DECATUR COUNTY, GA — In Decatur County, local businesses are often the backbone of the community, but staying open for decades takes more than luck.
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Two longtime Bainbridge business owners say the secret to their longevity comes down to one thing: people.
Denise Webb has owned LTL Flowers and Gifts for 41 years, selling handmade woodwork, ceramics, floral arrangements and more. She says that while she has watched Bainbridge grow over the years, putting people first has never changed.
"This is my community. I support Bainbridge," Webb said.
Webb recalled one moment that captures her approach to customer care — a woman from Atlanta whose mother was in a local nursing home wanted to send a birthday gift.
"She wanted a birthday gift to her mother, and I'm not a plain person. I went in, and I started hollering, singing happy birthday and all. And the woman looked at me, and she started laughing, and I put a smile on her face, and her daughter was on the phone and heard all of it, and I've never seen this woman," Webb said.
Just down the road, Oliver Sellers and his wife have run Material Things for 35 years. The shop handles clothing alterations, sewing machine repairs, and anything else a customer needs related to fabric. Sellers says the connections he builds with customers are what keep them coming back.
"We like people. We love the conversations. Sometimes people just come in, and just sit down, and talk for hours on end. And just one thing about this, we just like to interact with people. And that's a part of business too, interacting with people," Sellers said.
While their businesses are different, both Webb and Sellers point to the same ingredients for longevity: having a heart for people, building relationships with customers, and treating every person who walks through the door with care.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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