Eli Brightbill honored his family’s four-technology custom of entrepreneurship when he selected the name Lyons’ Common Retail outlet for the enterprise he started in North Carolina four several years in the past. Now the keep, named after a single his good-grandfather ran in rural West Virginia, has expanded to a 2nd location at 633 S. Assembly St. in Columbia.
The store is found at the intersection of Assembly and Rosewood Drive, close to the State Fairgrounds, on a site that to start with housed a McDonald’s and then a utilized automobile dealership.
Lyons’ Typical Shop, which sells what Brightbill describes as “Southern way of living attire,” opened July 7. It carries a wide range of T-shirts, hats and footwear from common models these kinds of as Simply just Southern, Outdated Row, Drake and Southern Couture, as perfectly as other items which includes purses, jewelry, coasters, embellished tumblers and garden flags.
“We’re a retail clothing, present and equipment keep with a big target on casual clothing – which is genuinely our specialized niche,” he said. “Another issue we check out to do is work with some regional and area businesses where ever we go, so the store can have a nearby aptitude to it and give a minimal a little something that you are not heading to see at a large amount of the significant retail chains.”
Lyons’ carries shirts and other apparel by Nearby Boy Outfitters, which opened in Columbia in 2013. Brightbill mentioned he’s also doing the job to deliver other Columbia and S.C.-based brands into the store in the foreseeable future.
Brightbill is a North Carolina indigenous, born in Raleigh and raised in nearby Sanford. He opened the to start with Lyons’ Typical in Raleigh in 2018, exactly where it’s currently located in the Crabtree Valley Mall.
“My great-grandfather came from nothing and created his individual company, and that example influenced a large amount of persons in my family to be self-used,” he said. “Deciding to start out my have retail store arrived a small extra organic for me than it does for people who do not have that history. I normally preferred the idea of being self-used.”
Brightbill determined to grow his business about 18 months in the past and looked all-around for a new market in about a a few hour of Raleigh. Columbia wasn’t originally on his radar, but he listened to about the vacant area at Assembly and Rosewood and understood its potential as soon as he frequented.
The web-site has many benefits, he explained, which include a substantial visibility location and a pretty significant amount of free of charge parking available. The store’s close proximity to both equally downtown Columbia and the University of South Carolina also lets for quick entry to customers from both markets devoid of acquiring to worry about the parking concerns that spring up downtown or close to campus.
College pupils are primary shoppers for lots of of the manufacturers Lyons’ Standard carries, from the T-shirts to men’s and women’s sneakers and boots by Hey Dude. Nonetheless, Brightbill reported that when significantly of his products appeals to a more youthful demographic, pupils aren’t his only target current market. Out of doors lovers like the store’s selection of Xtratruf boots, he stated, while those who like the seaside can store the assortment of Bogg Bag seashore baggage and other items.
“We have a number of schools and universities in Raleigh and even though they’re an important portion of our business, they don’t make or crack us, and that is what we foresee listed here in Columbia,’ Brightbill claimed. “We certainly want to capitalize on the College of South Carolina’s presence as perfectly as other schools, but we also really do not want to be dependent on that market place. There’s not actually any individual else in Columbia accomplishing the products mix we supply, and we have objects that appeal to a large viewers.”
Lyons’ Normal Shop is open up 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday by way of Saturday.
Achieve Christina Lee Knauss at 803-753-4327.