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Stroll promotes shopping locally
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Richmond Hill Chamber members want residents to skip the mall and big-box stores in Chatham County this holiday season and shop closer to home. 
“When you buy local, you support you neighbors, friends and community,” said Kittie Franklin, the executive director of the chamber.
The chamber is sponsoring the second Richmond Hill Business Stroll on Saturday, Dec. 4, from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. During that time, residents are invited into 45 local stores, not all of which are chamber members, to shop, enjoy light refreshments and entertainment. The stores are scattered through Richmond Hill’s city limits, south Bryan and Midway. Home-based businesses will set up shop in the old courthouse annex building on Hwy. 144 near 17.
“It will literally graze you across Richmond Hill,” said Bonnie Proctor, the chairman of the business stroll. Proctor works at the THA Group, which is a member of the Richmond Hill Chamber of Commerce and is also participating in the stroll.
During the stroll, shoppers can also enter to win a $50 gift basket or gift certificate at each store and a $500 grand prize at the end of the day. The drawing will take place before 5 p.m. at the Richmond Hill Chamber of Commerce office.
“The more you go, the more opportunities you have to win an individual prize plus have your name in the bucket for the grand prize,” Franklin said.
The Business Stroll is meant to showcase the unique shops Richmond Hill has to offer, Franklin and Proctor said. “Shop local” has become such a boring buzzword, Proctor added, but Richmond Hill Chamber of Commerce members still want residents spend their money in the same place that they live instead of the mall in Savannah, Target or Wal-Mart.
“We forget all the really great shops we have in Richmond Hill,” Proctor said.
The chamber hosted a Business Stroll last year. More than 30 businesses participated, but the event was held on a Friday night. Proctor said members decided to change it to Saturday to coincide with Richmond Hill’s Christmas Parade and other holiday festivities in south Bryan. She said that more people will be in town anyway, and are more likely to visit stores. 
Sherri Broome, the owner of PawParazzi on Hwy. 144, said she didn’t participate last year because it was held on a Friday evening. She changed her mind this year. 
“I was happy to see that they moved it to daytime hours this year,” she said.
The stroll is more than a day to get more foot traffic in local stores, Broome added. It’s a fun day that gets the community into the holiday spirit.
“It’s kind of like a kick-off to the season,”
Gail Speegle, the owner Dixie Outfitters on Hwy. 17, said she participated last year to promote her business. The stroll is an enjoyable day that will bring attention to local business, she said.
“We just had fun doing it last year,” she said.

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Record April boosts Savannah's container trade at port
GardenCityTerminal
The Port of Savannah moved 356,700 20-foot equivalent container units in April, an increase of 7.1 percent. - photo by Provided

The Georgia Ports Authority's busiest April ever pushed its fiscal year-to-date totals to more than 3.4 million 20-foot equivalent container units (TEUs), an increase of 8.8 percent, or 280,000 TEUs, compared to the first 10 months of fiscal 2017.

"We're on track to move more than 300,000 TEUs in every month of the fiscal year, which will be a first for the authority," said GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch. "We're also anticipating this to be the first fiscal year for the Port of Savannah to handle more than 4 million TEUs."

April volumes reached 356,700 20-foot equivalent container units, up 7.1 percent or 23,700 units. As the fastest growing containerport in the nation, the Port of Savannah has achieved a compound annual growth rate of more than 5 percent a year over the past decade.

"As reported in the recent economic impact study by UGA's Terry College of Business, trade through Georgia's deepwater ports translates into jobs, higher incomes and greater productivity," said GPA Board Chairman Jimmy Allgood. "In every region of Georgia, employers rely on the ports of Savannah and Brunswick to help them become more competitive on the global stage."

To strengthen the Port of Savannah's ability to support the state's future economic growth, the GPA Board approved $66 million in terminal upgrades, including $24 million for the purchase of 10 additional rubber-tired gantry cranes.  

"The authority is committed to building additional capacity ahead of demand to ensure the Port of Savannah remains a trusted link in the supply chain serving Georgia and the Southeast," Lynch said.

The crane purchase will bring the fleet at Garden City Terminal to 156 RTGs. The new cranes will support three new container rows, which the board approved in March. The additional container rows will increase annual capacity at the Port of Savannah by 150,000 TEUs.

The RTGs will work over stacks that are five containers high and six deep, with a truck lane running alongside the stacks. Capable of running on electricity, the cranes will have a lift capacity of 50 metric tons.

The cranes will arrive in two batches of five in the first and second quarters of calendar year 2019.

 Also at Monday's meeting, the GPA Board elected its officers, with Jimmy Allgood as chairman, Will McKnight taking the position of vice chairman and Joel Wooten elected as the next secretary/treasurer.

For more information, visit gaports.com, or contact GPA Senior Director of Corporate Communications Robert Morris at (912) 964-3855 or rmorris@gaports.com.

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