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Mayor: Fondren Model for Success
Mayor Johnson was presented with a Zippity Doo Dah tee shirt
Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson was full of praise for the people of Fondren at tonight’s meeting of the Fondren Association of Businesses. The group met at Fondren Hall – the former Primos in North Fondren – where Johnson was the guest of honor and spoke at length to laud the neighborhood. “If ever there was a model for the rest of Jackson, the rest of the nation even to go by, Fondren is it” the Mayor said to a group of about 75. He referenced Fondren Park (“who would have thought a few years ago this was possible”) and the Jamileh brothers who are helping to transform the Meadowbrook at State Street area. Johnson said they’re helping people to know the district extends to Northside Drive. “This is not an event but a process,” the Mayor added, “and look what you all have achieved in these few years. Johnson went on to say whether it’s a cup of java, a plate of tapas, or a guitar lesson, Fondren is moving quickly forward.
Mayor Johnson went on to call Jackson a Continue reading “Mayor: Fondren Model for Success” »
Johnson to Speak at fab Meeting
Out of their desire to draw together the business communities located within the Fondren district, fab’s Board of Directors will hold their next general membership meeting at the Top of Fondren. Mayor Harvey Johnson will be the keynote speaker. Also on hand will be staff members from various city departments who deal with small business and community development concerns. The Jamileh brothers, owners of Room by Room, have graciously offered the use of Fondren Hall for this time of discussion and community building. The agenda will seek to pave the way for community growth between the diverse thriving business communities and the residential communities of Fondren for the strength of all.
If you own or operate a business in Fondren, or are a resident of Fondren we encourage you to be present. This will not be a community forum for airing individual complaints. It will be an opportunity to hear the good news of what is being done, and of the role that Fondren will continue to play in re-building Jackson as we build community upon our diversity.
Source: Fondren Association of Businesses
Omega Group Celebrates New Location
The Omega Group, an advertising and marketing firm, hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony in Fondren today with the City of Jackson and Jackson Chamber ambassadors in attendance. In business since 2003, the company moved to their new location in Fondren Corner in January. Anna Hays, Omega Group account coordinator, said the day was about meeting new people. “We have many out of state clients,” she said, “and we want to take the business more local.”
fab Touts Fondren Business Growth
Fondren continues to experience an upturn in business development ranging from retail to restaurants to professional offices. Just this month, two new restaurants have opened their doors and our bakery has undergone a major transition. We welcome the addition of Petra Cafe to the former Jerusalem Cafe location where the owner has completed a major interior renovation with an outdoor patio in process. Adding to the exotic palette of the area, a long awaited sushi bar has arrived on Duling. Fatsumo Sushi is now open and will hold its grand opening on the April 11. After a major interior re-design, Campbell’s Bakery has re-opened on North State.
Change has come down Mitchell Street. In growing wesfo, Social Agenda has re-located to the building next to the Shoe Bar at Pieces and the Orange Peel has moved in across the street. On State Street in Fondren Corner, Continue reading “fab Touts Fondren Business Growth” »
Mexico to Mississippi: Meet Victor Hernandez
It was a preseason NFL game in Chicago that brought him to the United States in 1986. And Victor Hernandez says it’s God who brings his smile to Fondren. Hernandez says he stayed in Chicago after that Dolphins-Bears matchup for “better opportunity.” He spent late nights building his first computer for $50 (almost to the detriment of his marriage, he says with a chuckle) while going to school and making deliveries during the day. Hernandez says he knows Chicago like the back of his hand.
When his brother’s job for Borden took him from the windy city to Mississippi, Hernandez followed. And when that same job moved to Texas, the pair began a remodeling business here. Now the husband and father of three teens is the superintendent for St. Luke’s United Methodist Church. The 45 year old Mexico City native credits church member Fran Jones for helping him to find work at St. Luke’s, but his background is Continue reading “Mexico to Mississippi: Meet Victor Hernandez” »
Art Speaks Through Pain: Meet Roz Roy
Listen to painter and sculptor Roz Roy speak. You hear the excitement in her voice. Look at her walls and you see her pain. The 50 year old who majored in commercial art design but never finished at Jackson State said it was her father’s and brother’s deaths that inspired her to take up her art form. Now, she is inspiring kids from all over the metro with summer art camps and weekly sessions at Boyd Elementary School. Roy said it is a grant secured for her by the Fondren Renaissance Foundation that allows her “artist-in-residence” time at Boyd where she sees herself in the kids she instructs. “I was that little girl,” she told us, “with scribble-scrabble on the tops of my papers, the one who couldn’t sit still. My mother kept me in scouts and coloring books; anything to encourage my creativity.
But it wasn’t until 2003 when her father passed that she began painting. “I always liked art, but after my dad died, I said Continue reading “Art Speaks Through Pain: Meet Roz Roy” »
Spring/Summer Guide Hot Off Presses!
There’s a new kid in town: the Find It In Fondren™ Spring/Summer Visitor’s and Newcomer’s Guide! The 40 page publication is the essential Fondren information source for the people, places, food, recreation, shopping and arts of Jackson’s Hippest Neighborhood™. Published semi-annually, Find It In Fondren™ was born out of the need for a “tourism publication” to help promote all of the good happening in the area. New to this edition is a helpful “who to call” guide for newcomers to Continue reading “Spring/Summer Guide Hot Off Presses!” »
Eddie Prosser: Why I Work in Fondren
For those of you who have not met me, I am Eddie Prosser, store manager of the Fondren McDade’s Market. I am not your ordinary kind of manager who makes sure that the shelves are full of green beans, the floor is spotless and that everything is spaced just right. No, I am more. I am your Neighborhood Grocer. You own me; you are my boss. Many of you know that I came to Jackson from Pascagoula just as Jitney Jungle sold to Winn-Dixie and then Winn-Dixie exited the market in 2005. The McDades purchased the location – Belhaven’s Jitney 14 – that I managed. Wow, what a dream come true.
I was from the school that the customer was always right, that if needs are met and the experience is positive that they would be back to see me. Since I love people and I like to see people, I bought into that concept. That’s where the champions of customer service – Greg and Kathy McDade – come in. They had purchased the Fondren location in Continue reading “Eddie Prosser: Why I Work in Fondren” »
Architect Moves to “Neighborhood Like No Other”
Before the neighborhood became what it is today, architect Jeff Seabold loved Fondren. So much so, he wrote his architectural school thesis on the subject. And late last year, the 36 year old Belhaven resident uprooted his Seabold Architectural Studio for a move to Jackson’s hippest neighborhood. The chairman for Mississippi’s chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council and past Leadership in Environmental Engineering and Design initiative (LEED) advocate for the state, Seabold says his second floor digs in the yellow Fondren house on State Street afford him “the best view in town.” When asked what it is about Fondren he loves, he points to the urban sustainability of the area. Seabold says there’s no other neighborhood in the metro – or the state for that matter – where you find shopping, dining, and living, all within walking distance. And, he says, “15 of the greatest restaurants in Jackson.” No other Continue reading “Architect Moves to “Neighborhood Like No Other”” »