Archive for year: 2018

Customers can use the Chick-fil-A One app to order their food and then pick it up at one of the four identified curbside delivery parking spots in the food court parking lot. Sara Black, franchise owner, said this is one of the preparations her store is making to prepare for an influx of customers.

The drive-thru only Chick-fil-A will temporarily close starting April 23 before the freestanding Chick-fil-A outside Magnolia Mall opens later in the summer.

“We’re trying to get the word out to take care of those guests,” Black said. “If they don’t want to get out of the car, we can deliver it to their car. They just use the mobile app.”

The Chick-fil-A app is free to download for Apple and Android devices and is a rewards system. Customers receive treats periodically for using the app.

Black said she enjoys bettering a community. That is one of the reasons she decided to leave the medical field after 15 years of work as a physician assistant and in medical sales.

“I grew up in a family business in Anderson, South Carolina, and just wanted to own my own business and be able to have an impact on lives like I did in medicine but on a longer term basis like helping … people of all ages reach their higher goals and impacting the community,” Black said.

Black became the owner of the Chick-fil-A inside Magnolia Mall during January of 2017.

“I never look at it as that I’m coming to work because when you own your own business, and you’re working for yourself, you just have I think this internal motivation to always want to be more,” Black said. “It’s just to be able to set the tone of the business.”

Black said she wants to serve guests with excellence.

Chick-fil-A employees will now do table delivery and in-mall delivery for guests who use the Chick-fil-A app. Black said this is helpful for mall employees who may have short work breaks.

“We’re just really trying to think outside the box and be convenient,” Black said. “That’s one of our main missions here is to be surprisingly fast and convenient for our guests.”

Black said a goal for her Chick-fil-A is to grow the catering business. The store’s number is 843-665-9259.

Stephen Heriot, who co-owns Signarama of Florence with his wife, Malissia, said the store has been open since late January, but they wanted to wait until March to hold a ribbon cutting to establish the foundation of the business. “A business with no sign is a sign of no business,” Heriot says.

“We’re a business-to-business type,” Heriot said. “We work with the community, but we do a lot more with businesses. The main reason we came over to Florence was because I knew so many business owners here in the community. Everybody’s been so nice and everything’s been progressing well. We’re very excited to be growing in Florence.”

Heriot said joining the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce has helped the business get into the community.

“Being a member of the chamber has been a great benefit for us,” Heriot said. “The events we’ve been able to go to and the people that we’ve been able to meet have been really helpful.”

In addition to the chamber, Heriot cited the growing nature of Florence, especially in the business community, for the company’s development.

“The economy is heading in the right direction,” Heriot said. “There have been some recent laws passed that help businesses and it’s just an exciting time to be a business owner. We just got lucky and fell into this at the right time.”

Heriot said sometimes it takes a setback to find out what the next chapter in your life may be.

“I was getting kind of burnt out and I got laid off from my job,” Heriot said. “I was talking to Signarama and it was almost like a sign. So, my wife and I made a decision to pursue this and we’ve worked tirelessly to get the store open and we’re just loving it.”

For more information, visit signarama-florencesc.com or follow Signarama on Facebook.

“The citizens of Florence County now have a courthouse they can be proud of,” Leatherman said during his speech. “I see great nothing but great things for this county.”

The new building is on Irby Street, across from the Florence County Complex. It opened March 5 after county officials and workers moved in.

The idea for a new judicial center for Florence County was originally Judge Ralph King Anderson’s, according to Porter. Porter added that the new facility is the fourth courthouse in Florence County. The original building was built during the 1890s. That building was replaced during the 1930s, and facility currently in use opened in the 1960s.

The facility built during the 1930s had a major flaw: no air conditioning, which is not a good thing in the oppressive heat and humidity of South Carolina summers.

“They used to just throw the windows in the courtroom open in the summer,” said Porter, who worked as a young lawyer in the facility. “When a big truck went by you had to wait your turn to speak again.”

The facility built during the 1960s had air conditioning but was still not adequate so, Anderson’s idea was eventually embraced by Schofield and current County Administrator K.G. “Rusty” Smith.

“[Schofield] was like a bulldog with a bone,” Council Chairman Kent Caudle said as he introduced Schofield at the ceremony. “He wasn’t going to stop until the job was done. Well, now it’s done.”

Leatherman and Nettles also noted Schofield’s dedication to opening the facility.

Nettles added that he felt the facility represented Florence County’s continued commitment to the rule of law, the idea that laws, not arbitrary decisions, should govern society.

Also given credit during the speeches were designers Stevens and Wilkinson, Goforth and Brown, and Justice Planning Associates, contractor BE&K Building Group, the Judicial Facility Advisory Group of Schofield, Nettles, former Clerk of Court Connie Reel-Shearin, Sheriff Kenny Boone and Suzanne King. Doris O’Hara, the current clerk of court, and Connie Haselden, clerk to the County Council, were also thanked.

The colors were presented by the Wilson High School Air Force JROTC and Jerrod Deas, director of music at Wilson, played the national anthem on his saxophone during the ceremony.