Fulton Businesses

An Itawamba County city is seeing an upswing in commercial development.

An itawamba county city is seeing an upswing in commercial development, despite recent covid 19 related shutdowns.

Wcbi's allie martin has more on what is helping drive the economic resurgence in the town.

Several years ago, downtown fulton had a lot of empty buildings.

Much of the commercial development had left, but recently there has been a revitalization of sorts and it's led mostly by locals who want to see the area prosper.

"we wanted to give a nod to history and give a nod to the growth of fulton."

Brittany moore and her husband corey purchased the old "gaither " building on fulton's town square.

Original plans called for their boutique called "chasing portland" to occupy the space, but other vendors now rent space at the historic building, as sort of a retail business incubator.

"hopefully those businesses can grow large enough to fill some of our empty buildings and keep growing in itawamba county."

"chasing portland" was open for one week before covid 19 related shutdowns took effect.

But since those restrictions were lifted, business has been booming.

"when we opened the doors everybody was raring to go, downtown has been hustling and bustling , ready to get in here.

Just northeast of the square, jimmie wilson put new life into an old gas station and auto parts store when he opened "porch swing pickings."

He sells farmhouse decor and artificial flowers.

He also rents space to vendors who sell everything from food, arts and crafts and antiques.

Wilson is glad many of the old landmarks are homes to new businesses.

"i kept coming by and seeing this building and it was always special to me, when we came into town, it was like the gateway to fulton , i wanted to do something that would clean it up and bring more people in, i think we've succeeded."

Nats bell at restaurant several miles away, the lunch rush is in full swing at 'guy's place' jason beacham took over the restaurant earlier this year.

The setting on the midway marina provides a unique atmosphere for lunch and dinner.

Beacham says people support local businesses because those businesses give back to the community.

"people really appreciate a local business, and we have great support and love from our community and we try and give that back in many ways as well, for instance, when the schools, for a brief period weren't giving lunches to kids who may have relied on that everyday during school, we gave away almost 200 school lunches to kids."

The owner of guy's place on the water says he expects business to continue picking up throughout the summer, with traffic from the marina and people coming in from the town and surrounding areas.

In fulton, allie martin, wcbi news several years ago, downtown fulton had a lot of empty buildings.

Much of the commercial development had left, but recently there has been a revitalization of sorts and it's led mostly by locals who want to see the area prosper.

"we wanted to give a nod to history and give a nod to the growth of fulton."

Brittany moore and her husband corey purchased the old "gaither " building on fulton's town square.

Original plans called for their boutique called "chasing portland" to occupy the space, but other vendors now rent space at the historic building, as sort of a retail business incubator.

"hopefully those businesses can grow large enough to fill some of our empty buildings and keep growing in itawamba county."

"chasing portland" was open for one week before covid 19 related shutdowns took effect.

But since those restrictions were lifted, 'porch swing pickings' owner jimmie wilson says sales this past may broke all previous records for the same month over a three year period.