Blanton and Pleasants, a local family owned and operated business, is celebrating their 75th anniversary as a Southern States dealer. Located in Cartersville, the store has become a unique piece of community history. Over the past 81 years there has been four generations of the Blanton family and four generations of the Pleasants family that have operated the store. Today, James “Spanky” Pleasants and his wife June Pleasants carry on the tradition of running the local business.

The Cartersville community depends on this store more than your average farm and home store. Blanton and Pleasants is your 'one stop shop' for gas, groceries, hardware and Southern States farm and home products. Spanky Pleasants, owner of the store says, “If we don't have it, we can get it.” There are three floors and a warehouse that make up the store. The first floor houses mostly groceries, household products and pet supplies. The other two floors make up the hardware and Southern States portions. The warehouse out back is filled with Southern States feed, seed and fertilizer. There is even a basement filled with antiques including a collection of antique cars.

Blanton and Pleasants is the place to go for those hard to find items and also provide some services that you wouldn't expect from a farm and home store. Are you in need of a haircut? Spanky has his barber chair in the back ready with his scissors in hand. If the neighbor's kid has hit a baseball through one of your windows, you can get glass cut at the store also.

When you walk into Blanton and Pleasants, Spanky and June make you feel at home. You can stay as long as you like. There are chairs and a table in the front of the store that welcomes early morning coffee groups and afternoon conversation circles. June says that one of the things she likes best about the store is, “that it is family oriented and we all work together.” Spanky says that he enjoys going to work every day and talking to the people of the community. He goes on to say, “I'm not here to make money, we're here for our friends and customers.”

Blanton and Pleasants' Southern States products consist of everything you need for the farm and home including pet food, farm supplies, fencing supplies, plants, roofing supplies and much more. Mr. E.C. Walton Jr. has been using the store for his one stop shopping for the past sixty four years. When asked how long he's been a customer of Blanton and Pleasants, Walton says, “all of my life.” His father was a customer there and when he started farming himself in 1946 he also became a valued customer. He says that they provide, “good service, good people and good products.” He has relied on Southern States products sold at the store throughout his farming career, and says that he has been happy with them through the years and in particular says, “The Southern States cattle feed is a really good feed.”

The family unit that keeps the daily operations of the store running consists of Spanky, his wife June, Vivian Dunn – daughter of one of the original owners Garland Blanton Sr. and Kim Norman – granddaughter of Spanky and June. Kim's children will even come into the store from time to time. June says that their store has provided a good source of jobs for the community's kids in the summer and that all of the Blanton and Pleasants' kids have also worked at the store at one time or another over the years.

When asked how he feels about being a partner with Southern States, Spanky says, “Its number one. The salespeople are great.” Treating customers as part of the family, providing them with quality products, including everything they need in one stop and adding good service to it all has proven to be a successful combination for a long standing and well respected business.