police department or schools. ‘Shop Local’ is huge, but it isn’t evil to support the big boxes.”
She also says that while you can still shop online, you might be surprised what you can find locally, both in local stores or sold online by local stores, before you go to the big websites.
Nichols expresses a similar sentiment, highlighting the larger incumbent businesses like Companion Healthcare, Vance and Automax: “Those anchor businesses need our support. They create a lot of jobs locally.”
Another area where both agree is encouraging involvement and investment from the younger generations.
There are several younger real estate owners and investors who could help with the internal transformation, he notes.
Timmons speaks of managing change, remembering history but not letting it tie us down. She also emphasizes that the current establishment needs to lead and enable the younger people to get them invested: “They need to see us doing things and moving forward. It’s a mentality thing.”