Now that the be all, end all, most wanted business for Valdosta, the Olive Garden, is here and getting ready to open, what’s next?

I went back and revisited some of the old Business Wish List surveys we’ve run previously, and most everything the community wanted is here now. Old Navy, Best Buy, Chili’s, and Hobby Lobby plus others made the list each time, so it looks like about the only national chains we are lacking that people were interested in are TGI Fridays, Macaroni Grill or Carabba’s, and smaller specialty chain stores like Abercrombie and Fitch, Banana Republic, etc.

Several of the former concepts that have since closed would be welcome back, such as the Golden Corral and Michael’s home decor, but at this point, what’s next? What does the community want to see come to Valdosta? Jobs, yes, but what kind of jobs and companies do you want? What kind of restaurants and retailers? Is there an unfilled niche in the market that one of our local entrepreneurs might be able to fill? An unmet need in the community?

Think about it and if you’d like to submit a suggestion, please do so at vdt.editorial@gaflnews.com. It would be interesting to see what the community thinks today versus six years ago!

Business Roundup

It’s interesting to me that I can call all around to find out about a potential business and no one wants to talk about it, but as soon as I print that a business is not coming to town, suddenly everyone wants to talk about it to tell it’s true. So apparently Gander Mountain is coming, and there’s going to be more to follow on Norman Drive soon so stay tuned!

And don’t forget, one week from tomorrow, the long-awaited opening of the Olive Garden will finally arrive. There has been extensive work on the entrance area by the developers to make it a little easier to get in and out, but I disagree with city management that there aren’t going to be any issues there with traffic. Until the signal light is in place in a couple of months, my suggestion would be to be very careful entering and exiting the area. It’s also still a construction area as the Drury Inn is being built behind the restaurant, so be careful when you navigate around the area.

Also right there is the Fazoli’s restaurant, which recently underwent an extreme makeover, a revamped menu, tableside wait service and more.

The new branch office of the Heritage Bank of the South will have an official ground-breaking ceremony this week on Thursday at 4 p.m. The bank will be located on Inner Perimeter Road across from Walmart.

There is a new tax service open on Bemiss Road called Liberty Tax Service which had a grand opening on Thursday last week. They are open from 9 to 9 through tax season.

I’m still looking for information on the former Loco’s restaurant location, by the way, along with what is going on with the Wedge restaurant that was supposed to open on Baytree near the college.

There are a number of Food Lions closing in Georgia, but none in our area. They own the Harvey’s supermarkets, which are a staple in South Georgia.

And the Maryland Fried Chicken on North Ashley Street had its food inspection recently, but still no sign on when they might be opening.

The new Agri Supply on Highway 84 is supposed to open this week. The long-anticipated store looks like they’ve been stocking for a couple of months to get ready for their grand opening.

That’s it for this week, but if there’s something I missed, please let me know!