutter.
Nutter revealed, “Shelby is in very early stages of trying to restore downtown buildings and when this was discovered, city officials thought this could be the perfect place to the start the preservation.”
“With a little work, it could be repaired,” said Nutter. Mayor Marilyn John and Community and Economic Development Coordinator Christina Thompson are looking into receiving federal grants for the restoration. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The process of restoration is in the early stages but Nutter said, “This could be a long process, but we are not covering it up. We want to restore this in the best way possible.”
