What’s in a name? A small fortune for businesses around Fort Bragg
FAYETTEVILLE N C AP When it came to a picking a name for his business Ralph Rodriguez rolled the dice He went with Fort Liberty Pawn Gun It s going to cost him about That s signage uniforms stationery business cards advertising and state licensing changes and federal changes he stated When he was filing his incorporation papers last fall Rodriguez knew one of President Donald Trump s campaign promises was to restore the names of Confederate officers like Gen Braxton Bragg to military installations rebranded under the Biden administration But it seemed to Rodriguez that he should go with the installation s name as it was at the time We were trying to attach ourselves to the military base and show patronage for them because we know that s going to be our customers he disclosed with a shrug I could care less about Braxton Bragg Less than a month into Trump s second term Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the installation rechristened Fort Bragg this time in honor of World War II paratrooper Roland Bragg of Maine Two things right now went through Rodriguez s mind The first thing I noted was It s going to be expensive And the second thing was Who s going to get mad about THIS People were telling Rodriguez he should call his shop Fort Bragg Pawn Gun even before Trump won the electoral process After all it s located on Fort Bragg Road Then shortly before the grand opening in December someone vandalized his sign We came to work and we seen a yellow line across the Liberty he commented Rodriguez is used to catching flak for his Michigan roots or the peace sign tattoo on his right arm And then there s his wife s crystal shop next door My customers call her side the liberal containment center he commented with a chuckle And what do her customers call his Trumpers he disclosed Or you know mega gun nuts As a sop to her husband s clientele Hannah Rodriguez carries a insufficient stones carved in the shape of pistols and hand grenades Crystals and pistols she explained with a giggle But when it comes to Bragg vs Liberty it s no guffawing matter Look there s no middle ground in Fayetteville They re extremely either right or left Ralph Rodriguez commented If you tilt one way or another man you re going to lose customers But we would definitely have lost more if we would have kept it Fort Liberty Pawn and Gun Several other businesses in and around Fayetteville also went with Liberty including the local federal credit union It has already changed back though it will take a while to redo all the signs At least one company is sticking with the name Liberty We came up with this whole name based on the alliteration because I m a big writer geek reported Sabrina Soares broker in charge at the real estate firm Fort Liberty Living So we re supposedly just going to keep it as is In the state spent to change all the Fort Bragg highway signs to Fort Liberty Switching them back is expected to run over Rodriguez figures he got off easy On a contemporary sultry afternoon retired Army officer and mayoral candidate Freddie de la Cruz stopped by to chat and check up on a purchase a semiautomatic -gauge shotgun painted with the Stars and Stripes which he s planning to raffle off He explained Rodriguez shouldn t be so hard on himself It was a smart move there he commented At the time Retired Army Master Sgt Sidney High declared he has no matter coming into a shop called Fort Liberty It doesn t bother me at all he disclosed resting his cola on a glass gun occurrence I call it Fort Bragg all the time anyway So it doesn t make any difference to me Rodriguez figures it will take about six months to get everything switched over He s looking forward to putting this chapter behind him I just want to be in business he commented I want to be happy I want everybody else to be happy And it s hard It s hard and you can t keep both sides happy Just to be safe he s keeping both names on the paperwork Source
