Chase Hazard needs to take a break. But, she won’t, at least not anytime soon. She’s the busiest she’s ever been.
In the last year and a half, she’s taken over her parent’s Gardner Boulevard institution, Lighting Unlimited, and led it through a rebrand to Uncommon Living. This Spring, she’s set to rebrand another Columbus institution. Hazard has purchased Pizazz Gifts from Patti Griffin and is moving it downtown and renaming it Saint & Scott, a nod to her parents, the late Scott Pridmore and her mother Helen (a ‘saint’ for putting up with Scott).
“I am so excited,” Griffin told The Dispatch in a January interview. “I’ve had several people approach me about Pizazz over the years, but she was the right one. She’s creative, energetic, kind and is fun to work with. Pizazz is in good hands.”
On Hazard’s agenda as well are several interior design projects in various stages of completion – including the much-anticipated and highly-discussed Amata, an Italian restaurant set to open in downtown Columbus.
Working this hard and seeing her vision for the stores take shape is bittersweet. For her, saying “yes” to this many projects started as a way to help cope with the grief of losing her dad, who tragically passed away in November of 2024.
“When I decided to go back to work I hid in my office for the first few months,” she said. “You need something to take your mind off of it… I was like ‘I can’t just sit here and think.’ I started saying, ‘yes, yes, yes’, to everything. I wanted to do the work. I really dove back in.”
It hasn’t been easy. There have been a lot of long nights, early mornings, and weekends.
“I’m trying to figure out how to take over one business and here I am going to try and take over another one, when I have zero experience being an owner or a boss. But I’m the type of person that’s like, ‘I’ll figure it out.’”
And figure it out she has. Uncommon Living has been transformed from its humble beginnings. What began as her grandfather’s simple electrical supply store, turned into a lighting store when her parents Scott and Helen took the reins. They had a successful run – last November they celebrated 40 years of business. But Chase had a different vision.
It was around 2019, right after she got married when she found herself hunting for something specific, and she couldn’t find anything in Columbus.
“I drove to Tupelo, and the whole drive I was thinking ‘How do we not have this?’” she said. After she came back from her search, she approached her parents with an idea: what if they started their own custom furniture and upholstery line?
“We started out with a small, local Mississippi upholstery company.” she said. “And our first order was $5,000 and my mom was freaking out about it, and she was like, ‘what if it doesn’t sell?’ And I was like, ‘it’s gonna do good, we’re gonna do good.’
That first order was the start of something new. Today, the space on 1116 Gardner Boulevard is no longer just a lighting warehouse – it’s a beautiful showroom offering custom upholstery, unique home accents, rugs and furniture. And with her keen eye and understanding of functionality, Chase now provides interior design input and decorating services. Despite carrying Lighting Unlimited/Uncommon Living into its third generation, she is still committed to carrying forward the legacy her parents began – while also forging her own.
“When we first started moving things into Saint & Scott, I was like, okay it’s actually taking shape,” she said. “I feel like I’m really doing this part on my own, versus coming into Lighting Unlimited and turning it into Uncommon Living. As far as everything else goes, I feel like it’s mine. I think my dad would be really proud of that.”
When asked what her hopes are for the next year, she doesn’t ask for much. Chase hopes to have two “thriving businesses” and the same people working for her, the team she says has a “family bond.” And, if she’s lucky, she may even have a little extra time on her hands to spend with her husband James, and their dogs Moby and Herman. If she’s really lucky – they’ll travel. Though even when she’s traveling, she still thinks of work.
“But it’s a joy,” she said. “That’s the joyful part. Getting inspired everywhere I go.”
Story by Ashlynd King
Photos by Deanna Robinson