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Arts Upgrade Good for Business in Columbia, SC

Della Watkins
Mike Switzer/SC Public Radio

As you would probably guess, the business community puts a lot of value on quality of life for their employees, especially when a new site location is being considered.  Things like parks, recreation, theaters, and the arts.  After more than a year and a half of intensive construction and transformation,  one such institution in Columbia has become an even more integral part of that equation.

Mike Switzer interviews Della Watkins, executive director of the Columbia Museum of Art.

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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.