American Factory Outlet (AFO) will host a grand opening on Saturday, May 1, that will feature live music, food, giveaways and more.
Lanier’s Fresh Meat Market will be cooking up food for visitors, and radio stations Kicks 99 and Foxie 103 will be spinning tunes for folks to listen to as they enjoy the festivities and peruse deals on AFO items.
AFO is located at 1809 Gordon Highway. They’ve already been open for years across the street, but according to AFO employee Brian Lavender, this is more of an official announcement to the community that they’ve relocated, they’ve expanded, and they’re ready to welcome customers.
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Formerly attached to America’s Remanufacturing Company at 1840 Gordon Highway, the retail store outgrew its space and moved with the help of a few new investors.
“The business is new to the new partners, and we’re excited to have the new building,” Lavender said.
One of the new partners with AFO is Jeff Hadden, who runs Phoenix Printing in Augusta. Lavender said that Hadden also intends to acquire the nearby building that used to house Masters Lanes bowling alley at 1810 Gordon Highway, with plans for expansion down the line.
“I brought a group together, and we bought half of the company, and it’s a great company,” Hadden said regarding AFO. “We’ve employed some extra people and we have plans to expand further in the future.”
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AFO sells new items in addition to refurbished, remanufactured and closeout items. Deals can be found on items up to 50% off retail, per their website. Retailers and dealers work with America’s Remanufacturing Company (ARC) to handle unwanted, returned or discontinued items. Instead of those items hitting a landfill or being unable to be re-sold by the original dealer, ARC recovers and re-packages whatever they can and sells it to second-hand dealers like Ollie’s, Big Lots, Roses, and so on.
AFO was born out of a desire to sell some of those returned items internally, and the business has grown since then.
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The grand opening of the new location is meant to inform the public about the deals to be had at AFO and to enjoy some discounted items, food and fun at the same time.
“I’d like to see Gordon Highway come back alive again, you know?” Lavender said. Hadden agreed that was his goal too and added he wants to clean up the “gateway of Augusta.”
Tyler Strong is the Business Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at tyler@theaugustapress.com.
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