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An Aiken shopping center has been sold to a new owner for $1.25 million. Cornerstone Town Center – located at 126 Dominion Drive off Whiskey Road, was recently bought by DB Development Partners LLC. The 9,000-square-foot development, which is fully leased, has seven tenants including Hollow Creek Animal Hospital, a pediatric physical therapy clinic, and Aiken Christian Church. “The growth in the south Aiken area is continuous,” says one of the co-owners of DB Development, who asked us not to use his name. “It’s in a nice location.” The development

Mark Alison has worked hard to create his own brand of sauces (see photo above), and his efforts haven’t been overlooked. Bill Moore – a product reviewer with his own YouTube channel called “Bill Moore’s Hot & Spicy Reviews” released a new video discussing his top 35 products of 2021 on Tuesday, Dec. 21. Moore’s channel has more than 11,000 subscribers. In the video, he selected two of Alison’s sauces: Help Me Jesus Hot Sauce and the ’64 Wing Sauce for third place among his top sauces of the year.

Manoj Parameswaran has found a unique way to promote his Evans restaurant. Parameswaran – owner of Namaste Indian Street Food located at 4272 Washington Road, created a promotion called 10 Days before Christmas, which began on Tuesday, Dec. 14 and ends on Friday, Dec. 24. The restaurant is closed on Mondays. “We want to reach more people,” he says. “We want to give something back to the community.” Each day features a different special; including ½ off the price of wine, buy one, get one free kids’ meals, or 20%

Loyal readers will have read Josh Heath’s excellent report on my presentation last week, but if you were unable to attend the economic forecast breakfast last week, here are some additional highlights. In 2021, Augusta compared poorly to other Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA) in Georgia.  Employment in Augusta remains 2.6% below the pre-pandemic levels of March, 2020. Three MSAs have higher employment levels than March, 2020: Savannah, Valdosta, and Warner Robins. As Josh mentioned, one sector that is doing well is retail; employment locally is at a record high of