TIFTON —  Southern Pickers hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to observe its 10th anniversary.

The antiques, home decor and apparel store held the ceremony as a kick-off event.

The business hosts and showcases the wares of more than 70 vendors. It opened 10 years ago on Tift Avenue in a much smaller store with only 10 vendors. 

The store later moved into a location on Main Street then relocated to a larger Main Street space after seeing further success. It has remained a valued part of Downtown Tifton, Tift-Tift County Chamber of Commerce representatives said.

“I was very scared to start with just 10 people in this building,” said Kathy Allen, owner of Southern Pickers. “But my husband said, ‘Go for it,’ so I did, and it didn’t take long to fill the whole store up.”

As part of the anniversary celebration, Southern Pickers held a sale on all of its products Oct. 8-9, as well as a campaign that awarded prizes to the first 10 customers to come into the store on Oct. 9.

Allen said she is content to keep her business as is for the time being but, citing the waitlist of vendors interested in working with her, reported she isn’t opposed to opening an additional smaller shop in the future.

Southern Pickers is located at 309 Main St., and is open 10a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays. For questions or more information, call (229) 472-1045.