Stranger things have happened, and in the new "Stranger Things" trailer for season 5, Netflix shows us what's to come for the sci-fi horror series finale, with a little touch of Sweet Home Alabama.
The thrilling trailer was enough to get viewers excited, but a hidden "Easter egg" has people in Alabama talking.
One of the show's main characters, Jim Hopper, is wearing an ACE Hardware – Heflin, Ala. trucker hat. A screenshot of the trailer showing the hat was shared on multiple social media platforms. Many people pointed out that there is no ACE Hardware in the Cleburne County town.
However, the former ACE Hardware was a landmark in Heflin for nearly 100 years until it burned in 1988.
Suzanne Payne was in Bible school at church when she heard about the hat on "Stranger Things."
She said she was shocked when someone brought it to her attention. Her father, Thomas Yates Owens, was the owner of Owens ACE Hardware. After the trailer of the final season premiered, word spread quickly, and before she knew it, Payne was receiving messages and phone calls from others in the community.
"I'm just so glad they're that the interest has risen about the store because it is a phenomenal story," said Payne.
The hardware store began as Atkins and Owens in 1889. Payne's grandfather purchased the store, which became J.A. Owens & Co. Payne's father eventually took over the store, and a few years later, it was converted into an ACE Hardware store, remaining a staple in the Heflin community.
In the late 1980s, the store caught fire and was destroyed. It never reopened.
"It was the biggest fire Heflin had ever seen," Payne remembered. "It carried paint, kerosene, all types of flammable things. It was devastating to my father because he had just lost my mother the year before."
Although the store is gone, Payne is thankful her father's legacy is living on through a popular Netflix show.
"The store meant so much to so many people and my dad meant a lot to so many people," she said. "He really helped people grow and gave them the opportunity to work."
"It warms my heart because that's something that was my father's center of his life, other than our family, and it was for generations before him," she added.
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