Southeastern Salvage has purchased the former Golden Flake potato chip factory in Birmingham and plans to move there in the spring, leaving behind its storefront in Irondale.

The former Golden Flake factory promises a much bigger showroom for Southeastern Salvage’s cornucopia of imported pottery, garden decor, rugs, furniture and assortment of home improvement items.

Utz Quality Foods, based in Hanover, Penn., purchased Golden Enterprises, Golden Flake’s parent company, in 2016 for $141 million, and ended all Birmingham potato chip production in 2023.

“We bought that building from Utz,” said Bubba Morgan, founder and owner of Southeastern Salvage. “It’s 36 acres.”

While the former Golden Flake factory is in an industrial area in Titusville just west of Interstate 65 downtown, without a retail storefront, Morgan said the business needed the space.

“It’s far less visible than Irondale,” Morgan said. “We have a great store. We have great people. It’s the number two store in our company, of 11 stores.”

But the Irondale store only has 65,000 square feet of retail space.

By comparison, the Southeastern Salvage store in Mobile on Interstate 65 is on 10 acres in a 120,000-square-feet building that was a former Sam’s Club.

In Chattanooga, the store has about 127,000 square feet, Morgan said.

“There’s so much stuff in Irondale we can’t sell, because we don’t have room,” he said.

“Did the location appeal to us compared to Irondale? No,” he said. “Being able to have 135,000 square feet, being able to have tall ceilings, being able to have two acres of just garden center all around the building, that did appeal to us.”

Southeastern Salvage has been on a 20-year lease at the Irondale building that expires in May 2025, he said.

“We don’t have a choice,” he said. “We’ve been looking for a building for a year.”

Morgan said the Irondale store has built up such a loyal customer base that he believes they will come to the former Golden Flake factory for more selection.

“Because of the nature of what we sell and the prices, we’re hoping they come,” Morgan said.

“We’re going to have so many other things to sell,” he said. “We buy nick-and-dent appliances all over the country. We sell them at great prices. We sell composite decking. We sell Redwood decking from California. There’s a lot of stuff we can’t do in Irondale because we don’t have the space. We’ll have more pottery.”

Morgan said the Golden Flake factory had 280,000 square feet of buildings, but he only plans to use 135,000 square feet of the main building.

Two other buildings are being remodeled for sale or lease.

When Golden Flake left, its equipment stayed behind with the property.

“Utz left an entire potato-chip processing line in,” Morgan said. “The whole line was left intact.”

Morgan said he auctioned it all off to buyers in Saudi Arabia, England and Egypt.

Southeastern Salvage bought the entire Golden Flake campus for $6 million, and has sold off most of the equipment for about $750,000, Morgan said.

Golden Flake had a $5 million stainless steel water purifying system, and Morgan said he’s considering donating that to an international missions charity for use in an area that needs clean water.

Morgan said Southeastern Salvage should be moved out of its Irondale property by March 2025.

The Golden Flake factory was once a popular field trip for school children and represents one of the most beloved food products in Alabama history.

The Golden Flake factory in Birmingham made its final potato chip on June 9, 2023, ending a historic run as one of Alabama’s favorite snack foods.

Utz still sells products under the Golden Flake brand, but they are no longer made in Birmingham.

Golden Flake began as Magic City Foods in 1923 in the basement of a Hill’s Grocery store in north Birmingham, with its “Golden Flake” potato chips being made, placed in hand-stapled bags and sold at the grocery store.

From 1960 through 1982, Golden Flake sponsored the weekly “Bear Bryant Show” on Birmingham television every Sunday with Coca-Cola as co-sponsor, and the slogan, “Great Pair, says The Bear.”

Paul “Bear” Bryant, who became Alabama’s coach in 1958 and died in 1983, did every show with a bowl of Golden Flake potato chips on the set.

Bryant endorsed the chips partly because of his friendship with the Bashinsky family.

Leo Bashinsky and his brother-in-law Cyrus Case bought the company in 1946. Leo’s son, Sloan Bashinsky Sr., bought Magic City Foods from his father and uncle in 1956 and changed the name to Golden Flake.

See also: End of a Golden Flake era: Birmingham factory closing leaves warm memories of hot chips

Who ate the last Golden Flake potato chip made in Alabama?

Golden Flake potato chip maker plans warehouse; Birmingham agrees to improve road