Consumer Stories

Consumer Stories

Now playing: “The Hill” filmed in Augusta

Editor’s note: The Hill generated about $5 million locally to the CSRA economy during the filming in 2021, employed an estimated 50 local crew members, and employed over 500 background actor days. “In addition to hiring local crew, The Hill generated an economic impact in Augusta by paying local location fees, housed crew in local hotels, hired several local background extras and utilized additional local services. Film Augusta was influential in the decision to land this production in Augusta by assisting the production team in navigating the production through the use of local

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Consumer Stories

It’s finally official! Welllstar and AU Health systems are one

Wellstar Health System and Augusta University Health System started their first day yesterday (AUHS) as a unified system. AUHS will now be known locally as Wellstar MCG Health. Together, Wellstar and Wellstar MCG Health are committed to investing in cutting-edge medical facilities and infrastructure, strengthening collaborations with rural hospitals, and providing greater access to digital health services and top-notch clinical care, such as pediatric care offered by Wellstar and Children’s Hospital of Georgia. This partnership also represents an alliance between Wellstar Health System, the University System of Georgia, Wellstar MCG

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B2B Stories

First-of-its-kind security center in Georgia opens at Augusta Tech

A security center unlike any other is up and running with students from Augusta Technical College. The student-operated Security Operations Center has opened at the Georgia Cyber Innovations and Training Center on the Augusta Tech campus. The students come from the college’s School of Cyber and Design Media. The center gives them hands-on experience in the SOC. Working with real-world applications, the students will learn to analyze network traffic, looking for anomalies that may indicate malicious activity on the Internet. They will also learn how to protect the network itself

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Consumer Stories

Chamber leader calls for more business support for local charity

Golden Harvest Food Bank held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the agency’s newly renovated and expanded Volunteer and Administration Center on Aug. 29. The centerpiece of the project is a large room where staff and volunteers pack groceries for distribution. “So, we’ll be able to have hundreds of volunteers in here every week to help us sort and pack food, both for backpacks for children, just general sorting for families and senior boxes,” said Amy Breitmann, president and CEO of Golden Harvest. Golden Harvest started in 1982. Since then, it has

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Closings

The CSRA will be a little less sweet without Cyndi’s

Ten years ago, Cyndi’s Sweet Shoppe opened on Laurens Street in downtown, Aiken, S.C. What started out as her husband Dick’s idea for a nostalgic candy store, soon also became hers. She loved the area because they were surrounded by other wonderful shops. Social media has weighed in heavily on the fact that Cyndi’s is closing. This was her post on her Facebook page to her loyal customers. With great sadness, Cyndi’s is CLOSING, it is true. After 10 years of being in business, our landlord, the former owner of

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Closings

Steak N Shake abruptly closes; auction set for furniture/equipment

Steak N Shake, which started strongly in 2012 with a local franchisee group and 130 employees —suddenly closed last week for good, according to the franchisee and an auction house overseeing the sale of 103 pieces of furniture and equipment left behind. “I brought this to Augusta. I loved the product myself with great steakburgers and milkshakes, said franchisee, Preston Moss, who closed down the operation with partner, Andy Pye last week. He said it was time due to many economic factors and that he is busier than ever with

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Consumer Stories

Partnership provides unique training ground for healthcare workers

A public-private partnership will soon be providing hundreds of new potential employees for the healthcare industry. The first cohorts of students studying at Augusta Technical College’s School of Health Sciences are nearing the end of their training in disciplines ranging from medical assistants, to radiology, to nursing and more. These will be the first students to graduate from Augusta Tech’s partnership with Piedmont Hospital, creating a new health sciences campus at University Hospital Summerville on Wrightsboro Road. That was previously known as Trinity Hospital and began serving Augusta in 1952

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B2B Stories

Simon Says: Struggles for Startups

A couple of weeks ago, ABD ran a story about Clubhou.se and startups. Eric Parker, president and CEO of Make Startups stated that only 17% of entrepreneurs were able to get funding, while Congressman Rick Allen bemoaned the bureaucracy that inhibits startups. A new paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta sheds further light on business startups. They use applications for Employer Identification Numbers (EINs) as a measure of entrepreneurial idea generation. They then track how many of these ideas and EIN applications turn into employer businesses within

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Closings

Fuse restaurant fizzles out

One of the CSRA’s most popular eateries is closing. Comments have poured in on social media in the past few days. In response to inquiries, Chef Chris Najmola sent a message to customers through the Fuse Facebook page. Aiken, It has been a pleasure serving you and the team here at Fuse has so much to be proud of, but it does not look like we can keep going. There are so many things about Fuse that made it very literally, a dream come true. We’ve helped you celebrate so many

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Consumer Stories

Real Talk Real Estate: Rental Fraud: A True Story

Hi, Augusta Business Daily! My name is Leanna Woodward, yes Woodward, you read that right. I am the daughter of your favorite CSRA realtor and the usual writer of this column, Shawna Woodward. My mom asked me to write this article because I am a living, breathing cautionary tale about rental fraud. My mom told me, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is,” and man, was she right. The rental market has been a nightmare here in Savannah, especially being as young and inexperienced as I

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