Miskelly Furniture will open in Starkville by July.
The Pearl-based furniture store will occupy 35,000 square feet of the former Vowell’s Marketplace on Highway 12. Vowell’s closed in 2021.
Roy Oswalt, through his company 44 Properties, purchased the property in 2021 and started renovations and divided the building into three separate retail spaces. Miskelly Furniture is the anchor space, with Ace Hardware as one of the other tenants. Although the original third tenant was intended to be a second Dollar Tree location, Oswalt confirmed he is moving in a different direction and working with a new, unnamed tenant.
According to a Miskelly representative, the Starkville location will hold a soft opening July 15 and is currently hiring and looking for sales associates, delivery drivers and a sales manager. Although the representative did not have specific employee numbers, Miskelly stores of similar size hire 10 to 12 sales associates, two to three finance officers, one to two managers, and two to three warehouse personnel.
Moving on, a different kind of pet store is on its way to Starkville at 1085 Stark Road Suite 106.
Reef and Leaf, an aquatic pet shop and plant store, is preparing for its opening day. Payden Eguires, who owns the store with Steven Adams, hopes the new shop will serve not only as a store, but a place for the community.
Eguires’ dream first began when she first started selling plants a few summers ago.
“I wanted to share something positive with my community that I love,” she said. “My husband Mo has a natural gift with aquatic life, and we wanted to combine the two. … We plan to hold many fun events throughout the years. We hope that our customers will be able to take a piece of the positive experience they have at Reef and Leaf to grow within their own home, whether it is a small plant for someone’s work desk or a large centerpiece aquarium for their home.”
The Reef and Leaf has not set an opening date quite yet, but you can keep up with the new store on social media.
“We are invested in community involvement and want to bring people together, even with such a niche project,” Eguires said. “We set out to care for our plants and animals with compassion and respect. … We really wanted a place that gave special attention to living things that nature has created and provides.”
Moving to Columbus, Yummy Teriyaki is now open for business.
Li Guo Chen, who is the co-owner of American Deli at Columbus Place, opened the express Japanese restaurant at 1913 B Hwy. 45, last week in the former Backyard Burger.
Yummy Teriyaki dishes include egg rolls, spring rolls, cheese wontons, Japanese soups and salad, teriyaki dishes, bento boxers, fried rice, noodles and more. If you’re interested in some American classics, they also serve chicken wings, tenders and fries.
Finally, if you haven’t done so already, it’s time to support your best of the best. You still have time to nominate your favorites for The Dispatch’s Best of the Golden Triangle competition. You have until Sunday to rank your favorite restaurants, clothing stores, medical professionals and even hometown heroes. Vote online at cdispatch.com/best
Don’t leave your favorite people and businesses out. See y’all next week!
Former Dispatch reporter Mary Pollitz writes weekly about interesting business news. Have a tip, send it to her at [email protected].
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 44 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 44 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
