Ginx Boutique and Gift Shop held a ribbon cutting at 4 pm on Sept 20. Mayor Lee Kinnamon gave an address. “What you see today is really the product of several years of blood, sweat and tears as an entrepreneur. So that’s the first thing for folks to understand. The second thing is that small businesses are not only the backbone of this community, this local community, they’re the backbone of the state of Georgia and the backbone of our nation. Small businesses make up the bulk of business in this country, and so we are here as both DDA, Downtown Development Authority, and the city of Americus to celebrate this small business today, adding to the list of the other wonderful small businesses in downtown Americus and in greater Americus and Sumter County that are, in fact, the backbone of our community.”

Mandi Sue Latham, who owns Ginx along with her husband William, gave an address. “We started Ginx in 2020 during the pandemic, so we already, you know, picked a bad time to do that. With God’s, you know, blessing, He pulled us through, and we’ve made it this far. We found this location on Cotton Avenue. We were thrilled to renovate and to see this block grow, and that’s what we are hoping. We know there’s new businesses coming, so we’re excited.” She thanked family and friends who had helped them to create the business.

After the ribbon cutting, Latham shared more about the business. “So we started in 2020, online, and then we did booths and vendors and that kind of thing, and then we were in a little salon, the French salon, for about a year, and then we’ve been in this location now for a year, and we hope to stay here.”

She shared what it was like to experience the ribbon cutting for her business. “It’s so fun. It’s exciting, because we’ve been waiting to do it, as you know, for so long now.”