Supporting the Businesses That Support East Texas

ETX Uncovered · Gilmer, TX · Published May 1, 2026 For a year, Randy didn't leave the house. He had a bulging disc in his lower back. He'd seen the surgeons. He'd done physical therapy. He'd done all the things. And the pain was so severe — so consuming — that the thought of throwing it out again was enough to keep him horizontal. He missed family events. He stopped working out. He stopped biking. His wife drove him everywhere he had to go. Then a woman in a Longview salon ov

“I came out of the back room one day and it was chaos,” she said. “And I thought, I’m killing myself. If I’m gonna do that, I want to do it for something I’m passionate about.” That was the moment. Thirty years in retail — working her way from salesperson to store manager — and it came down to one thought in a stockroom in Longview. Not a grand plan. Not a business model. Just a woman who had spent her whole career being very good at something she didn't fully believe in, fin