'WE'RE STILL GROWING'
NEW BUSINESSES, INCLUDING BOOKSTORE AND HAIR SALON, HAVE SPRUNG UP IN AREA
When Lisa Halverson told her friends she wanted to open her own business in Columbus this summer, many of them had the same reaction: “Are you crazy?”
Sometimes, Halverson said, she began to wonder the same thing. Was starting up during the COVID-19 pandemic worth it? But she stuck with it and ever since she opened Mudd Dobbers Vintage Shop in Holly Hills Plaza on Highway 45 in August, the community reaction has been beyond what Halverson even could have thought.
As of early September, she has 13 vendors — including sellers from Smithville and Vernon, Alabama — for her store, which sells refurbished furniture, home decor, antiques, handmade items and more. Customers have flocked from as far as New Albany to shop at Mudd Dobbers.
“I never expected this,” Halverson said. “I really didn’t.”
Hers is one of several new local businesses in the Golden Triangle that have found success despite the pandemic — a welcome sight for Halverson, Mudd Dobbers and the entrepreneurial spirit in the area.
“Mississippi stands tall,” Halverson said. “We’re still growing.”
COMING TOGETHER
Emily Liner arrived in Columbus with her beagle, Scarlet, and a moving truck full of books and furnishings for her new house. The 2004 Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science graduate returned from Washington, D.C., where she lived for almost 16 years, to establish a new bookstore in the city following the closure of Books-A-Million earlier this year.
“I think every town and every city deserves to have a bookstore, so I felt that Columbus shouldn’t be left out,” Liner said.
She opened her online store Oct. 1 and said she plans to open a brick-and-mortar business downtown — ideally near the corner of Fifth and Main streets — soon afterward.
Liner said her choice to open the online store first was one of the ways she’s had to innovate because of the pandemic.
“The big, scary thing about COVID for a potential entrepreneur is going into an industry that is rooted in face-to-face customer interaction,” she said.
Of course, not every new business owner has had the same experience. Sarah Dempsey of Starkville found herself at home with her two kids when Legends Hair Salon, where she worked, was shut down this spring. Dempsey said the pandemic gave her the time she needed to explore starting her own business. She opened Magnolia Hair Studio on August 6.
“If I was working all day, every day, I would have never had time to open this,” Dempsey said.
She said she fell in love with the first place she looked at: the former Jones Shoe Shop building on south Lafayette Street.
“It just kind of fell in my lap,” Dempsey said.
A GATHERING PLACE
Mudd Dobbers’ success couldn’t have been accomplished without support from the community, Halverson said. And she’s seen a lot of it: people “junking” on Saturdays stopping by; customers finding her business on Facebook and looking for something to take home. Mudd Dobbers has even become a hot topic of conversation. Halverson said a customer once told her, “‘We talked about you over lunch, and we just had to come see your store.’”
That’s just what Halverson hoped for, she said.
“I want people to say, ‘Have you been to Mudd Dobbers?’ and they’ll go, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve been in there!’” she said. “That’s what I want.”
Liner, too, said she wants her store to become a community gathering place, especially for people who wouldn’t typically run into each other. College students at Mississippi University for Women and Columbus Air Force Base personnel are two groups Liner hopes to cater to with the store, hoping to give back to a community that has been extra supportive of small businesses during the pandemic.
Halverson, who’s seen that in action more than she ever expected, said she appreciates the support she’s gotten from the community and just hopes to keep it going. And she’s proud of her choice to open up a new business in the face of so many questions.
“Sometimes I did wonder if we were crazy, but I think we made the right decision, and I think we’ll be successful,” Halverson said.
STORY BY THEO DEROSA
PHOTOS BY ANTRANIK TAVITIAN
