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Consumer Stories
Consumer Stories

Social media outage affects local businesses

For most of us, a social media outage is a minor inconvenience, but for a freelance marketing professional like Brooke Willis and the businesses she serves, it’s a more serious concern. Willis – who also owns her own business called Studio Social, provides marketing services and social media support for various local businesses, including K’s Koncepts, Apricot Lane Boutique, and FX Spine & Performance Center. When both Facebook and Instagram shut down for more than six hours on Monday, Oct. 4, she couldn’t add posts for her clients on those

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Josh Heath October 6, 2021 No Comments
Consumer Stories

Nine families participate in local “Shark Tank”- style competition

The Jessye Norman School of the Arts used the concept of the TV show, “Shark Tank” to develop its J-Tank business competition, but it wasn’t exactly like the show. On Saturday, Sept. 18, nine local families pitched their business ideas to a panel of five judges, which was mostly comprised of faculty members from Augusta University’s James M. Hull College of Business. They included Dr. Rick Franza, the College’s Dean, Dr. Cathy Slade, Professor of Management and Dr. Dinesh Hasija, Assistant Professor of Management. Unlike the show, “It wasn’t really

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Josh Heath October 6, 2021 No Comments
Consumer Stories

Grand Opening weekend a colorful success!

Cold Creek South Nursery held a decorative grand opening on Saturday October 2nd and the question is open as to whether it will be an ongoing move. The nursery’s second location at 770 East Pine Log Road is intended as a seasonal shop, featuring fall and then winter products for at least the next three months. “After the fall holidays, we’ll switch over to Christmas trees and traditional winter items,” said Cold Creek Regional Manager Michaela Berley on Saturday. That’s when they began what was a trial run on a

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Stephen Delaney Hale October 6, 2021 No Comments
Closings

Long-time auto repair shop closes its doors

A 75-year-old Augusta auto repair shop has closed. Smitty’s Auto Service – located at 1428 Gordon Highway, was founded in 1936 by J.W. Smith Sr. According to the business’s website, the shop operated in its current location since 1967. Smith’s grandson, J.W. (Chuck) Smith III, ran the shop for many years until it closed, and his wife and son worked with him. ABD has learned the fourth-generation family business closed because of Smith’s health problems and inability to find dependable help. At this point, it’s uncertain whether he will reopen

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Josh Heath October 5, 2021 No Comments
B2B Stories

Local tourism agency wins regional award for best marketing campaign

Last week, Augusta’s chief tourism agency won a regional award for best marketing campaign in its budget category. The agency receives funding from monies charged to visitors of dozens of local hotels and motels. It’s known as the hotel/motel tax. Destination Augusta received the Shining Example Award for its Come See Augusta campaign from the Southeast Tourism Society, which covers 13 states and the District of Columbia, on Wednesday, Sept. 29 in Spartanburg. The category was for budgets between $100,000 and $499,000. “Obviously, we were very excited,” says Lindsay Fruchtl,

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Josh Heath October 5, 2021 No Comments
Consumer Stories

Mondays with Rick: Augusta Job Crunch

Editor’s Note: Dr. Rick Franza, the esteemed Dean of AU’s Hull College of Business insists I call him, “Rick”, instead of “Dr. Franza or Dean Franza”. Each week we’re planning to converse about an interesting business story or event or discuss something “bigger picture” in the business world. We both attended the recent Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce panel discussion about the local labor shortage. It featured panelists Cal Wray from the Augusta Economic Development Authority, Dr. Jermaine Whirl from Augusta Technical College, Brittany Burnett from the United Way of

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Neil Gordon October 4, 2021 No Comments
Consumer Stories

Business Lunch Review: Longhorn gets a record score!

Editor’s Note:  This record-breaking restaurant review was first published in the summer of 2021. Wes Hennings never met a meal he walked away from and is an opinionated eater! Each Monday he shares the results of a business lunch he’s had with a colleague as a way to advise our business community on the good, bad and the tasty across the CSRA. He doesn’t let ABD or the restaurant know where he is going and his opinions are his own. He grades the restaurants he visits on a 1-5 scale

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Wes Hennings October 4, 2021 No Comments
Consumer Stories

Local businesses team up to raise funds for a worthy cause

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and a local restaurant is giving customers the chance to enjoy a delicious meal and help domestic violence victims at the same time. Manuel’s Bread Café – located in Hammond’s Ferry at 505 Railroad Avenue, #100 in North Augusta, and Kendrick Paint & Body have teamed up to raise funds for SafeHomes of Augusta. “Our owner, Steve Kendrick Jr., and Manuel (Verney-Carron) from Manuel’s Bread Café are close friends, and they wanted a way to give back to a local organization,” says Carson McLaughlin,

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Josh Heath October 1, 2021 No Comments
Consumer Stories

Real Talk Real Estate: Keep your gra$$ green!

I hope that you are excited about the seasons changing and the cooler weather trying to creep in. I feel like we are all desperately longing for the normalcy we had pre-Covid. I for one, embrace the fact that Lowe’s has all the Christmas decor on display and I have been most proactive with all things fall. And while I love to talk about designing and decorating, I want to talk about your grass. Interesting transition, right? Many in the CSRA think that because the grass growing season is slowing

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SHAWNA WOODWARD, RE/MAX REINVENTED EVANS October 1, 2021 No Comments
B2B Stories

Business leaders discuss ways to combat local unemployment

The CSRA is just like thousands of other regional business communities. There are unfilled positions, and despite recruitment, qualified candidates are hard to find. The local labor shortage was the topic of a panel discussion (photo by Kathryn Freemon) called “From Pandemic to Sansdemic: Where Are All the Workers??” at the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Member Economic Luncheon on Wednesday, Sept. 29 at the Augusta Marriott at the Convention Center. Specifically, the discussion centered on strategies for engaging the more than 99,000 people between the ages 15 and 64

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Josh Heath September 30, 2021 No Comments
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