She's not much to look at anymore, but her roots run deep in Lexington, Mississippi and Holmes County. In 1953 "Kickernick" as we affectionately call her, opened under the name of Lexington Industries and manufactured women's lingerie and undergarments.
The Winget family from Minnesota built and named the Kickernick facility, it was the heart of Lexington and employed over 75 local workers.
In 1958 Lexington Industries was bought by the Henson family and the name was changed to the Henson-Kickernick company. The Henson family continued to manufacture women's lingerie and pajamas in Kickernick while upping her employees to around 150. Not only did she employee a large number of the residents, but she also housed a factory outlet store where locals could buy products manufactured on site for a fraction of the cost in other stores.
(photo courtesy of Holmes County Herald)
Kickernick was booming and so was Lexington. However, in1984 a declining economy caused plant managers to downsize the employee numbers at Kickernick with the hopes of rehiring in the months to come. The rehiring never happened and the Henson-Kickernick Company closed the doors to the Lexington factory forever.
Kickernick re-opened under another company or two but nothing lasted and when we found her she was vacant, tired and in need of some TLC.
Some people see an old run down building, we see the future of a community . Our building may not be much to look at now, but when we are finished it will be a world class roasting and distribution facility unlike anything in Mississippi.
Our CEO Chuck Lovorn said it best, "We are excited to work with the people of Lexington. It is our core mission, to use our business efforts to revitalize and strengthen our local businesses through commerce and Southern Coffee Services will provide jobs and opportunities that are lacking in Holmes County."
We are dedicated to our local community and we want to demonstrate that by investing in the renovation of our "Kickernick" facility which is located next to the Holmes County Career Center. When renovations are done, we will train workers from the local community in conjunction with the career center.
Kickernick still has a lot of life left in her. We have already began the renovation process and can not wait to have her up and running again.
You Can Help Revitalize Our Community by Purchasing Our Locally Roasted Coffee!
2 comments
Hi, I am a employee at Southern Coffee Services and they have great products and the people there are wonderful! 💃🏽
I have only purchased from Southern Coffee Services a few times, but let me tell everyone that they have excellent products and service. If you are looking for great tasting coffee they have anything you want. Plus just plain old good people to deal with. I would highly recommend Southern Coffee Services.