Top Story

B2B Stories

Business is booming in South Carolina

Gov. Henry McMaster (R) highlighted business growth, economic development, and education in his 2025 State of the State address. McMaster said the state’s attractive climate for business has translated to more than $44.7 billion in new capital investment and 92,000 jobs. That’s resulted in a revenue surplus of more than $1.8 billion. He said 2024 is continuing the pattern created over the previous seven years. “It was no surprise that 2024 was once again a successful year for economic growth and investment,” he told the joint session of the state

Read More »
B2B Stories

Breaking an Invisible Boundary for Startups

A local organization that provides support for entrepreneurs and startup businesses will hold an event designed to demonstrate there are no geographic boundaries to entrepreneurship. theClubhou.se is inviting startups from Georgia and South Carolina to a pitch competition on April 23. The goal is to demonstrate how to improve the flow of businesses and capital funding on both sides of the Savannah River. “One of the things that we discovered is both the state of South Carolina and the state of Georgia have some pretty strong incentive programs where they

Read More »
B2B Stories

Unveiling a comprehensive tort reform strategy

Ga. Gov. Brian Kemp (R) unveiled a package of tort reform legislation during a news conference at the state capital. Kemp said the legislation he is proposing will level the playing field in the courtroom for large and small businesses while protecting the rights of individuals to pursue legal action when they are harmed. “First, I believe that business owners have a responsibility to keep their customers and the public safe on their premises, but they should not be held liable for criminal acts of a third party outside of

Read More »
B2B Stories

Security changes at Augusta’s airport

The Augusta Aviation Commission gave the green light to the next step to expand security checkpoints at Augusta Regional Airport. Members approved a work authorization of $449,438 for consultant Mead and Hunt for the terminal checkpoint modernization project. “This is testing. This is everything outside the bounds of the contract is included in this. It is also extra oversight,” explained Elizabeth Giles, Senior Construction Project Manager at the airport. “This is a very technical project. It’s a critical project. It affects every aspect of our operations inside this building. So,

Read More »
Consumer Stories

50th Anniversary of retailer

Publisher’s Note: I attended Friday’s grand opening and ribbon cut of the 97th Parker’s Kitchen in the Southeast and the 7th in the CSRA. It’s on Washington Road in Evans across from the Riverwood Shopping Center and convenience store competitor The Pumping Station (TPS). I spoke personally with founder Greg Parker about several business topics. The round numbers seem to be adding up. Revenues are approximately $1 Billion per year. Parker’s is planning to build 25 new stores in 2025 including their 100th. His goal for the Augusta market is

Read More »
B2B Stories

Boot Camp to Benefit CSRA Construction Boom

Augusta Technical College is bringing a program to train multiple disciplines within the building trades in a minimal amount of time. Construction Ready is an Atlanta-based 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that believes careers in the skilled trades should be just as important as those requiring four-year degrees. Formerly known as the Construction Education Foundation of Georgia (CEFGA), it focuses on skills training for the construction industry. The program will be offered at Augusta Tech in March. “It is 20-day boot camp offering individuals from the community to come in and learn

Read More »
B2B Stories

Sponsored: Remodeler unveils new product at Augusta Home & Garden Show

Most of the talk coming from the Countersync booth this weekend at the Augusta Home & Garden show won’t be about countertops. It will be about the fastest growing part of Bill Phillips’ 15-year-old ownership of the 22-year-old Countersync business; and that is Bathroom/Shower renovations and a new partnership with the Los Angeles, California creator of the MR Walls company, Mario Romano. This year, Bill will have a walk-in shower display and information about an exclusive distributorship he has with MR Walls.  “This company designs contoured and textured solid surface

Read More »
B2B Stories

Changing Marketplace: Impacts of Trump 2025

In last week’s column, I encouraged you to regularly evaluate the elements of your marketplace that might impact the value proposition that you make to your customers. Those elements include your customers, competitors, company, and the “environment” of your marketplace. I indicated that as any of these elements change, they can have a profound impact on the effectiveness of your value proposition. In today’s column, I want to focus on the marketplace environment as it is the most likely to experience change given the first ten days of President Trump’s

Read More »
B2B Stories

Simon Says: Most residential building permits in 25 years!

It has been a while since I updated the Augusta Leading Economic Index (LEI) and there have been some interesting developments. In September and October, there were 572 and 545 new residential building permits issued for the August Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The September number is the second highest, and the October number the fourth highest, since records began in January 2000. This represents good news for the construction industry and the supply of housing to help ensure affordable housing. Initial claims for unemployment insurance took a hit in October,

Read More »
Consumer Stories

Two South Augusta businesses closing this week

A 52-year-old business and a retail liquidator are closing. Daniel Feed and Seed, which supplies gardening products, fertilizer, and much more is closing for good. Tomorrow and Thursday are the last days to take advantage of the liquidation. Stop by during the day at 2066 Old Savannah Road in South Augusta. Want to buy a futon for $100 or a full-sized refrigerator/freezer for $200? The Hidden Peach says it is going out of business this Friday. The retail liquidator is open all week from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. They

Read More »