Leah Ingram Eagle
Traci Fox, owner of T. Fox Salon Spa, was the guest speaker at the 2021 Shelby Chamber Small Business of the Year awards luncheon.
Five small businesses in Shelby County were recipients of the Shelby County Chamber’s 2021 Small Businesses of the Year awards. A luncheon was held at The Grande Hall at Old Mill Square in Columbiana on June 3 to celebrate the positive economic impact that small business has on Shelby County.
Traci Fox, owner of T. Fox Salon Spa and the 2019 recipient of the award, was the featured speaker. She told her story of how she got to be where she is and the hardships she faced along the way.
“My grandmother always said that everyone matters and everything matters,” Fox said.
With a passion to serve the community, Fox opened her first salon, Tangles, in Sumiton in 2000. In 2009, she opened T. Fox Salon in Shelby County on Valleydale Road.
Despite an eight week shutdown during the coronavirus pandemic, she and her staff made over 2,500 phone calls to elderly offering free prescription pickup and delivery and also hand-wrote hundreds of encouraging cards to shut-ins.
Despite COVID-19, Fox said the salon finished with a record year. They also made the 2020 Salon Today top 200 salons in the country.
“If you discover your purpose, you can make a difference,” she said.
The nominees for the 2021 Shelby Chamber Small Business of the Year awards were:
- 4th and Inches Nutrition (Chelsea)
- 24e Fitness (Pelham)
- Adventurers Coffee Co. (Calera)
- Alfa Insurance (Chelsea)
- Brownstone Marketing Solutions (Pelham)
- Bob Butterworth State Farm (Montevallo)
- Cajun Boys & Our Poboys (Chelsea)
- Charles Dixon Industries (Pelham)
- CPC Office Technologies (Pelham)
- Creations Galore & Moore (Calera)
- Exit Prime Realty (Alabaster)
- Fusion One Marketing (Eagle Point)
- Gifted (Pelham)
- Ground Up Coffee and Smoothies (Chelsea)
- Jones and Associates, LLC (Calera)
- Pelham Dental Care (Pelham)
- Pitts Media (Chelsea)
- Plant Gifts & Decor (Calera)
- R.O.E. Hobby (Calera)
- Tyler Rutledge, State Farm Insurance (Chelsea)
- Sawyer Solutions (Pelham)
- Shunnarah Family Dentistry (Montevallo)
- Southern Realty Specialists (Helena)
- Temperature Pro (Pelham)
- Therachem Research Medilab (Chelsea)
- Vinehouse Nursery (Alabaster)
- Vineyard Family Services (Pelham)
Leah Ingram Eagle
Chamber president Kirk Mancer (right) and Kyle Mims of Edward Jones announced the winners in each of the five categories
Nominees were judged by five categories and were reviewed by an independent panel of judges. They were evaluated on the following criteria: staying power, growth in numbers of employees, increase in sales, response to adversity and evidence of contribution to the community.
The 2021 winners were:
Category 1 (1 to 5 employees): CPC Office Technology
Category 2 (6 to 10 employees): Sawyer Solutions, LLC
Category 3 (11 to 20 employees): Shunnarah Family Dentistry
Category 4 (More than 21 employees): Charles Dixon Industries
Category 5 (Open less than one year and less than 25 employees): Creations Galore & Moore
