BY WAYLON WHITSON
APPALACHIAN NEWSPAPERS
PAINTSVILLE — The Paintsville/Johnson County Chamber of Commerce has confirmed that a graphic circulated recently which shows a trio of new businesses entering the Mayo Plaza is accurate.
According to the graphic, which was shared by The Shopping Center Group in a listing for leases available throughout the plaza, Hobby Lobby, which was already announced as an “anchor” business by the Johnson County Fiscal Court in the fall, is one of three new businesses planned for the plaza.
The other two new businesses shown in the graphic, TJ Maxx and Five Below, are also confirmed as planned tenants of what was once Peebles, according to Johnson County Judge-Executive Mark McKenzie.
“We were excited to receive confirmation from Hobby Lobby in the fall of 2022, of their intentions to locate in our community. Hobby Lobby is an anchor store that will serve to attract other great retailers and businesses. Additionally, there is confirmation online from representatives of the property owners that identifies TJ Maxx and Five Below as additional tenants planning to open locations in our community,” McKenzie said in a statement.
McKenzie said that efforts to attract businesses like this to our community are always at the forefront of the fiscal court, the City of Paintsville and the PJCC’s priority list.
“This is definitely an exciting time for our community. Economic development and business recruitment are daily efforts by the Johnson County Fiscal Court and City of Paintsville,” McKenzie said. “Announcements of businesses and industry locating in a community are exciting and contagious and we anticipate additional announcements in the coming months. Our staff works every day with property owners and prospective businesses to ensure growth in our community continues.”
No official confirmation of these future developments was given, although the graphic provided by TSCG does show that one of the mentioned properties, approximately 30,000 square feet of what was once K-Mart is under lease, but does not explicitly state who the tenant is.
Paintsville Mayor Bill Mike Runyon said that there was work being done on that portion of the “old K-Mart building,” and that it belonged to King’s Daughters Medical Center and echoed McKenzie’s excitement at the developments and the importance of community cohesion in attracting industry of any size to the area.
“I do know they’ve been doing a lot of work up there on that building and I do know that King’s Daughters has purchased about 30,000 square feet of it,” Runyon said. “That proves to you that when the county and city government work together, it gets things moving. That’s what Judge McKenzie and I have done through the Chamber of Commerce. We’ve worked hard on trying to get people to come in here and set up business and right now we’re moving pretty well on it. We really are.”