Sometimes it takes concerted effort

Beth Alston

AMERICUS —



We all know how great Sumter and Schley counties are, otherwise we wouldn’t live here, work here and raise families here. Each of us has a different story to tell about what brought us “home to roost” in this area of Southwest Georgia, and each is unique.

But sometimes we tend to take all this largesse for granted. Our daily lives grind us into a numbness and we fail to remember the great sense of free enterprise all around us, operating freely.

Last week, the “Go Go Sumter Pep Squad” took two days for a tour around Americus as a follow-up with local businesses with the entrepreneur friendly designation. On the tour, business and economic development leaders asked business owners what attracted them to the area, and why they have stayed. Answers ranged from location to friendly people as the attraction, and that the area has staying power because it is business friendly and doesn’t present the hassles of big-city life.

Stops on the tour included Star Racing, Gammage Print Shop, Accelerated Physical Therapy, Apollo Health Street, Southland Ridge, Cafe Campesino, George’s Men’s Wear and Tailor Shop, 13th Colony Distillery, The Flaming Grill, Southland Branch Family Care and Barnett’s Computers. All these businesses found exactly what they wanted in this area, so we must be doing something right. Yet we can never rest on our laurels. There is new business and industry out there, even during the economic downtown, and we must be visionary and aggressive in attracting it.

Sure, we think we know why we’re special communities, but sometime it takes a “cheering squad” to remind us. Go team!

In other news, IGA in Ellaville just completed a renovation and will hold its grand opening at 9 a.m. Aug. 5. The new, improved store will feature, among other things, a deli which will be the only one in town.

The Pizza Place, also in Ellaville, plans to be open from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays, Aug. 2 & 9 to benefit breast cancer awareness. This shows an investment in the community as well. The folks who own and operate the restaurant enjoy serving their friends, family and neighbors, and this fundraiser takes their good will one step further.

If you know of something going on in the local business world, please contact me at beth.alston@gaflnews.com or 924-2751, ext. 229, so I can include it in this column which publishes every Sunday. It could be a new business, an employee recognition, a relocation or addition, a special marketing promotion, most anything related to enterprise.



Beth Alston, an award-winning journalist, is executive editor of the Americus Times-Recorder.

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