B2B Stories

Columbia County Chamber accepting applications for young professional mentoring programs

Robbie King has a passion for mentoring the next generation of local business leaders. King, the founder of Lead Augusta, helps to guide young professionals participating in Young Men on the Move, a 10-month program offered by the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce. The program, which is designed for men between the ages of 23 and 30, teaches valuable personal and professional skills, such as networking. “It demonstrates the importance of mentoring, networking, building relationships, and giving back to the community,” he said. “Often, these relationships are created and last

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Consumer Stories

Former Aiken Golden Corral to be demolished, replaced with new Olive Garden location

In Aiken, a former buffet-style restaurant is being demolished to make room for a popular Italian eatery. Chaplin and Sons Clearing and Demolition in Augusta has been hired to tear down the former Golden Corral Buffet & Grill located at 2265 Whiskey Road near the Aiken Mall, according to a post from the company on LinkedIn. That building will be torn down and replaced with a new Olive Garden Italian Restaurant location. ABD reached out to Darden Restaurants, which operates many restaurant chains throughout the United States, including Olive Garden,

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B2B Stories

Thoughts from the General: How About Some Good News

It is important to be aware of bad news, and more importantly, to take steps to deal with it. However, recognizing, celebrating, and enjoying the good news should be part of everyone’s life journey. A favorite expression in our family is “Don’t Postpone Joy” Here is some good news list from far and wide. The strength of the dollar. For the first time in twenty years, the dollar is worth almost as much as the Euro (the other important currency in the world). This news is mostly positive. It indicates

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Closings

One Columbia County fitness center closes facility

While many gyms are gearing up for their busiest time of the year, one local fitness center is closing its doors permanently. ABD has learned Burn Boot Camp’s Grovetown location at 953 Branch Court closed on December 22nd after four years in operation. The owners of that franchise location also own and operate the Evans location at 4490 Washington Road, which has been operating for six years. Burn Boot Camp offers group workouts called Camps that combine strength training and high-intensity cardiovascular exercise. “It was a tough decision, but we

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B2B Stories

Simon Says: The 12 Days of Christmas, adjusted for inflation

The major economic concern this year has been inflation. The latest data suggest that prices have risen by 7.1 percent over the last year. This has hit consumers’ pockets hard and at this time of the year made Christmas more expensive but by how much? A whimsical take on the cost of Christmas is provided by PNC bank which calculated the cost of the presents in the 12 days of Christmas. A partridge in a pear tree is 25.8 percent more expensive due to the higher cost of fertilizer. Higher

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B2B Stories

Good things come to those who plan

Let’s just go ahead and preface with this: I fell into entrepreneurship and therefore leadership. And riding a bull is about the equivalent of being a business owner; perhaps you can relate. There are tremendous ups and downs, spins and ejections. So, keeping that in mind, I wanted to talk about questions that continually come up for me while I am out in the community: “How do you do all the things you do?” “I see you everywhere! Do you sleep?” “Do you have a clone?” “I didn’t expect you

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Consumer Stories

CSRA limo companies and the holidays

Late December is a very busy time for Harley Napier’s limousine drivers. Napier owns Celebrity Limos of GA, Inc. in Augusta. He said they transport their clients to many Christmas and New Year’s Eve events and celebrations. “People are going to see Christmas lights and attending dinners and formal events,” Napier said. Of course, Celebrity Limos also takes people to events throughout the year, including graduations, weddings, proms, and bachelor parties. Unlike Napier’s business, an employee with C&C Limousines located at 3701 Peach Orchard Road in Augusta said the company

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Digital Marketing

Free Access: Free Wi-Fi offers marketing gateway for businesses

Wi-Fi Marketing We have all been to the local coffee shop, restaurant, or business office that has Wi-Fi available to its customers. “This is known as a hotspot,” states Captain Obvious. Technically, a hotspot is a physical location (read: business, retailer, hotel, etc.) with a Wi-Fi device that gives free wireless internet access to anyone who wants it. This is done by connecting a wireless router that the business owns to an internet service provider. In this case, the business is responsible for setting up the network, maintaining the Wi-Fi

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Education

Augusta Technical College reveals plan to build technology training center in Columbia County

Augusta Technical College plans to grow the future workforce by bringing a new advanced manufacturing and engineering technology training facility to Columbia County. This plan involves building a state-of-the-art manufacturing simulation center that will include classrooms and labs for engineering, robotics, chemical technology, and machining, according to an article from the college. The article said the college’s current facilities are insufficient to train its students for jobs in these STEM fields, and these industries employ more than one-third of the region’s workers. “The establishment of the facility in Columbia County

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