Biz Buzz

A summarized press release from that other auto manufacturer in Mississippi:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (April 7, 200 – Nissan North America, Inc. (NNA) today announced it is entering the Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) business through a significant investment in North America.

Key to this new strategy is the Nissan plant in Canton, Miss., which will become the manufacturing center for a range of new LCV products aimed at the significant North American commercial vehicle market. Nissan will enter the LCV business with three all-new products in three years, developed by Nissan specifically for the North American market and built in Canton. The first of these three products will be launched in the first half of 2010.

In addition to the investment made for the tooling and development of the three vehicles themselves, Nissan will invest $118 million to expand Canton’s production facilities to manufacture LCVs.

In order to accommodate the capacity necessary to manufacture LCVs, Nissan will not produce the next-generation Nissan Quest minivan and Infiniti QX56 luxury SUV at Canton. Further details of the production shift will be announced at a later time.

On March 19, Nissan cut the work schedule in Canton from five eight-hour days to four nine-hour days. The change is intended to balance inventory levels, according to The AP.

This just in … Marketing and PR agency Bobby King Associates has changed its name to ReidRejebian (pronounced “Reed Ruh-jay-be-in”). The name change of the Tupelo-based group was announced at the Governor’s Conference on Tourism, held this week in Jackson.

We don’t have all the specifics yet, but the former namesake started stepping away from the company in 2007. However, he still serves as a consultant for the firm.

The agency’s clients include the Tupelo CVB, the Natchez Trace Compact, the Mississippi Delta Tourism Association, DeSoto County Tourism Association, Ridgeland Tourism Commission and Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau.

I love farmers’ markets. I’ve grown up working and shopping at them, and I live for the smell of fresh basil on a Saturday morning. So, when I heard about the Mississippi Farmers’ Market in Jackson, I had to make the trip down to our state’s capital. Read more of Carlie’s column from Sunday’s Daily Journal.

More business headlines from the weekend, including:
• Business casual: One dress code, so many meanings
• Social Security digits should be guarded
• Outsourcing your life: You can hire someone to do literally anything
• Working the Web means taking time looking at the job
• Next big thing: TV converter boxes
• Take care in hiring lawyers and accountants
• Frustrated sellers turning to rent-to-own arrangements
• Sara Lee recalls whole wheat bread products

A Chickasaw cultural museum is in the works for Tupelo, according to an official with the National Park Service. Find out more in Tuesday’s Daily Journal.

The news came during a Natchez Trace Compact meeting held at the Renasant Center for IDEAs today. The 21 people in attendance from the main cities along the Natchez Trace talked about the Trace and tourism in their areas.

Some highlights from the meeting include:

• The Natchez Trace will have an arts trail Sept. 29. Check out www.scenictrace.com for more info. A longer art and literary festival is planned for spring 2008.

• The Tupelo City Council has approved the CVB’s plans to expand its office space and has issued $1.3 million in bonds to pay for the construction. The CVB now is looking for temporary offices while construction is under way.

Also, there’s an independent feature film being shot in Tupelo. Stay tuned for a story from Scott Morris about what’s going on.

• Tishomingo is having a Trash and Treasures event on Oct. 3 along the Tenn-Tom Waterway. It’s new, and it’s set up so each town from the Tennessee state line down to Columbus will have an organized yard sale.

• Jackson is talking about creating an antique car show. Not sure what sort of crossover - if any - this will have with the Tupelo Automobile Museum.

• Mississippi’s tourism division has identified 125 Civil War sites in the state. The archives and history department now is evaluating the sites in the effort to create a Civil War driving tour.

The division’s plans for a civil rights driving tour are now under the Governor’s Civil Rights Commission and all efforts will be directed by that commission.

As for new initiatives, the tourism division is working on an arts inventory, with hopes to create an art and gallery guide. The tourism folks are also working with the Southern Foodways Alliance to enhance the state’s culinary tourism efforts.

• Bobby King, hired by the Compact, will conduct surveys at nine points along the Trace to find out more about the visitors. The surveying was originally scheduled to start in October, but now will start in spring 2008 and run through the fall.

The Compact had set aside $25,000 to pay for the research, but King said with $20,000 going toward labor, the remainder won’t be enough to pay for analysis. So, in his role as program manager for Mississippi Hills Heritage Area Alliance, he donated $5,000 to the project, with the caveat that the survey include a question about people’s willingness to explore areas off the Trace.