Golden Triangle, Mississippi – Courtesy of the GTD LINK
Leah Upton (courtesy photo/GTD LINK)
The LINK’s Director of Finance, Leah Upton, recently graduated from the MDEC’s 2023 Emerging Leaders Fellows program. The ELF seeks to help emerging financial professionals in the state via a program of year-long training and immersion in their field. We here at GfB offer our Congratulations to Leah and all of the other graduates, as we wish them luck in their future endeavors!
Glo Pals is a local company that began just a few years ago, offering items such as children’s sensory toys & cubes that light up in water. They brought in some veteran talent from its founders’ alma mater, MSU, some time back to help mentor the company, and now, they have become executives at the rapidly-growing firm. The items they sell are offered via their own website (below) and at major retailers such as Macy’s, Target, and more. Their designs include original characters, as well as ones licensed by Sesame Street and Mr Rogers/Daniel Tiger.
image courtesy of Glo
New COO Eric Hill said, “I’ve seen Glo rise from a small yet ambitious startup to a leading industry player with multiple product lines that touch every corner of the globe. Joining the leadership team at this critical point is an incredible opportunity to further expand Glo’s business and brand.”
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Park Place owner Gail Stevens expressed her gratitude for the many customers who have supported her Main Street salon/boutique over the past decade as they prepare to move to their new location at 3451 New Hope Road: “We love downtown, we absolutely loved it,” Stevens said. “We were just able to find a building within a mile from our house.” Her daughter, Tina Beth Cruse, will run the salon in its new digs. Once they reopen – which will be soon – their hours will be Tu~Fri 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sat 10-4
Tupelo’s Little Legends Montessori Academy plans to open its doors to students at its new Columbus location, at 420 31st Ave. N., beginning this March. Shemeka Williams, program director and owner, said, “I can just feel the need,” Williams said. “I asked God to lead me, and everything just fell into place. . . I love [the Montessori model],” Williams said. “I love to cater to my children.” They are currently accepting applications for 3- to 6-year-old children.
Finally, construction vehicles have been put to work at 2212 Military Road, across from Lowes. Gill Fani, owner of King’s Court near downtown, said Military Express is slated to be open by this summer. It will feature a convenience store with a kitchen & dining area, a liquor store, and a laundromat all under one roof.
Please click here for the original article: https://cdispatch.com/news/mary-means-business-park-place-closes-in-downtown-columbus-reopens-in-new-hope/
STARKVILLE, MS – Courtesy of the Starkville Daily News and Devin Ammons
From a young age, Scott “Scooter” Thomas always wanted to run a record store. With the advents of CDs and later, digital music, it appeared that he might never get that chance. However, the renaissance of vinyl records in the past several years granted him the opportunity to realize his dream; he opened “Scooter’s” in 2017 and he has been going strong ever since. His shop stocks a variety of media, but specializes primarily in vinyl.
Scott Thomas of Scooter’s – Devin Ammons, SDN
“This is something I always wanted to do,” said Thomas. “I went to school out of state and I was done in the early 90s. I wanted to do this then but records had kind of gone away, and it was all CDs, and I hate CDs. When I was a kid, my aunt worked in a record store. She gave me some of my first records. You know, I grew up with records. I’ve always been into records, and I knew where all the record stores were that still had records within a 200 mile radius. There was a record store called Crossroads that was over by where George Sherman’s is, and the guy that owned that place had baskets and baskets and baskets of records, and he was trying to get rid of them. So he would let me take crates of records home for like $10. So, I sort of built up a pretty good record collection then, but that really helped out.”
GTR AREA, MS – Courtesy of the Dispatch and Mary Pollitz
Trae Vaughan and his business partners recently acquired the Prographics stores in both Columbus and Starkville, ensuring that the stores will continue to be locally-owned and operated for many years to come. “It was a great opportunity,” Vaughan said. “It’s a great business with a great reputation. . . We just want to build upon what the previous owners have built, continue to serve the local community, do business locally, and employ people locally.”
They have stated that things will be business as usual with regards to both staffing and the services & products that they offer. They have been working with the prior owner in order to make sure that things go smoothly. They specialize in printing needs of all kinds, such as photocopies, promotional products, t-shirts, and more!
MACON, MS – Courtesy of the Macon Beacon and Scott Boyd
Farmer Mike Banks got his start in the early 80’s when he made an investment in soybeans that paid off in a big way. He decided that he “wanted to take that money and start something that would last.” He took the profit and started up a business building utility trailers, cattle trailers, and the like to sell to farmers in the area, always looking to fill their needs with a solid, reliable product; he calls it “Trailboss Trailers, Inc.” He started small: “I didn’t have a fork lift, so I couldn’t build anything using parts that my tractor and forks wouldn’t pick up,” he went on to say.
Eventually, Banks wanted to expand his business, so he got a small loan from his friend and fellow farmer Errol Wedel to get some advertising done. It worked well enough that he was able to repay the loan within a year. Banks also gives credit to other members of the community that have helped his business thrive and expand: “So, I can’t say I did it all by myself,” Banks said. “There have been many people who have helped and supported me through the years, like Bob Boeckner who started working for me when I was in the old shop, about 38 years ago,” he said. Boeckner is now the manager of Trailboss’s purchasing department.
Mike Banks of Trailboss Trailers in Macon – pic by Scott Boyd, Macon Beacon
In the intervening years, the business has shifted to primarily making larger trailer units for bigger jobs, up to and including ones used by Boeing; they could not find a trailer that suited their need, so he invented one. The business has now been around for forty years and is going strong. He even built a cafeteria for his workers in the late 1990s to make sure they were well-fed, and that business now serves all sorts of hungry customers from far and wide as the Wagon Wheel Restaurant.
The Mayor of Macon, Buz McGuire expressed his admiration for Banks: “He’s not only the one behind one of our major industries, he also does much to support the community – many times in ways that most people don’t even know about. . . He saw a need for a restaurant and it has become such a valuable part of this community.”
“As a business owner, I feel I have a responsibility to contribute as much as I can to our community,” Banks said. “Noxubee County has been good to me and I enjoy giving back.”
COLUMBUS, MS – Courtesy of the Dispatch and Mary Pollitz
Mary Pollitz is back on the business beat at the Dispatch! Big thanks to her and the paper for the info.
Columbus Place (née Leigh Mall) is continuing to undergo their major renovations, and among those changes is a new shop! City Gear, a store that sells items such as streetwear and big-name shoes, etc., will be moving into the old JC Penney slot. Hibbet Sports, which owns CG, will be moving their own store from its current location within the mall to another outward-facing location in the same building. Hibbett VP Jeff Gray said, “These moves will allow us to bring a newly remodeled Hibbett location as well as our City Gear brand to the market. . . We feel that with easier access and better visibility with the outside entrances, we can better serve the Columbus market.”
Also, Bath and Body Works is moving to its own new location at 1496 Old Aberdeen Way, the former Bedzzz Express.
COLUMBUS, MS – Courtesy of the Dispatch and Slim Smith
Sharon Jones, originally of Queens, NY, moved to Columbus long ago to settle down and start a family. Fast forward many years of hard work later, and she founded Paroled2Pride, an organization that has helped hundreds of former inmates to turn their lives around and rejoin the workforce. They became an official 501(c)(3) organization in 2007. Recently, Jones was among those honored with a “Earnest Brown Good Change Award” for her efforts and those of her largely-volunteer staff by Columbus Major Keith Gaskin. P2P carefully screens applicants, matching them up with jobs.
image: Sharon Jones is presented the Ernest Brown Good Change Award by Columbus Mayor Keith Gaskin at City Hall – EmmaMcRae – Dispatch Staff
Her first success story came before she former P2P. It involved a man who “was getting out of prison and, like so many people, was having a hard time finding a job,” Jones said. “God laid it on my heart to help him get a job at the hotel I was working at. I told my husband and he said, ‘Don’t do it. Don’t risk it.’ My in-laws told me the same thing. I called my mom and told her, ‘I can’t get rid of the feeling that I should hire him. God keeps telling me that.’ She told me to obey God and always remember my brother, how hard it was for him to get employed.” She convinced her boss to give him a chance – “He worked 11pm to 7am, for 14 years and never missed a day,” Jones said. “The program evolved from there.” She has been working with Best Western ever since to make jobs available to these folks.
“It’s so humbling after the loss of my brother and my mom,” she went on to say. “They are the driving force behind what I do through Jesus. God has called me to this work and I’m grateful.”
CALEDONIA, MS – Courtesy of the Dispatch and Grant McLaughlin
Tennessee Valley Authority is in the process of seeking public comments on a two-year project to build a supplemental 500-megawatt gas-powered turbine energy plant near Caledonia. The plant is expected to employ as many as thirty people and is designed to kick in in times of high power usage and in weather conditions that reduce the output of other power plants nearby below acceptable levels.
“More capacity (on the grid) is a great thing,” GT Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins said. “Lowndes County is home to some of TVA’s biggest customers. (More power generation) being closer to the user of it will be a good thing.”
Julia Wise, a senior communications consultant for TVA, said, “We receive those comments, then we can start the environmental review process, and we will then publish a draft environmental review, and then a final environmental review. That feedback and review helps determine whether or not that project moves forward.”
The public feedback period is already open, and will last until Jan. 19. She went on to say that the TVA plans to have an in-person open house on Jan. 8 at the Caledonia Community Center at 205 S. St. from 5 to 7 p.m. for county residents to hear about the project and submit more feedback. Comments can be submitted via the TVA website (https://www.tva.com/) or emailed to [email protected].
STARKVILLE, MS – Courtesy of the Dispatch and Grant McLaughlin
Earlier this year, the Greater Starkville Development Partnership ran its first set of four “B.A.I.L.” series where local experts could speak to business owners about important accounting, liability, and other important “behind-the-scenes” concerns regarding their businesses. Amanda Adkins, owner of Shelter Insurance, was one of the attendees eager to expand her knowledge: “I wanted to make sure that from an agency perspective that I have everything I need legal-wise with bringing on staff or making sure I’m covered in that area,” Adkins said.
The panel of lawyers spoke at the fourth BAIL series panel, focusing on legal advice for businesses – Grant McLaughlin – Dispatch Staff
Panelists for the legal session were: Starkville-based attorneys Rob Roberson and Steven Adams, and Brandon Jolly with the Mississippi State University general counsel’s office. They discussed things like setting up legal entities, how to plan for uncertain futures and how to protect consumer data. They emphasized the importance of setting up an LLC or other form of business entity in order to keep entrepreneurs’ personal and legal liability separate: “What that does is give you an insurance policy, basically,” Roberson said. “If you are sued, you’re sued in the context of the business…My dad used to take his business and pay all of his bills with the money from it. Well, here is the problem with that: you have no protection because you’re treating your business like it’s personal income.”They also spoke on the critical importance of having everything in writing, whether you’re planning to enter a contract with a vendor or client or drawing up a purchase agreement for the purchase of another business: “You’re not just buying the asset, sometimes you’re buying the liabilities that come along with it and if there’s debt associated with it, you may be assuming without realizing it,” Jolly said. “It’s good to have that all spelled out when you go to buy.” Moreover, they said that it’s important to have an attorney go over any such documents before you sign them. they also addressed cyber-security, especially when dealing with things like people’s social security numbers, financial data, etc.
“I have a digital business and you don’t necessarily know because everything is intangible,” attendee Brittany Goss, owner of online marketing agency Bootstraps and Butterflies said. “So, knowing how to pass that down legally and the responsibilities that come with that has been beneficial.”
