Cheapest gas: Sherman

You can get regular unleaded in Sherman for $2.58. New Albany’s prices are pretty good, too, coming in at $2.59 for regular.

Regular at Sam’s Club for members is $2.60, while Kroger in Tupelo is selling it for $2.62 (without any discount).

The most expensive gas is in Amory ($2.75 for regular) and Starkville ($2.73 for regular). Gas in Oxford, which is usually a contender for the most expensive place to fill up, is $2.69 for regular.

See more gas prices, along with bank rates and airfare, in Sunday’s Business & Money section. Click here for historical gas prices from the area.

A few store openings around town

The BizBuzz would like to welcome a few new retail and restaurant neighbors to Tupelo! Let us know if we missed anyone.

• Guthrie’s is now open and serving “golden fried chicken fingers” on South Gloster. The restaurant is in the old Dawg House/Krystal location by Back Yard Burger.

• P.B. Loco celebrates its grand opening as Joe Joe’s Espresso on Friday and Saturday. The cafe is located inside the Renasant Center for IDEAs in Fairpark.

• City Thrift opens Monday in the old Hancock Fabrics location on West Main. It’s going to be a large thrift store affiliated with the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

• Kohl’s will grand open Wednesday. However, since we’re all friends here on Biz Buzz, we feel inclined to tell you that the retailer will soft open (soft open is retail-speak for opening to the public before the grand opening in order to work out the kinks) on Sunday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Weekday hours are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Look out for Sunday’s Business & Money where we’ll introduce you to the retailer from Menomonee Falls, Wis.

Toyota supplier picks Baldwyn

After weeks of speculation, Gov. Barbour announced today that Toyota Auto Body will build its first U.S. manufacturing facility at the Harry A. Martin North Lee Industrial Complex in Baldwyn.

The plant will be called Auto Parts Manufacturing Mississippi and will provide stamped parts, body weld parts and plastic parts to the Toyota plant near Blue Springs that will begin mass producing Highlander SUVs in late 2009. The TAB facility will hire 400 workers and will begin production about the same time as the main Toyota plant.

You can read tomorrow’s paper for all the details. Until then, here what you missed if you weren’t at the announcement and you won’t read about in the paper …

• The announcement – held in the BancorpSouth Conference Center – started with an opening video that provided some insight into what Toyota Auto Body is and what the land looks like where the company will be building. At the end of the video, the Toyota execs and state officials made quite an entrance, walking into the room with music playing, people standing and clapping and the entire thing being shown on the two screens at the front of the room. It had quite a Hollywood feel to it.

• The initial standing ovation was one of 11 during the 55-minute ceremony.

• Jack Reed Jr. has been brushing up on his Japanese. In the capacity of Community Development Foundation chairman, he started his speech by welcoming Toyota Auto Body to Lee County and thanking them for coming to our fine area – and he said it all in Japanese. He then presented TAB President Toshio Mizushima, Gov. Barbour and TAB Special Counsel Dennis Cuneo each with a glass globe-like gift (which sort of looked like a golf tee from a distance).

• The visiting Japanese execs and their entourage on the front row liked the Baldwyn Middle School Chorus, especially when the students began playing air guitar to Elvis’ “Jailhouse Rock.” The execs were using their tiny cameras/camcorders to take pictures of all the presenters, but when the kids started singing and dancing, the cameras didn’t miss a note.

PB Loco to change focus, name

Turns out that gourmet peanut butter, as good as it is, just wasn’t as big of a hit as hoped.

Now, PB Loco, located in the Renasant Center for IDEAs business incubator in Fairpark in downtown Tupelo, is changing its name and its menu.

Starting Tuesday, it will be called Joe Joe’s Espresso. Owner Joe Moffatt, who had the PB Loco franchise, said the restaurant will feature, among other items, sandwiches, coffee and other beverages and would be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

‘Major auto announcement’ on Tuesday

Gov. Barbour will be in Tupelo tomorrow for a “major automotive industry announcement.” It should be the new Toyota supplier we’ve been talking about on BizBuzz and in the pages of the Daily Journal.

The event is set for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at the BancorpSouth Conference Center. A press conference will follow. We’ll update as we get more info.

Scarecrow contest in Downtown Tupelo

From today’s e-newsletter from the Downtown Tupelo Main Street Association:

Make a scarecrow and join the fun. The Design-A-Scarecrow contest is open to any individual or group. There’s no entry fee. Entries will be judged on originality, design, color, creativity and durability. The winner will be announced at the Chili Fest on Oct. 19.

All entries will be displayed in Downtown Tupelo throughout the season. Finished scarecrows must be delivered on or before Oct. 5. For more info, call 841-6598.

Just one more question, ma’am

“Can I have your account number, please? Last four digits of your social? Date and amount of your last deposit/payment/transaction? The address on the account?”

Every time I call my bank/credit card/insurance/phone company and get bombarded with these questions, I feel the need to start volunteering tidbits such as my favorite type of ice cream and where I went to kindergarten. Read Carlie’s column for her proposed solution to all these pesky questions.

Other business headlines from the weekend:

• Learning by Doing: Ole Miss’ Lenoir Hall dining program helps prepare students for careers
• Retailers may be in for bad holiday
• Toyota’s fringe benefits. And, as a bonus to all you BizBuzz readers, did you catch the classified ad in Sunday’s paper for an external affairs specialist for Toyota? Job duties include developing the visitor center (materials, displays, scripts) and arranging plant tours. Guess this means the manufacturer is leaning toward giving tours.

Two new retailers in Tupelo

The cat is officially out of the bag.

The Mall at Barnes Crossing will have two new anchor stores come this spring: Dick’s Sporting Goods and Barnes & Noble. And, B&N will bring Starbucks with it.

The food court also is going to get new life breathed into it. Think new seating, new colors, new food awnings.

A couple current tenants are going to relocate to make room for the new occupants. And, when they re-open, expect to see the chain’s most recent prototype. In addition, Belk has kicked off a $5 million renovation project.

We’ve got a lot of pictures and details in today’s paper, including an interview with David Hocker, the co-owner of the mall. You also can read about more about plans for the mall on djournal.com.

Cheapest gas: New Albany

Not sure what to make of gas prices this week considering crude oil hit $83/barrel yesterday. Anyway …

Of the places we visited today, New Albany had the cheapest gas ($2.62 for regular). Sherman, Tupelo and Sam’s Club (member price) all are selling regular for $2.64.

Most expensive gas is in Amory ($2.79) and Oxford ($2.79). Starkville isn’t much better with regular going for $2.73.

See more gas prices, along with air fares and various bank rates, in Sunday’s Business & Money. And, if you know of cheap gas in your area and it’s not listed, please leave us a comment.

‘Tis the season …

… for construction.

Is anyone else blown away at how quickly the Auto Zone is going up on South Gloster? It seems like last week it was just three and a half walls and now it has a roof and is shaping up nicely. Not sure what is going to happen to the current Auto Zone that’s immediately south of it, but we’re checking on it. Look for details soon.

And then we have the lot across from Daybrite on South Green. Lots of dirt work going on. Any ideas what’s going in there? Again, another thing we’re checking on and will get the details to you as soon as we have them.

Then there is always Fairpark – with its construction on some projects (Fairpark Grill and Park Heights) and lack of construction on others (Oby’s). By the way, Joe C. Kea of Spectacular Specs is still in the picture in Fairpark. Earlier this year he bought land adjacent to where Oby’s will be (across from the Hilton) and has been evaluating what type of development will work best. Word is he’s feeling out the market to see if a Spectacular Specs location is needed downtown.

Then there’s the Walgreens going up by the mall and King’s Crossing next door. Tupelo Commons is only a stone throw away behind Malco. And from what we hear, you can expect some more construction announcements in the area before the end of the month.

Any other projects around town that we’ve missed?