Wednesday's Woman: Debra Moon McGlamery

Roots run deep for Snellville native Debra (DJ) Moon McGlamery. With familial connections to the Snells, Williams, and Britts, McGlamery “ended up kin to virtually all of Snellville.” 

Things have changed significantly since McGlamery’s early days in town. 

“In 1960, our population was 460 people,” she said. (That number is close to 20,000 now.)

Her parents, Jean and Sadie Moon, opened Treasures for Your Home, a small home décor and furniture store in 1964 in the Snellville Shopping Plaza. They moved and reopened in the current location in 1974.  

Her connection to Snellville goes back further than that, however. The Moon side of her family was Cherokee Indian, the original occupants of Gwinnett County.  When Andrew Jackson opened up homesteading in the area, and subsequently forcibly removed the Cherokee Indians back in the mid-1800s, McGlamery’s multiple-great-grandfather married a Cherokee Indian woman. 

The Nashes, another branch of her family, settled in the Five Forks area in 1832 after trading their homestead on Stone Mountain for either a shotgun or rifle, she said. Things have changed since those days of rural living.  

“In the 1970s, we were the fastest growing county in the nation,” McGlamery reminisced. 

When her father passed away a few years ago, his partner took over and renamed the store Castleberry’s. Unfortunately, the economy made its mark on the faithful old store, and it shut down after three decades of serving Snellville. 

The building stood empty for three years, when McGlamery took over in October of 2010 and breathed life back into it. She kept the original “Treasures” part of the name and renamed the store “Unique Treasures.” Rather than a traditional store, she considers it more of an upscale flea market. 

“We offer everything, so long as it’s nice,” she said. “I didn’t want junk, but I wanted it to be a flea market, so that I could carry anything.”

The store functions as a co-op and encourages locals to start their own businesses. She tells each vendor that they don't run a booth, they run a store. 

“Everyone works one day per month per booth,” she said, “which allows me to offer very low rent and low prices.  I get a small commission on sales, and we operate more than 200 separate businesses.”

The store offers everything from homemade soap, which can take a month to make, to handmade barnwood furniture, a specialty of McGlamery’s. 

"I take down the old barns and recycle the wood,” she explained. “It makes for unique one-of-a-kind pieces. It’s a great way to make stuff that you can’t find anywhere."

She believes her store is exactly what the economy needs. It has opened business opportunities for more than 200 people, who may be unemployed, retired, or who do this for a living. She is inspired by the impact her parents made on the community and hopes to make a positive mark on Snellville.  

Running the store that has been in her family for decades has been a dream come true for McGlamery. Many of her family members work in the store. Her brother managed it, and her two sons were delivery guys. 

“It puts a smile on my face working in my parent’s old store,” she said. “It feels wonderful and satisfying because the store’s soul has been put back in it. I couldn’t be more proud or more pleased to be in this building, and it be a success.”