Consumer Stories

Downtown eatery to reopen in July

Pineapple Ink Tavern has been closed for renovations and repairs since January, but owner, Allan Soto and his team are excited to show guests the changes they’ve made to the restaurant. Located at 1002 Broad St., the restaurant will celebrate its grand reopening on Wednesday, July 6. Pineapple Ink, which opened just before the pandemic began in 2020, serves a variety of entrees, including soups, sandwiches, salads, desserts, and drinks. Updates will include new artwork and a Cuban-inspired menu based, in part at least, on Soto’s Cuban heritage. “We are

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Consumer Stories

Evans entrepreneur hosts luxury picnics for any occasion

Like many business owners, Denise Vazquez has a demanding schedule. But Vazquez juggles not only a new business, but also a full-time job and full-time college class schedule. Vazquez, the owner of The Posh Little Picnic, an upscale home-based event planning business, hosts elegant picnics for a variety of occasions, such as baby showers, wedding showers, birthday parties, and anniversaries, as well as wedding proposals. She launched the business in early 2022, and demand for her services has slowly but surely increased. “People ask me if I ever sleep, but

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B2B Stories

Mondays with Rick: What it takes to be an entrepreneur

  Dr. Rick Franza, Dean of the Hull College of Business, discusses a different, timely business topic each Monday in this column. This week he talks about entrepreneurship and whether it can be taught. The interview has been edited for clarity and impact. ABD: How do you define entrepreneurship? Rick: I define it as the ability to start a new business, of being able to bring a product or service to market and make money from it. It could be a new product or it could be a new way

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Consumer Stories

Local insurance agency sponsors collection to help school students in need

A behind-the-scenes need that many people often remain unaware of will be the target of a charitable cause in July. Jonathan English State Farm will sponsor its second annual Stuff the Bus event on Saturday, July 16 at the Walmart Super Center in Evans, starting at 9 a.m. The event will collect book bags and supplies for Columbia County middle school and high school students. English said people often think of the needs of elementary students but don’t realize that older students often face needs for school supplies as well.

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Consumer Stories

Business partners transform the historic home into an antique shop, event space

Two local business partners have taken on the onerous task of turning a 150-year-old house into an antique shop. Daniel Edwards and Kevin DeLaigle (or de l’Aigle, the family name’s original French spelling) are breathing new life into the DeLaigle House located at 551 Greene St., across the street from the Augusta-Richmond County Municipal Building. The four-story, 7,300-square-foot home was built in 1873 by DeLaigle’s great-great-aunt, Mary Clark DeLaigle, the widow of a Confederate Civil War soldier. It has been transformed into Edwards Mercantile & Company, which sells a variety

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Consumer Stories

Indoor cycling company to open Augusta location

If you’re feeling a bit stressed, you’re certainly not alone. But an international indoor cycling company wants to help you spin your cares away. CycleBar, which offers high-intensity spin classes for people of all ages and fitness levels, has announced it will open a new location in Augusta within the next year. The company offers various types of classes, including Empower, Xpress, and Connect, and on-demand workouts members can complete at home. There’s even a class called Cyclegives, which allows companies and groups to raise money for charitable causes. To

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B2B Stories

Thoughts from the General: Helpful hints on how to plan

For two marvelous years, I had the pleasure of being the top planner in the Air Force. The learning experience was extraordinary. Helping the military as well as corporations, churches, and non-profits with long-range planning have been great fun. Here are a few techniques that can be used in any organization, for-profit or nonprofit, large or small. Never make any important decision without considering the long-term implications. Here are a few examples. When Saint Paul’s church decided to complete the upper rooms, it was decided to make them very attractive.

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B2B Stories

Aiken entrepreneur joins the crowded digital marketing field

It’s long been said there is a drugstore on every corner and there just might be a digital marketing company nearby. The two have little in common except for the sheer numbers of both types of businesses. That fact has not deterred Christa Turner from entering the crowded field of website development, PPC, SEO, and the full slate of digital acronym offerings. She is an Aiken native with a family history of entrepreneurial spirit; her grandmother started Supply Services Company in 1970. Turner is blazing her trail with Shining Sons

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Consumer Stories

Faith Friday: Cutting-edge faith transforms trash into treasure

Tim Fitzgerald II knows how to turn scraps into something special. As a former employee of a hardwood flooring company, he would salvage discarded pieces of quality, sometimes antique, wood. That’s when ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’ became more than just a saying. “I started gluing them up and making cutting boards. With each one, the process and quality were improved until, after giving one to every one of our family members, my wife finally insisted that we should start a business,” he recalls. “In July 2013, we

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