Last Wednesday, Maroon & Co. opened in Starkville.
Ryan Robinson, the store’s marketing director, said that put simply, the business offers gameday apparel for MSU fans and lifestyle apparel for most anyone. There are Bulldog-themed shirts and hoodies (Adidas, Under Armour, etc.) and tailgating supplies for football fans, as well as name brand (NorthFace, Patagonia, etc.) clothing and shoes for men, women and children. The store’s tagline is “Bold spirit, classic style.”
Maroon & Co.’s name comes from the feeling the word “maroon” inspires in the MSU community, Robinson said, explaining that it’s more about an emotion than a color.
The store, which employs seven people, is located in a 5,000 square foot space at 87 Cotton Mill Drive. It is located online at maroonandco.com.
Moving on, have you heard of Bellhops? It is a nationwide moving company based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Its manpower comes from college students and they operate in Starkville.
“All of our Bellhops, the movers, are college students,” Matt Patterson, the company’s chief operating officer, told The Dispatch. The business is built for “young professionals, students and families who need an affordable, fun alternative to traditional moving services,” said Cameron Doody, chairman and co-founder.
Bellhops operates in 120 cities in 42 states. It has been up and running in Starkville for roughly a year. Roughly 85 MSU students work for Bellhops.
Today, the business offers its services within a 15-mile radius of Starkville with no travel charge. But Patterson said that in early 2015, the company will implement travel fees so it can expand its service radius.
The Starkville location does not have an office — “We are a zero asset, labor only moving company,” Patterson said. Bookings can be made online at getbellhops.com or at 888-836-3939.
Bellhops operates in two other Mississippi college towns: Oxford and Hattiesburg.
Forbes magazine this month released a ranking called, “Best States For Business and Careers.” Mississippi came in at No. 50.
The state finished last due to “bottom five rankings in four of our six main categories,” the magazine said. Those categories are labor supply, economic climate, growth prospects and quality of life. The Mississippi positives that Forbes highlighted: labor costs are 5.5% below the national average and the incentive climate is one of the best in the U.S.
Lastly, Black Friday is this week. Here are two statistics from last year’s Black Friday, from a company called Wishpond.
The overall brick-and-mortar sales for Thanksgiving and Black Friday: $12.3 billion.
The overall online sales for Thanksgiving and Black Friday: $1.964 billion.
William Browning was managing editor for The Dispatch until June 2016.
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