Archive for category: Ribbon Cuttings

Primary Learning Center is an untraditional day-care-type facility for children. It offers short-term, after-school tutoring for children up to 12 years of age.

Jefferson said the center has flexible hours.

“It is our flexibility that sets us apart,” she said.

Jefferson said the center operates two shifts and normally closes at 8 p.m. Although, she said, it has stayed up to midnight with a child. She said the center is there for parents who want a date night, who have to work late or attend night meetings.

Children who come after school receive a snack and are offered supper. The center sees that children do their homework, too.

“Our mission is to cater to the working mom, the modern-day mom, even if she is a stay-at-home mom,” Jefferson said.

She said stay-at-home mothers need time to themselves, too.

She has a staff of six.

Jefferson started out after college working in education at Brockington Elementary School in Timmonsville. She was a psychology major. She enjoyed working with children and decided to start her own center for taking care of children.

The center opened in October and normally has about 30 children on any given day with a capacity to care for 50 children.

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Burris and Pressley specializes in residential and commercial real estate and serves South Carolina in new home sales, resales and construction, property investments and property management.

“We are glad to be a part of a vibrant downtown,” Pressley said.

“Florence is growing,” Burris said. “I love what downtown is doing. We wanted to drop our roots here.”

There will be four agents at the Florence office. Burris said he will be in Florence every Wednesday and Thursday.

He said they have been working with clients in the Florence area for a while and saw a need to offer “elite service” in the area.

“We are unconventional with tradition,” Burris said.

He said they try to appeal to the millennials who are now purchasing homes.

“We cater to the customer,” he said. “We care about how our customers approach homebuying.”

Both men are from the Pee Dee. Burris is originally from Marlboro County, and Pressley is from Mullins.

Burris is a retired police officer, who worked in homicide and narcotics for 12 years. He retired from the Camden Police Department in 2016. He is married to Valerie Moore Burris and lives in Kershaw County.

Burris said they founded the company on their faith.

“We attribute our success to God,” he said.

Pressley is married to Avarie Pressley and has four children. He is retired military, having served eight years in the Army. He is a member of the Richland County Zoning Board in Columbia.

“We are one of the largest independent minority real estate companies in the state of South Carolina,” Burris said.

“We look forward to serving the community and want to educate students about literacy, real estate and being business owners,” Pressley said.

They both travel the country speaking on national platforms.

Burris said they are looking forward to becoming more involved in the community and with the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce.

“We want to help build the city of Florence, not just houses,” he said.

They both agreed it was important to them to locate their business in the thriving downtown.

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Grey Raines, president of Raines Hospitality Inc., welcomed guests to the event.

“We are really excited to bring Comfort Inn & Suites here,” he said.

Patrick Pacious, president and chief executive officer for Choice Hotels, said he is excited for the Florence Comfort Inn to join its 2,100 other Comfort Inns. He said they have 250 new hotels under construction and will be opening 60 hotels, one a week to the end of 2020.

Raines said this Comfort Inn is Raines Hospitality’s 17th hotel.

“It is our first Comfort Inn,” he said.

Raines said they started in the business with upscale hotels before getting into the upper midscale segment of the hotel market.

The Comfort Inn, near the Florence Center, opened at the end of June.

“It has been very good for us,” Raines said. “The Florence market continues to be a good hotel market.”

He said the company is already working on more hotels but isn’t ready to talk about them yet.

Pacious said Choice Hotels represents 12 brands. He said they have 7,000 hotels overall with 6,000 of them in the United States, mostly in the Southeast. He said they have five in the Florence market with two of those Comfort Inn hotels.

He said they started in Florence five years ago with Hotel Florence in its Boutique Collection in partnership with Raines Hospitality. They have a Cambria Hotel in Mount Pleasant with Raines and two more Cambria’s in the works, he said.

Pacious said Comfort Inn & Suites has been around since the 1980s, but the hotels recently have undergone a complete renovation, which represents a $2½ billion investment. He said the hotel has been rebranded.

The Florence hotel was one of the first in the rebranding with open and elegant lobbies, spacious breakfast areas and larger rooms with warm tones and soothing textures, local artwork and inviting designs.

“We are mostly known for three things,” Pacious said. “That is free breakfast, free Wi-Fi and free parking.”

The hotel in Florence has 89 rooms and suites.

Comfort Inn & Suites is a family-oriented hotel.

Investors and staff of Raines properties were on hand for the celebration, which included a ribbon cutting with the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce and its ambassadors.

Sparkle Cotton is the general manager of the Florence hotel. Taylor Gray is sales manager.

Prettier Than Matt duo entertained.

The store opened in July.

Rosalee said her co-owners started out as a catering business. They were looking for a building for to do their catering, she said.

“When they pitched the idea for me to be the operations manager two years ago, I quit my job and came on board,” Rosalee said.

They recently invited her to be a co-owner.

“Shaelyn is the cook,” Rosalee said. “Gennine has the business mind, and I do the day-to-day operations.”

Rosalee said they offer healthier fast-food choices.

She said, “Our mission is to transform our communities’ palate one eclectic dish at a time.”

She said they are a restaurant and a market in one. In the front of the store they sell everything from jams to olive oil. Plans are to continue to provide fresh produce in season.

The menu includes sandwiches, soups and salads.

The most popular sandwich is the Italiano panini with choice of bacon or tomato jam, Rosalee said.

“The shrimp corn bisque is the favorite soup,” she added. “And the detox salad is very popular.”

She said the restaurant offers vegan choices and plans to offer breakfast in addition to its coffee, tea and muffins already on the menu.

Hours are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Williams said they will be extending the hours to the weekend.

At the present, they have one additional employee, Lloyd Hailey.

The Square Meal Market stands where the Boxcar Market was previously located.

“We look forward to being a part of the downtown,” Rosalee said. “We can’t wait to see what the future holds.”

She said they joined the chamber for the networking opportunities and because they are part of downtown.

“We are super excited to be downtown and share our ideas with people and to show diversity in our cooking.

For more information, visit thesquaremealmarket.com.

To read the full article on SC Now, click here.

Travis said she has been open since December 2014 and hers was one of the first restaurants to open in the revitalized downtown.

“I used to be a member of the chamber when we had Travis Jewelers,” she said. “I’ve seen a transition in the chamber. I can see they are deeply committed and involved with businesses and the community.”

Travis said, “It got me excited about being a member.”

Travis said she and her husband opened a little take-out business on Celebration on Boulevard after retiring as jewelers.

She said Andy Jeffords approached them by the invitation of Dr. John Keith, who owned the downtown building, about moving their business downtown.

“It was scary being one of the early comers to downtown,” she said. “But it has been an unbelievable experience. We look forward to the future.”

Travis said she loves being downtown.

“I love the vibe,” she said. “It has been an exciting ride.”

She said the name says everything about who they are. She said everything is smoked. The menu includes barbecue, pulled chicken, wings, ribs, brisket, sides that complement barbecue, and other items.

She said the restaurant is on the South Carolina BBQ Trail map and gets a lot of tourists. She said the events downtown also bring in business.

“We are one of the few barbecue restaurants where barbecue is full-service, order from the menu,” she said.

Wholly Smokin’ Downtown also has a bar with an extensive wine list, craft beers and cocktails.

“We have four flat-screen TVs for watching the game with friends,” she said.

Travis said they have a saying at the restaurant that Wholly Smokin’ is “a place where customers become friends and friends become family.”

The restaurant has a seating capacity of 99 and opens at 11 a.m. seven days a week. It closes at 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, at 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 8 p.m. Sunday.

Travis said she has lived in the Florence area for more than 40 years. She has a daughter, Sarah; who assisted with the ribbon cutting; and a son, Andrew, who lives in New York. Her husband, Bill Travis, passed away in 2017.

To read the full article on SC Now, click here.