The Daily News

Business owners says things are close to a turn around

BOGALUSA - Abita Springs couple Jeff and Lori Winborn had been looking to operate their own business for the past few years. They finally settled on a place in Bogalusa - Glynn's Drive Inn.

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"My wife and I have been looking at businesses throughout Louisiana and the South," Jeff Winborn said. Lori, who has been working at Resthaven Living Center in Bogalusa for about two years, noticed the "For Sale" sign on Glynn's one day. The rest is history.

The tale is one of many these days in Bogalusa, once the sixth largest city in the state with the third-highest payroll. New businesses are popping up in various locations around town, and word on the street is, perhaps quietly, echoing of an economic comeback in the Magic City.

Jeff Winborn said he's heard business is definitely growing in Bogalusa.

"We've got customers from insurance companies to banks, and I talk to them all," he said.

The Winborns reopened Glynn's, a po-boy and sandwich shop on Avenue F, in October. Under previous owners, it operated for 40-plus years and became a Bogalusa landmark.

Since October, business has been "better than expected," Winborn said. "A lot of people are just finding out we've reopened."

Up the street at Barber's Hardware & Repair, owner James Barber said business at his store has been good ever since Hurricane Katrina.

"It's kind of leveling out now," he said, adding fellow business owner are really pushing a revitalization in the Avenue F business district, also known as the Pleasant Hill area.

"I think we need to put a couple of more buildings back up on the Hill," he said.

Barber is considering a residential endeavor in the area, and has opened up other business in town, including a daiquiri shop and reception hall called Union Square, which opened about three years ago. "It's worked out good," he said.

Charles Mizell, who owns several business buildings in town, said he does think Bogalusa is on the verge of an economic rebound.

"Surely, I do," he said. "The future is just so bright."

Mizell points millions of dollars in state funds that have come in to support the LSU Bogalusa Medical Center.

Mizell said he and other business professionals are considering ways to revitalize the Avenue F business corridor, where Mizell owns a building on the corner of Eighth Avenue.

"That block on Avenue F was quite unique when I was a kid," he said. Now, however, the buildings are dilapidated and some are vacant.

In recent months, however, Mizell refurbished the building he owns, and it's home to an attorney and acts as a studio for a designer.

A new gift shop will open in the building in a few weeks, Mizell said.

Bogalusa Mayor Mack McGehee said he can recall attended six or eight ribbon-cuttings for businesses in the past year.

He also points to the new Walgreen's and CVS pharmacies as an economic indicator.

Echoing business professionals, the two big things that will change the face of business in Bogalusa is if the city's public school system can make a turnaround, and if a new highway to Interstate 12 can be built, the mayor said.

"And when those two things happen, it will take care of it's own," McGehee said.