By JOYANNA LOVE/Senior Staff Writer

After two decades of owning Kelleyco in Coopers, Pat Kelley has sold the business and retired.

“I am well past retirement age and I just decided with a lot of prayer that it was time for me to retire and enjoy my great-grandkids,” Kelley said.

Kelley said she has enjoyed meeting people while working at the convenience store and gas station.

“There are a lot of wonderful people in Coopers,” Kelley said. “I love people and they have all become like my family.”

She said she will miss interacting with customers.

“We watched a lot of kids grow up to be young adults while we were there. I really enjoyed my store,” Kelley said.

She said she had been contacted by people interested in buying the store in the past and the most recent offer was one she could accept.

The convenience store will become Sunshine Food Mart #4. Khal Gill of Sunshine Food Mart said the stores are family owned with the business headquarters located in Birmingham. Gill said the Coopers location was chosen because they liked the neighborhood, and thought it would be a good place to expand. The phone number for the store will remain the same — 755-2093.

Kelleyco was established by Kelley and her late husband Rubin.

“We built it from the ground up,” Kelley said.

The couple had been farmers and “had some bad luck, so we decided we would open a store.” Kelley said God “worked a miracle for us to be able to open Kelleyco.” They started by renting the location, then purchased it and built the existing building.

Kelley will continue to live in Coopers during her retirement.

“This is home. I won’t be moving,” Kelley said.

Kelley plans to remain active in the community.

“Anything I can do to help my community. I will be doing that too,” Kelley said.

She said retirement will give her more opportunities to spend time with family and attend their events.