Carthage is spreading.

Businesses new and old are setting up shop far from courthouse square, though still in town. The town limits of Carthage, seen on a map, resemble islands. Its commercial population is growing and on the move.

Longtime businessman Archie Kelly packed up and loaded desks, credenzas, bookcases, tables and tons of chairs, trucking it all past two traffic lights to DAK’s new location in the north end of town. He bought the former farm supply, four acres and a 30,000-square-foot building, to house expanding sales of new and used office furniture.

“I worked for so many years to keep business in downtown Carthage,” Kelly says. “Now, as I drive through town to work, it seems strange to come on out here.”

The bigger space will give him room to carry more new furniture and room to house his stock of previously owned items. It is almost triple the space he used to have.

Kelly’s original store was in the old movie theater on the town square across from the courthouse. It will not stand vacant. New tenants are expected soon.

Across the street, the old Piggly Wiggly is undergoing major expansion and renovation by Kelly and his partner, Paul Cummings. It will house Fred’s, whose Robbins store has been so successful that the chain looked to Carthage for a new site.

“We are excited about Fred’s,” Kelly says. “It’s going to be a big deal. We think they will open mid-September. They took over the light bill Monday. We were glad to see that.”

Fred’s will start taking job applications Thursday at the Carthage store. Riley Paving is working on the parking lot, hoping to beat any rain and finish before Labor Day weekend.

Wayne Caddell now has a full corps of stores in his new strip mall center across from the Carthage municipal building and Ron Jackson’s Savannah Gardens development. “Headquarters,” a beauty shop, opened first.

“We have three suites,” says his newest tenant, Pat Brown. “We are getting ready to open a medical supply shop, ‘All Things Medical.’ That is a good name, because it will have nurse uniforms, nursing shoes, stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs, watches. We will do gift baskets for the sick and shut-ins and people in hospitals. We will probably have candles, too.”

All Things Medical will open mid-September. In the back, Doug Richardson is soon to open a computer repair shop, according to Brown.

“He’s working on the name,” she says. “He hasn’t really decided on a name yet.”

Next to All Things Medical, Brown has already opened her new location for “Gentle Touch Home Care.”

“That is a service agency,” Brown says. “They send personal caregivers and certified nursing assistants out to care for people who need help with daily living. We deal mostly with Medicaid, but do have some private accounts.”

Gentle Touch has done well since moving to the new building. So has Brown’s neighbor, Headquarters, which offers more than a perm or a trim.

“They have tanning beds,” she says. “There is a girl that comes in and does massage therapy.”

Brown expects a lot of customers once her medical supply shop opens its doors.

“We are planning a grand opening for the nineteenth,” she says. “We will have drawings for free merchandise. We will have refreshments. Business has been really good at our first business. There is a real need for what we do in home care. Hopefully, there is also a need for All Things Medical.”

The county seat is growing quickly, spreading out and transforming itself, as Brown sees it.

“Carthage is booming,” she says. “I can tell a difference in the last two years. Look at all the houses Ron Jackson is building across the road. I have been told 150 houses and 51 townhouses. That’s what I’ve heard.”