Whistle Pig Country Store Deli & Coffee Shop grew from intention, purpose, and a deep connection to place. After more than forty years away, sisters Jan Brown and Melissa Hubbard returned to Lee County and quickly recognized the shift around them. Diversity had increased, yet the shared spaces that once anchored community life had faded. A “For Sale” sign on a long-standing country store signaled more than a real estate listing. In that moment, the sisters recognized an opportunity to restore connection, not simply reopen a building.

In 2025, Jan and Melissa opened doors to Whistle Pig Country Store Deli & Coffee Shop inside the former Wheeler Store along Wilderness Road. Today, local residents mingle with visitors, travelers, and students from nearby universities. Unique merchandise lines the shelves, while a full deli and coffee shop invite guests to pause or stay awhile. From the outset, the vision held steady. Whistle Pig would foster gathering, create local jobs, and support employees through a culture of respect and care.

Opening a business in rural Appalachia brought real obstacles. Infrastructure gaps, startup logistics, and limited access to nontraditional financing shaped early decisions. Support arrived through the Mountain Empire Small Business Development Center, where the sisters partnered with advisor Becki O’Quinn. Her experience guided them through rural startup requirements, operational planning, and financial readiness.

Although funding options remained narrow, SBDC support helped identify viable opportunities and assess next steps. Small grants followed, enabling critical infrastructure improvements and paving the way to opening day.

Today, Whistle Pig Country Store Deli & Coffee Shop continues to operate with its founding purpose intact. Each morning begins with community at the center, guided by connection, service, and sustainability. Jan and Melissa credit Becki for practical guidance and for clarifying the responsibilities tied to building something meaningful in a rural place.

Their story reflects the resolve required to return home, invest locally, and create a business that serves more than customers. It serves a place.

Economic Impact

• Opened a new rural retail, deli, and coffee shop in Lee County
• Created 10 local jobs since opening
• Secured $35,000 in local grant funding to support startup infrastructure needs
• Provides a gathering place for residents, travelers, students, and park visitors
• Continues to experience steady sales growth since opening

In 2022 Tanya and Jeff Taylor sold their home and business in Greenville, South Carolina, and moved to “the side of a mountain” near Pennington Gap. Soon afterwards, they launched Stone Mountain Yogurt in 2023 using personal funds. After launch, the Mountain Empire Community College (MECC) SBDC helped them apply for a local grant. Stone Mountain Yogurt’s opening helped spark a surge in the town’s revitalization.

“We were looking for vacation property when we purchased 42 acres on Stone Mountain,” Jeff explains. “Once we built a small cabin there, we realized we were too young to retire.”

In addition to investing in a vacation property, Jeff, who previously worked at General Electric, and Tanya, who had worked at a local bank in Greenville, SC, also felt called to invest “in a small town in need of help.” In exploring Pennington Gap, they found a Main Street that was mostly deserted. Once based around coal mining and tobacco, the town’s economy had faded — and so had the businesses in the town’s main thoroughfare.

“We saw Pennington Gap as Norman Rockwell’s America,” Tanya adds. “We wanted to bring that small town feeling back with a store downtown — and that’s exactly what we did.”

Jeff and Tanya contacted the town manager and the Pennington Gap Industrial Development Authority (IDA) and presented their idea for a new business on Main Street. Both were “helpful and open to our idea,” Jeff explains, which led the Taylors to seek additional funding. They started Stone Mountain Yogurt with personal funds and then later sought out a matching grant after opening to add additional equipment to better serve the community. Jeff found it in the form of the Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority (VCEDA)’s Seed Capital Matching Grant, which provides support for economic development projects from funding created from a percentage of taxes paid by coal and natural gas companies in Southwestern Virginia.

However, even though Jeff had previous business experience running a high-end auto detailing business in South Carolina with his son, he still sought guidance in applying for the grant. That’s when the SBDC joined the picture.

“The town manager told me about the Mountain Empire Community College SBDC, so I called Director Becki O’Quinn-Purdie and made an appointment,” Jeff relates.

Becki met with Jeff and Tanya and helped them through the application process. The application was approved and a $10,000 VCEDA Matching Grant was finalized and awarded to Stone Mountain Yogurt in June 2024.

“Becki walked us through details we needed for a matching grant,” Tanya says. “She does a great job answering questions — I can email or call her any time.”

From there, Jeff and Tanya worked with the Town of Penning Gap to find an appropriate location; which turned out to be a 100-year-old building on Main Street. The Town of Pennington Gap provided instrumental assistance with the renovations through a downtown revitalization project along with the HK Lee properties, the owner of the building. The shop’s frozen favorites quickly created a snowball effect all along Main Street.

“When we opened last July, there was nobody on this street,” Tanya notes. “Since then, a coffee/sandwich shop, hair salon, candle shop and arts and craft store opened. We’ve about filled up the street!”

Stone Mountain Yogurt hired its first employee in February 2024, and as Tanya reports, the shop sees new customers every day.

“The SBDC has the tools you need to open a business,” Tanya concludes “I encourage every small business owner to contact the SBDC.”

Chantel West-White’s Wick & Pour Candle Bar started in a basement during the COVID-19 pandemic, borne out of a desire to stay busy and connected with her friends and neighbors.

“I’m an elementary school nurse and wanted to keep my family safe during COVID,” she says. “I spent a lot of time in my basement then and started making candles. I sent them to friends with encouraging notes on the labels — everyone loved that.”

The feedback was so positive that Chantel considered molding her basement hobby into a business. With help from the SBDC – Lynchburg Region and the CO.STARTERS business accelerator program, it soon began to take shape.

“At CO.STARTERS I was introduced to the services offered by the SBDC,” Chantel adds. “After the program ended, I connected with SBDC Executive Director Stephanie Keener and others at the Lynchburg office, including Financial Planning Advisor Jordan Reeves and Branding/Marketing Advisor Jawansa Hall, who helped me prepare for the Launch LYH.”

Similar to CO.STARTERS’ 10-week entrepreneurship training program, Launch LYH is an eight-week educational course that culminates in a pitch competition. Launch LYH is funded by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development via the Community Business Launch program. Although Chantel wasn’t among the pitch competition’s winners, she says that she gained valuable business knowledge from the course as well as important connections that led to more milestones for her then-fledgling company.

Participants in Launch LYH were introduced to available retail and offices spaces in Downtown Lynchburg, which led to Chantel finding a physical location.

“Those connections helped me find a permanent location for my business,” she says. “The SBDC gave me a high recommendation — I wouldn’t have had that without those connections”

At her store, Chantel not only sells her own handmade candles, she hosts workshops to teach the candle-making process. And even as she has settled into her downtown location on Lynchburg’s 9th Street, Chantel has continued to consult the SBDC.

“Jordan helped with the financial piece by getting spreadsheets ready for my business plan,” she says. “Jawansa assisted with marketing and offered suggestions to improve my website. Then Stephanie connected me with students at a local community college who helped me create my new website.”

The SBDC is also providing help as Chantel prepares to hire her first employee.

“Stephanie helped me write an employees’ manual,” Chantel adds. “She also advised me about financing as we get into the holiday season. I’m looking into it — one step at a time.”

Chanel recently tried out the idea with a small working capital loan of $1,000. She also continues to make connections in her new downtown location, partnering with neighboring business owners for special events. Among those is a community display shelf where she and other owners showcase products from their downtown businesses.

With the SBDC’s help, Chantel’s candle business continues to burn bright.

“The SBDC has had a hand in every aspect of my business,” Chantel concludes. “They not only tell me what I need to change in my business but also how to change it. The information, guidance and connections I gained from the SBDC have been wonderful.”

Lenora Schmecko and her brother, Vincenzo Mazzone, opened Knead Bread in Winchester in May 2023 as a labor of love, bringing their lifelong passion for baking to the masses. But just as even the most well-kneaded bread will not rise without yeast, Lenora and Vincenzo knew they needed one final ingredient to make their bakery grow.

Enter the Laurel Ridge SBDC.

“Retail was a new concept for us,” Lenora says. “We needed advice, so we contacted the SBDC and met with Dale Maza, a Marketing Advisor. He helped with a business plan and provided analytics and projections. By the time we opened, we knew what to expect.”

Lenora and Vincenzo originally launched their business as an in-home wholesale bakery in Louisa County, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced them to cut the venture short…or so they thought. That delay turned out to give the business “proofing time,” and the brother-sister tandem opened Knead Bread’s brick-and-mortar location on May 20, 2023.

Sales quickly exceeded expectations as word spread about the new bakery featuring artisan breads and sweets.

“Business was a lot better than we thought it would be,” Lenora says. “In May and June, we were selling out by noon. We needed to hire more staff.”

Along with staffing resources, the SBDC suggested website and social media contacts. Currently Knead Bread has 10 employees and is looking to expand.

“The SBDC’s been with us every step of the way,” Lenora says. “They made everything a lot easier.”

Lenora believes every small business should start with a trip to the SBDC.

“The SBDC offers professional resources at no cost to you,” she concluded. “It’s worth it to reach out to the SBDC. They have a wealth of information and will use it to steer you in the right direction.”

From its launch as a wholesale bakery in 2016 to its Mason SBDC-aided expansion in 2023, Nordic-Knot’s wholesale pretzel baking business has seen its profile rise right alongside its gourmet pretzels. But for all the growth Eric Lundberg and Melissa Romano’s Scandinavian-style bakery in Reston has experienced, it owes its beginnings to a note and a pretzel once placed on the doorstep of the Lake Anne Brew House, which Melissa also co-owns..

“The note was from a pretzel-making neighbor Eric Lundberg,” Melissa says. “Together, we visualized a pretzel bakery and the Brew House as ‘a match made in malt and salt heaven.’”

With a business model aimed at wholesale, Nordic-Knot opened in 2016 with Melissa and Eric as co-owners. The culinary duo specialized in baked-to-order pretzels made with natural and organic ingredients and hand-milled grains.

“We wanted to add vibrancy and give back to our Lake Anne neighborhood, and also find a way to support other small breweries, coffee shops and businesses with our wholesale pretzel sales” Melissa adds.

Despite challenges to that vibrancy that came during the COVID pandemic in 2020, Nordic-Knot continued to adapt, evolve and grow. They overcame the pandemic hurdle by incorporating direct sales into their business strategy, and their customer-friendly service earned them second place and a $40,000 cash award in the national “Small Business Big Wins” contest for pandemic-impacted small businesses. The addition of Wolf Trap National Park as a major customer in late 2022 set the stage for an expansion of the business and a consultation with the Mason SBDC.

With a proven product and an even larger customer base provided by Wolf Trap’s addition, Eric and Melissa met with SBDC Senior Business Counselor Mark Julian. In those early meetings, Mark provided them with options on financing and examples of a business plan to present to lenders.

By early 2023, Nordic-Knot was seeking a $250,000 loan for equipment and leasehold improvements, which SBDC Program Director Timm Johnson helped them procure by preparing plans and a presentation and connecting them with M&T Bank.

“The SBDC not only showed us the steps needed to apply for financing but also provided direct connections to local lenders,” Melissa states.

By May 2023, their loan was approved, and they have since added over 1,800 square feet of production space to supplement their original bakery space at Lake Anne Plaza

“The SBDC was very supportive of our journey to expand,” Melissa concludes. “You wear a lot of hats as a small business owner, but you don’t always know all you need to run a business. It’s good to have SBDC resources available to help you learn.”

When plans to open a restaurant in Galax didn’t pan out for chefs Justin and Meagan Hitt, Crossroads SBDC Director Mandy Archer helped them consider other ideas and start a catering business. Even after landing their first opportunity – catering a friend’s wedding – the husband-wife culinary team learned the road to building a catering company was anything but a piece of cake.

“Financially, we realized a restaurant wasn’t going to happen,” Meagan relates. “We decided to try catering instead but needed someone to explain business details. Mandy explained an LLC and showed me how to apply for SWaM certification.”

Funded by Justin’s 401K, Beyond Catering opened for business in 2020 and acquired its first steady customer: the Volvo Truck Customer Center in Dublin. That has since turned into a thrice-a-week culinary affair that Beyond still serves today.

However, even with the steady customer base, the couple wanted a commercial kitchen closer to home. When a business incubator kitchen in the Crossroads Institute became available, Beyond Catering moved in. An added bonus was the SBDC office across the hall.

“I popped in there a lot as our company grew,” Meagan says. “We’ve added two full-time and four part-time employees and 20 on-call servers.”

Beyond Catering’s sales have also exceeded $250,000 annually, and recently won the Gemini Award from The Carroll News in 2022 and was named Best Caterer by the publication in 2023. Meagan and Justin are paying forward the lessons they’ve learned through a podcast they started, titled “Business Bites,” which offers hard-earned advice to other food entrepreneurs.

As Meagan and Justin look beyond catering to their ultimate goal of opening a restaurant, they’ll continue to depend on the SBDC for advice.

“Mandy’s been a great support,” Meagan concludes. “I don’t see any reason you wouldn’t want to have the SBDC in your back pocket.”

Shatera Robertson, owner of Unique Styles & Designs Floral Boutique in Uptown Martinsville, built a successful business over the past year with facts and expert guidance. She credits the Longwood SBDC for providing the information that led to that success.

“The key to anything you do in life is wisdom and knowledge,” Shatera says.

Shatera began her journey into floral design 14 years ago with a birthday party for her daughter.

“My interest in doing events grew from there,” she adds. “I actually started my business in 2016.”

Her goal was a storefront location, and during the pandemic, she learned of a vacancy in Uptown Martinsville. After six months of renovations, Shatera held a formal grand opening in June 2021.

“I first met Longwood SBDC Business Analyst Michael Scales when he came to my opening event,” Shatera relates. “He seemed very knowledgeable about business.”

Shatera emailed Michael to see if she could learn more.

“I made an appointment, and he told me about the SBDC services that could help my business grow,” Shatera adds. “He also told me about the Startup Martinsville-Henry County (Startup-MHC) and Grow Martinsville-Henry County (Grow-MHC) programs, so I decided to enroll.”

Startup-MHC and Grow-MHC are mentoring programs that help establish new businesses and grow existing ones through “business boot camps” and have graduated 283 participants since 2016. Michael is a co-facilitator for both mentoring programs.

“Going through the GROW program helped a lot,” Shatera comments. “We received information that a lot of business owners don’t have a clue about. We learned about networking with other business owners, important tax tips and how to write business plans.”

At the conclusion of the program, Shatera presented her business plan to a panel of experts. The result was a grant for over $1,770.

“When I opened my business last year, I financed everything myself,” Shatera says with a note of pride. “I’m a registered nurse and was able to work extra hours in the emergency room during the pandemic to fund my business.”

Since she connected with the SBDC, Shatera has seen a 50 percent increase in that business.

Planning for the future, Shatera is certain of one thing: the SBDC will be front and center.

“The SBDC gave me the information and motivation to keep going and grow,” she concludes. “I recommend the SBDC to other business owners so they can grow as well.”

Catherine Carter turned the page on a new career when she started a book club to help coworkers deal with the pandemic. Now, with help from the Longwood SBDC and Danville’s Dream Launch program, she has her own bookstore, The Dog-Eared Page.

It started with a dream to open a place for book clubs to meet and buy books. When Catherine learned about Danville’s Dream Launch program, it seemed like fate.

“I contacted Kelvin Perry, Danville’s project manager for economic development, and he encouraged me to apply,” Catherine relates.

The Dream Launch program, sponsored by Danville’s River District Association, features a six-week bootcamp and grant money presented to winners of a business pitch competition.

“Lin Hite, Kelvin Perry, and Michael Duncan from the SBDC all taught classes,” Catherine explains. “Lin, my mentor, helped me with a business plan and pitch for the competition. Throughout the whole experience I felt nothing but support.”

That preparation paid off. The pitch Catherine presented was awarded a $25,000 grant that enabled her to launch her dream.

“Danville hadn’t had a bookstore since I was in elementary school,” she relates.

The bookstore’s location on Main Street in Danville’s downtown revitalization district was also a plus for Catherine.

“It’s awesome to be part of what’s happening downtown,” she adds. “It’s rewarding to see people coming back downtown.”

In addition to the grant, Catherine received a loan from a local bank.

“The River District decided I needed more capital and connected me with American National Bank,” she says. “I didn’t expect to get support from bankers!”

Catherine continues to be amazed by support from the community.

“During our grand opening the store was packed,” Catherine recalls. “It’s a day I’ll never forget.”

Now open six months, The Dog-Eared Page is thankful for continued SBDC support.

“SBDC consultants still call and come by,” Catherine explains. “When I first opened, Lin Hite prepared me for lower volume months ahead. Due to that advice the shop isn’t struggling now.”

Catherine readily recommends the SBDC.

“Even after the doors of a business are open, the SBDC is there to help you,” she concludes. “I’m eternally grateful for that support.”