Gov. Sonny Perdue and Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle will be in town Thursday for the grand opening of The Home Depot Distribution Center.
The project received state assistance and the two are coming to help the community celebrate the new facility, which will employ hundreds in the area.
It’s terrific to see a project come to fruition that so many have worked towards for a long time, particularly the folks at the Industrial Authority. Although the recent loss of Shaw has hit the community hard at a particularly bad time, the new Home Depot center hopefully will help re-employ some of the folks who just lost their jobs.
Valdosta / Lowndes County has a pretty solid reputation as a good place for industry and particularly for manufacturers and distributors to the Southeast region. With I-75 right down our midst and easy access to rail lines and the state’s two large seaports, it seems that the area is well positioned to attract these types of businesses, and the Industrial Authority folks have done a great job the last few years in getting them here.
Golfers in town
The Nationwide Tour’s South Georgia Classic will be played at Kinderlou Forest this week, and if you want to be on TV, you’ve got a great chance because the Golf Channel is filming the tournament every day.
This event is the premiere sporting event in our community, bringing scores of people to attend the tournament and thousands more watching it on television. The only professional event currently held here, maybe one day Kinderlou will have a full blown PGA Tour stop here. Or LPGA. Or Senior Tour.
At any rate, Kinderlou is beautiful, it’s great exercise walking along with the golfers, and the days are supposed to be bright and sunny this week. If you haven’t been before, you’ll enjoy it, and if you are planning to go, you’ll most likely see me there.
Maybe Perdue and Cagle are planning to make a stop at the tournament on their way back to Atlanta Thursday?
Or maybe it’s just a coincidence that they’ll be here on the Classic’s opening day.
Business Roundup
I wrote something about a week or two ago concerning a store coming downtown that just had a sign in the window, but no indication of what it was going to be.
Well, the very nice owner called Friday and said Kaleidoscope gallery, which is going in across from the Bistro on N. Ashley Street, will open the second week in May and will feature fine art portraiture, a variety of art for sale, along with jewelry, pottery and antiques. Fay Hyatt said she and her daughter, Jolie, will operate the gallery and Fay also paints under the name Fay Bridges Hyatt.
They will offer classes and will be bringing in guest artists a few times a year.
Bemiss Road is really hopping these days with several new businesses, including Ellianos and the Catfish One, the new Daylight Donuts across from the base, and a new barbecue restaurant is opening in the same building that was most recently a Mexican restaurant.
It looks like the Chevron on Hill Ave. by McDonalds is closed, but not sure if it’s just temporary.
The Famous Labels in the Lake Park outlets is supposed to be opening very soon, if it hasn’t already.
The second phase of the Judicial Complex is under way downtown. The administrative side was being staked out the other day and construction should be beginning in earnest any day now.
No word yet on Zaxbys, still waiting, but Bojangles’ is up and running on Hill Ave.
Interesting conversation with Sen. Johnny Isakson Friday. No, the economy isn’t back yet, but yes, it’s on its way, and so is help from the government for all the flood damage in the community.
Keep your fingers crossed for the homeowners and businesses that they get some relief soon, and let’s hope the YMCA is back up and running in the next week or two. Lots of damage, lots of heartache, but also lots of wonderful people in the community helping out.
That’s it for this week, but if you see anything I missed, please let me know!
Business
Business This Week: The governor is coming to Valdosta
- Business
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Gayla’s Grits: A Taste of the South
What started as a unique Christmas gift for family and friends has turned into the go-to business for the best grits in town and, possibly, the world.
Gayla’s Grits, owned by husband-and-wife duo Kevin and Gayla Shaw, began in 1997 while grinding naturally grown white corn for personal consumption. -
Graduates heading into the real world
Over the last week or so, thousands of high school students in our area have graduated and are preparing for their next step in life. Some are going straight to college, others are seeking military careers, some are going straight to work, and there are most likely quite a few who have no real plans or idea what to do next.
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Have A Happy Free Birthday!
The only thing better than a birthday is a free birthday. I would know, because my birthday was on Friday and, yes, I am absolutely using the newspaper as a platform for a free birthday ad because Facebook just doesn’t do it for me anymore.
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Valdosta Shared Office Space
VALDOSTA — Though Valdosta Shared Office Space is not new to Valdosta, it is newly green. The first and only shared office space in Valdosta owned by Gino Fina, just became the first Downtown Valdosta business to work with the Georgia Cities Foundation’s Green Communities Fund to implement environmentally friendly, energy-efficient improvements, reducing energy consumption upwards of 50 percent. -
Downtown businesses to be mobbed this week
A few years ago, when everyone started talking through social media, flash mobs became the new in thing to do. Primarily in the big cities, although VSU did their own a year or two ago, a designated place and time would be set and masses of people would descend on these sites, sometimes dancing, sometimes singing, sometimes acting obnoxiously.
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Keep tails wagging when your budget is lagging
I have a problem. Though I am a tight-wad when it comes to spending my money, I cannot resist the calling to buy adorable toys, collars and, yes, even clothes for my three cuter than all get out fur babies.
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The Valdosta Mall: Revamped and Ready for Business!
VALDOSTA — The Valdosta Mall has made tremendous strides since its rebranding away from Colonial Mall in 2007 and it’s refocus in 2008 when it made a move from serving the community to being a part of the community.
“We had taken for granted our place in the community for a long time,” said Jerry Weller, general manager of the Valdosta Mall. “We don’t do that anymore.” -
Keep your clothes looking fab to avoid looking drab
As I get older, I’m beginning to learn that there are more important things than clothes. Ugh! It pains me to even form that sentence; however, it’s true.
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Business This Week: Happy Mother’s Day!
Today is the one day a year dedicated to celebrating mothers, although we all use their guidance and wisdom every day. But for this one day, their sacrifices, kindness, love, and advice are recognized, hopefully, by the children they raised or helped to raise. It might not even be those born to them, as most mothers don’t limit their love and it flows over onto their children’s friends, family members, and the children they influence in the classroom, in Sunday school and in volunteer activities.
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Downtown will have a new beat this week
The Brown Bag Concert Series produced by Valdosta Main Street will begin again on Monday and last all week.
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