In downtown Columbus on Fifth Street there is a four-month old boutique to know about.
It is called In Style Boutique. The owner is Jackie Watson of Columbus and she said her passion, for as long as she can remember, was to open an apparel store for fashionable women.
“This is my dream come true,” she said.
What she sells is clothes, purses, shoes and jewelry. A make-up line is in the works. But the focus, Watson said, is customer service and clothes for junior, misses and plus-size women “who value their individuality and want to see unique qualities portrayed in everyday apparel.”
Watson gets new items weekly.
In Style Boutique is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the phone number is 662-570-4149. The address is 222 Fifth Street. You cannot miss it — the storefront is painted hot pink, which is Watson’s favorite color.
You have probably seen construction work going on at 525 Tuscaloosa Rd. There’s a substantial amount of smoothed-out, red dirt at the site.
Kenny Wiegel, building official with the city of Columbus, said that is site work for the Love’s Travel Stop being built at the site. The work started early last week.
The travel stop will cover 11,000 square feet. There will also be a tire shop that will cover 10,000 square foot.
Staying in east Columbus, a new Dollar General will open Saturday.
The doors will be unlocked at 8 a.m. and the first 50 shoppers will each receive $10 gift cards to the store, according to Dollar General spokeswoman Jaclyn Dees. The first 200 shoppers will be given Dollar General tote bags.
The new location is at 801 Tuscaloosa Rd. and will be about 9,500 square feet. It will replace a 5,000 square foot Dollar General that stood across the street.
The new store will employ six to 10 people, Dees said.
(Side note: In just more than two decades of existence, Dollar General has become the most widespread retailer in the U.S., with 10,000-plus stores in 40 states. There are 379 in Mississippi and they average about 7,200 square feet each, according to Dees.)
Speaking of massive retailers, we want to pass this along: Wal-Mart has recalled 174,000 dolls known as “My Sweet Love/My Sweet Baby Cuddle Care Baby Doll.”
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Tuesday that the electronic baby doll has a circuit board in its chest that can overheat. According to the Associated Press, Wal-Mart has received 12 reports of incidents, including two burns and blisters to thumbs.
Wal-Mart was the only store that sold the made-in-China $20 doll from 2012 to 2014.
Lastly, Walgreen Co. early this week announced that it would close 76 unprofitable drugstores by August. The Illinois-based chain told The Dispatch that 19 Walgreens through the southeast will be closed. We are not sure if the three Walgreens in the Golden Triangle — two in Columbus; one in Starkville — will be affected.
William Browning was managing editor for The Dispatch until June 2016.
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