South Carolina Business Review

Spartanburg County posts big econ dev numbers

By Mike Switzer

Published April 22, 2026 at 6:30 AM EDT

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Allen Smith, president and CEO of One Spartanburg

Big economic development projects have been happening across our state for the past few years and joining us today is an organization in the Upstate that posted near record numbers last year. Mike Switzer interviews Allen Smith, president and CEO of One Spartanburg.

Allen Smith at One Spartanburg's Vision Plan 2.0 event

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Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

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