In Pleasants county...and particularly St. Marys...new businesses are coming in, and old businesses are expanding and remodeling.

It isn't that the community hasn't been hit by job losses.

It was just a year ago, you may remember, that Cabot Corporation's plant just south of St. Marys closed for good.

But just in the past few days...a new restaurant opened for business...and a store that's more than a century old opened in expanded and renovated quarters.

"And, most recently, Phillips Pharmacy did its expansion and remodeling," says Lori Renner, Director of the Pleasants County Chamber of Commerce. "They just moved into their building over the weekend."

"We had been investing money on Wall Street, and we decided it was time to bring it back to Main Street," says Tammy Smith, the pharmacy's co-owner. "We thought investing in our own business was a good thing."

And virtually all of the business activity involves locally-owned establishments.

Few of the businesses in St. Marys are chains...and almost no national chains operate in the downtown district.

Another point to make here...is that St. Marys and much of Pleasants County is a half-hour drive from Parkersburg and Marietta...and residents appreciate businesses that are close to home.