Local demand led The Purple Elephant to Starkville
Local demand led to the creation of Starkville store for a Columbus-based gift and specialties shop, its owner said.
In 1996, owner Marca Glenn started The Purple Elephant in Columbus, said Faye Drewry, the Starkville store manager.
It has operated on Main Street in Columbus in a couple of different locations.
It started out as a gift and accessories store, “and although we did well with both of them, we downsized to a gift and specialities store,” Drewry said.
Glenn said the Columbus store had a lot of Starkville customers “and they asked about opening a Starkville store.”
The Starkville location opened in 2004 in the College Park Shopping Center. Business was great at the location, “but we needed more room,” Drewry said. The Purple Elephant’s Starkville store relocated July 1 to a location on Lampkin Street.
“We just felt like it would be a plus for us and to date it has been,” she said.
The store carries a line of jewelry made by a family. Additionally, “We do concentrate on Mississippi-made products if at all possible,” Drewry said.
Several products in the store are made in-state, including glassware from recycled glass, jewelry and a line of pottery store personnel are adding.
“We just think supporting our state is important,” Drewry said.
