Business: A year Of Transition From staff reports For businesses in Watauga County, 2004 was year of moving on up, moving on and moving on out. Several independent businesses were forced to move to make way for corporate commerce while the Chamber of Commerce saw a popular leader head for the coast only to be replaced by another well-known Watauga face. And while some local corporate businesses consolidated, other historic small businesses quietly closed down. To say the High County business community was in flux in 2004 would be an understatement. Here are some events that shaped the bottom line in Watauga County. JANUARY Boone resident Bobby Sherrill retired from Southern Agricultural Insecticides as manager after 48 years with the company. Sherril started as a jack-of-all trades on the factory floor and work his way up to manager of the operation 14 years before his retirement. The venerable Mountain House Restaurant prepared to move from its home of 31 years near the corner of Meadowview and Blowing Rock roads to its current location a little further down the street. Once the Boone Board of Adjustment approved the arrival of a Walgreen’s pharmacy in the area that houses the Mountain House, Razzberry’s Natural Market, the Book Warehouse and other businesses it was time to find new homes for them all. The Book Warehouse announced plans to move next door into the building then occupied by Greene s Furniture. A new name had not yet been decided upon. It’s now known as Black Bear Books. FEBRUARY After more than eight years at 1934 Blowing Rock Road in Boone, Los Arcoiris co-owner Alfredo Alvarez felt it was time for a change of setting. The popular Mexican restaurant targeted late March for its move to a new location at 168 Boone Heights Road, former site of the China House Buffet III. Harris Teeter, Inc., announced Feb. 23 in a short press release that “after careful consideration and strategic market review,” its store at 178 West King Street in downtown Boone will close on or before March 28. The location would be taken over by Asheville-based health food supermarket Earth Fare. MARCH Boone’s hotel and lodging revenues for the first two months of 2004 increased by more than 6 percent compared to January and February of 2003. A strong tourism month in February, with ski resorts running at full capacity helped capture a prosperous winter tourism season, Mac Forehand, director of the Boone Convention and Visitors Bureau, said. Farmers Hardware, a downtown Boone icon for 80 years, announced it would close its doors for the last time, leaving some area residents shocked and sorrowful. Owners Bobby and Terri Langdon said a combination of competing larger businesses and the lack of adequate parking drove the final nails in the coffin. Tourists and Wataugans alike enjoyed the antiquated atmosphere, which, according to Langdon, had seen very little change since opening in 1924. Bob Ash, one of the pioneers of the area’s development as a skiing mecca died March 30 at the age of 64. He was the first manager of Sugar Mountain Ski Resort and later worked at Ski Beech, and held over a half-dozen patents for snow-making equipment. APRIL Winn-Dixie at Boone Heights said it would close near the end of April, to make way for High Country Bank’s new headquarters. A spokesman said Winn-Dixie would transfer as many employees as possible from the Boone Heights location to its store on N.C. 105 in the Highland Commons shopping center. MAY Dan Meyer, executive director of Appalachian Brian Estates, was selected as president of the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce replacing Mike Wagoner, who took a job as the head of the Cateret County Chamber of Commerce. JULY Farmer’s Hardware in downtown Boone closed its doors after 80 years in business. AUGUST Appalachian State University’s Denise Ringler was awarded the Boone Area Chamber of Commerce’s Alfred Adams Award for her work marketing An Appalachian Summer Festival. Wade Wilmoth received an award established in honor of his late wife, Sue Wilmoth, who was an advocate for tourism and transportation improvements. SEPTEMBER Appalachian State University and Watauga County joined forces to kick start small business in the county through the Entrepreneur Development Partnership. The effort is funded by a $50,000 grant from the Rural Economic Development Center. Through a series of three workshops, hopeful entrepreneurs are teamed with mentors from the local business community to help their business dreams become reality.