SANDHILLS SCORE HAS HELPED A NUMBER OF LOCAL SMALL BUSINESSES

HERE ARE A FEW OF THEIR STORIES

TAKING FLIGHT

The following article is reprinted from The Pilot dated November 2007.

Downtown S.P. Business Focuses on Birds

Since March, a new business has taken flight on Broad Steet in Southern Pines. Birdies on Broad Steet, "a wild bird feeding, watching and wondering shop", has had the birds singing in the trees. Owner Donna Hefton grew up with birds. "I've loved birds ever since I was a little girl and squeezed Smoochie, our family parrot, to death," she says laughing.

Time marched on and Hefton learned a lot more about birds. She arrived in the Sandhills about 10 years ago from California and continued her career as a radiological technologist specializing in peripheral vascular medicine and cardiology.

But she knows birds. She has published articles and lectured about parrots and has been invited to lecture about them in Richmond, Va., and throughout the Sandhills. She even developed a specialized bird shower. "I love the science of birds, their physiology and behaviors, the ways they have adapted to their particular environment, and the migratory habits that move them from place to place," she says. So when the time came for a career change, the question wasn't what she'd do, it was how and where she would open a shop that caters to bird watchers and nature lovers.

To get her business started, she contacted Marilyn Neely at the Small Business Center at Sandhills Community College. "Marilyn was invaluable to me", Hefton says. "She had all of the information I needed and is truly interested in the success of my business. I still contact her when I have questions, and she always seems to have the answers."

Neely put Hefton in touch with the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), where she worked with Willy Campbell on her business plan. "Willy was essential to developing my plan", Hefton says. "He's a great guy who was with me every step of the way. He even accompanied me as I went to different banks for financing."

In just a short month from the time she received financing, Hefton had attended trade shows to purchase unique stock, found retail space and designed and outfitted the interior. On March 19, Hefton, her two Timneh Afrcan Grey parrots, Birdie and Gorilla, threw open the doors to welcome customers into the shop.

The shop, which is near the Sunrise Theater on Broad Steet, has a decidely garden feel. A display holding an array of bird houses and feeders winds its way from the front to the middle of the shop. Bird seed is complemented by bat boxes, squirrel feeders, books, DVDs, games and toys for children, and accessories with an avian flair.

Hefton has worked hard to provide unique and unusual items that aren't found in the big box stores, and she strives to carry as few Chinese-made products as possible. She is beginning to stock clay bird feeders and houses made by Betty Owen of Sanford. "We try to provide functional, well-crafted products to our customers that will attract a wide variety of bird species to their yards," she says. "Residents of the area have such lovely homes, not to mention large investments in gorgeous landscaping. There really have been few places to shop for their interests in wild bird feeding. Birdies on Broad Steet makes a great attempt to find and display items that are beautiful additions to backyards, patios or decks of those who wish to feed and watch birds and still maintain the beauty and integrity of the garden they created."

Hefton adds that bird watching is an $18 billion annual industry."And this is a hot spot," she saya. "North Carolina is a very bird-friendly state with the birding trails in three regions: coastal, Piedmont, opening in June 2008, and mountain, which is being developed now."

In the seven short months Hefton has been in business, Birdies on Broad Steet has consistently turned a profit."I was completely amazed when I sold out of bat boxes for Mother's Day," Hefton says. "Hummingbird feeders I could understand, but a gift of a five-chamber bat box that houses 500 to 600 bats as a Mother's Day present was the most surprising thing that has happened to me so far in starting this business. Who knew?"

Hefton is an active member of the Sandhills Natural History Society, Carolina Bird Club, and the North Carolina Birding Trail as a "birder friendly business." She also works closely with the staff at Weymouth Woods Nature Center.

Hefton says her business has a loyal following. "I have repeat customers who shop with me regularly for seed, suet and mealworms - yes, we carry live food for the bluebirds, and customers who drive in for the day from Fayetteville, Sanford and Laurinburg," she says. "I was surprised at how many tourists to the area will make a purchase and have me ship it to them, and I love it when they say, "Wow! I have never seen anything like this!" I've opened a toy store for grownups."