Over the past few weeks, our websites and publications have been filled with great news about a slew of new businesses opening their doors or making plans to open new locations in Shelby County.

Last week, we published a story about the Auburn- based Chicken Salad Chick restaurant’s plans to open a location at the Village at Lee Branch shopping center off U.S. 280, wrote about the Alabaster America’s Thrift Store reopening after repairing water damage and stirred up plenty of excitement on social media sites by announcing Steel City Pops’ newest location off U.S. 280.

A few weeks ago brought more business excitement, as the Panda Express Chinese restaurant began working on a new store in Alabaster’s Promenade shopping center and Aldi announced plans to construct its second Shelby County location at the inter- section of U.S. 31 and Shelby County 11 in Alabaster.

The editorial is the opinion of the Shelby County Reporter editorial board.

A few weeks ago, the Coosa Pines Credit Union boosted Vincent’s economy by cutting the ribbon on its newest Shelby County location.

One of the most inspirational business-related stories of the past few weeks came as a part of our annual “Nine who Shine” pro- files, which published in our graduation special section. Pelham High School graduate Dixon Atkinson is already making plans to jumpstart his own Internet business – Dixon’s Tall and Skinny.

Atkinson dreams of one day selling high-quality clothes at reasonable prices using a mostly Internet- focused business model.

These business headlines mean good things for Shelby County’s economy as we all climb our way out of a global economic recession. We, as Shelby County residents, get to enjoy a slew of new shopping and dining offerings while our cities enjoy increased tax revenue to improve their services to the community.

We are looking forward to writing about even more exciting business developments over the next several weeks. After all, everyone wins when our economy is strong.