Name of business holds key of location

Location. Location. Location.

When choosing a name for their business, several local owners were united on one front: Let customers know where you are located by including the city in your business name.

"Pretty much because of the location," answered Evans Cycle Service owner Tommy Greene when asked why he decided to include the city of Evans in his business name. "By the name alone, customers will know where I'm located."

And in Evans, there are at least 41 businesses that have Evans in their name.

Of that list, 11 are medical businesses and several are floral businesses. There are five churches that have Evans in their name.

Greene, who opened his motorcycle repair business slightly more than a year ago, said the distinction recently bestowed on Evans by Money magazine as being No. 32 on the magazine's top 100 list of best places to live is great news.

"But it probably could be a little higher," the south Augusta resident said.

When Saleh Shawkat, whose wife, Ann, is owner of Evans Jewelers, learned of Evans' ranking on the best places to live list, he let out an exciting, "Oh my gosh! I know Columbia County is the fastest growing county in the state. That's great!"

Shawkat said he and his wife have lived in Evans since 1988, when the area was largely uninhabited by businesses, and chose to relocate their jewelry business to the area four years ago.

"We used to have a store, Bethany Jewelers, in the Augusta West Parkway area, but we decided to move to Evans and name our store after Evans," he said, adding that Evans is now in "the middle of the city."