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.”