One of Greenville's newest businesses is off to a booming start. That's the word from Terry Richey, project manager at Marvin's of Greenville. Richey spoke to the Greenville Lions Club on Monday.

&#8220We've had good sales, a lot of traffic through our store, and gotten some really good feedback from our customers,” Richey said.

&#8220They really like our Saturday morning specials, when we offer hot prices from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. only – it draws a crowd.”

Richey described the Greenville Marvin's as one of the home improvement company's &#8220new concept” stores, along with stores in Selma, Talladega, Brewton, Atmore and Defuniak Springs. The store is located in the old Wal-Mart location in Interstate Plaza.

The new concept stores are more scaled down and even more customer-friendly than the chain's larger, &#8220big box” stores, Richey said.

&#8220With our central service desks and drive-through lumber yards in place, it allows us to offer our customers better service and lower prices. And we have heard people are now coming here instead of driving to Montgomery or Troy to shop.”

The project manager pointed out Home Depot &#8220was so impressed with our new concept stores they sent people over from Atlanta to see one of them.”

Richie told his audience the business started as a small one-man operation run by Marvin Cohen in Alabama City (now known as Gadsden) in 1945.

Today, the family-owned business has 25 stores in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, and plans to expand into Georgia in the near future.

&#8220I came here to Greenville to supervise the construction and completion of the store and to get it off the ground…I will be here another month or so until we get a new manager in place. We have some excellent candidates,” Richey said.

The Greenville Marvin's, which currently employs approximately 25 employees, is still in need of some people to work on the yard, Richey said. There are already some very experienced and well-known service employees in place at the store, he added.

&#8220We were very lucky to get some of the great people who came to us from Winn-Dixie after it closed, so you will see some familiar faces when you walk in our store.”

Richey said the store goes through a detailed pre-employment screening process with its employees. Those who pass undergo criminal background checks and drug tests.

Richey said he had enjoyed meeting the people of Greenville during his time here and encouraged those who had not yet visited Marvin's, to stop in soon.

&#8220We promise to meet the prices you will find at Lowe's or Home Depot in Montgomery.”