While walking downtown Tuesday afternoon, I found childhood memories on the unfinished shelves of Foxhole Comics and Games, a comic book and fantasy game store located at 109 Fifth Street S.
Owner Daniel Criddle named the business after his 22 years in the military, in which he currently serves as a member of the Army National Guard. He moved into the space early this month and plans to open the store mid-September.
“In the Army, you learn how to dig (foxholes) when you first get in and it’s kind of just a safe haven,” Criddle said.
Criddle said he wanted to open his store in Columbus because he saw a lack of businesses like his in the area. The store will also provide a space for customers to play games like Pokemon, Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons.
“This is something that the city doesn’t have. It doesn’t have a gaming culture anywhere in the city,” Criddle said. “We have the Comic-Con maybe once every couple of years but it’s not been very consistent.”
The Dispatch is renting the building to Foxhole.
If gaming just isn’t your passion, perhaps seafood is! Fish Basket, a new seafood restaurant, is also making its way to Columbus in September at the old Little Dooey restaurant at 928 Alabama St. in East Columbus.
The owner of the new venture, Lamont Paige, told me he expects to open in the next few weeks as he finishes renovations to the space and starts the process of hiring up to nine employees.
“I thought if we could bring something new to the table or do something different, it’d be something that anybody would like to see here,” Paige said.
While we are on the topic of food, a local Thai food restaurant, Gon Thai, located at 509 Main St., began opening for lunch again last week.
Owner Kannika Vonghan told me she stopped serving lunch shortly after opening her second location at the Columbus Air Force Base in October 2021. At the time, she couldn’t find enough people to work while she ran the second location. She now can restart lunch hours after hiring a new cook.
“It’s hard to find people to work,” Vonghan said. “It’s been a struggle for quite a while and COVID did not help us.”
Vonghan also said that business has been slowly but steadily increasing since reopening for lunch. Last week the business saw about 25 customers.
“This week has been better. We’ve had more DoorDash,” she said.
Elsewhere in Columbus, Munson and Brothers, a local apothecary, retail store and beer garden, is partnering with the Columbus-Lowndes Humane Society to celebrate International Dog Day with dog baths, bratwurst, hotdogs and live music from 5 to 10 p.m. Friday.
Finally, we move along to the Crawford area. The owners of Wildlife Dominion Management LLC, a wireless wildlife camera company, have taken a step away from the camera lens and waltzed right onto the event venue and boutique motel floor in the old Moor High School located at 1699 Moor High Road.
The owners would name the new venture The Hill and Moor after the old school. When they decided to add on an 18-room motel, they recalled the tangerine-colored tin that once surrounded the old building, so they landed on The Tangerine Motel, event specialist Gabby Morgan said.
Wildlife Dominion obtained the school in August 2021 after the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors approved a land swap agreement with the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District to trade 199.7 acres of timberland for the property.
Morgan told me that the owners Robert Taylor and Jack Robertson decided to build the business to provide a fun and exciting new space for events like weddings and conferences in the Golden Triangle. Renovations began in March and are expected to be finished by December. They hope to officially open in spring 2023.
“Our venue will be perfect for weddings, conferences, formals, galas,” Morgan said. “The space spans from our large Ballroom (the basketball gym which can also double as a basketball court for travel ball tournaments) through the Grand Hall (the old cafeteria area) and outside to an outdoor pavilion and commercial kitchen.”
Well, folks, that’s all for now. Check back in next week for more goings on in business!
Dispatch reporter Grant McLaughlin writes about business openings and closings, as well as other unique business news. Send business tips to [email protected].
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