BOYKINS—Customers were treated to $50 gift cards, and town officials were treated to welcoming a popular new business to town, as Dollar General held its official grand opening in Boykins on Saturday.

“This is what I call a dream come true,” Mayor Spier Edwards said at the ribbon cutting. He had been lobbying Goodlettsville, Tenn.-based Dollar General Corp. to consider building a store in Boykins for four and a half years.

“It’s nice that we are able to have a store in our town that people can walk to and also serve the entire community,” Edwards said. “We’ve been having a lot of people from North Carolina come and do business in the store. We are very fortunate to have it, and we hope that it will continue to be a successful business for many years.”

The 8,000-square foot store, which opened in November, is owned and operated by Turner & Associates Realty Inc., a Nashville, Tenn. firm that works as developers for Dollar General.

Turner & Associates also donated $3,500 to the town for a concession stand at Raymond Parker Park.

“Boykins is evolving, regenerating itself and bringing new businesses here,” said Clyde Parker of the Franklin-Southampton Area Chamber of Commerce.

Parker and Edwards said the new store will help people save time, gas and money. Before the store opened, Boykins’ residents would travel to Franklin, Courtland or Roanoke Rapids, N.C. for purchases.

“As a lifetime member of Boykins, we are so proud to have this facility,” Kitty Lassiter, who also serves as the town’s historian, said on Saturday. “I think I’ve been here every day since it has been open. It’s been wonderful to have it.”

Tri-South Contractors Inc., a Grayson, Ga.-based contracting firm, began construction of the store in September on two lots formerly owned by Sherman Vincent and George Thorpe. The store, located at 32032 North Main Street, employs about 15 full- and part-time workers.