LOOKING AT A VIBRANT LOCAL ECONOMY
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Fannin Co. Development Authority
When you enter Southern Drug Company on East First Street in Blue Ridge, you are greeted with a smile and treated like family.
Truly personalized service geared for every person who walks through the door is the goal of owners Suzanne and John Davenport who opened the local pharmacy in February 2018.
“Not everyone should receive a similar state of pharmacy care,” Suzanne says. “When you get to know your patients, you know their normal and when they are off their game.”
It’s not unusual for the staff at Southern Drug to pray with patients, give them hugs, and sometimes have heart-to-heart talks. “We’re more than just pharmacists and we’re more than just technicians, we’re cheerleaders, we’re confidants and we try to meet people where they are and take care of them however we can,” Suzanne says. Patients will quickly find Southern Drug’s full service goes beyond the norm of filling prescriptions and selling medical supplies. They do vaccinations, including the kind the family pet might need.
This same personal approach is what you will find at Blue Ridge Creamery, which is located next door to Southern Drug. Opened in September 2024, Suzanne and her husband John strive for a fun, safe and happy place where local residents and tourists alike can gather and have some really good ice cream.
Suzanne’s grandmother, Christine Stovall, owned the Tastee Freeze in McCaysville in the 1960s and 70s. “You always hear ‘back at the Tastee Freeze, so we wanted it to be the Tastee Freeze of our generation,” John says.
The creamery is a place for families to bring kids and make memories. “They can say 20 years from now ‘hey, back at the creamery’,” John predicts.
The creamery regularly features 36 flavors of old fashioned, hand-dipped ice cream. Throughout the year, John and Suzanne rotate among 150 flavors. Some are standards and others are seasonal such as pumpkin and apple strudel. “It keeps it interesting and fun,” Suzanne says. Sundaes, hand spun malts and milkshakes add to the fun.
There is also a health conscious approach. Some of the ice cream is dairy free. Some have no sugar added, some are gluten free and some are vegan. If someone has allergies, they can find something to please their taste buds.
The creamery has hosted customers from all over the world including South America. Then there are the local folks who visit as often as three times a week and church groups who come for Bible studies. “It’s filled avoid where they can go and meet and just spend time together,” John says. “Just seeing the happiness that has come out of that is rewarding.”
Both Southern Drug Company and the Blue Ridge Creamery are all about continuing the down home community atmosphere in which Suzanne and John grew up. Suzanne brings her business spirit from her parents, Jon and Sandi Stepp, who own the Blue Ridge Diamond Center. John is a ninth generation Fannin Countian, his family having settled here before it was Fannin County.
Not only is this spirit found when entering either business, Suzanne and John’s support can be seen in the community through donations to schools, churches and non-profit organizations, and John’s volunteer work with the Fannin County Fire Department and Rescue Squad.