Marketing agency hosts grand opening

Sep. 12—HIGH POINT — A local marketing firm recently celebrated a grand opening of its new office in the city, one of the latest ventures to locate an area that's a hotspot for downtown revitalization.

Stratagon, an integrated marketing and technology agency with offices in High Point and Charlotte, held the celebration on Sept. 9, showcasing the renovation of a downtown building that once was once a rundown dry-cleaning business that had been empty for six years.

It is located across the street from Congdon Yards and the Truist Point stadium and next to Splashworks, another new business that has located in the redevelopment area.

Stratagon says the site is ideal for its business because it's in the heart of the local furniture and textiles industries, complementing the company's work in marketing for business-to-business industries and other local organizations.

Alex Moore and Ryan Burkett, co-founders and senior partners, launched the firm in autumn 2005 after meeting as graduate students at the UNCG Bryan School.

"We wanted to be in the heart of High Point, and we believe in the vision of economic development in the area that will create a thriving downtown," Moore said. "We're committed to starting now and building with the city from the ground up, so it was an investment worth making."

The grand opening has been a long time coming. Stratagon bought the 4,000-square-foot building at the end of 2018 and renovated it to become a unique workspace for its team. Two weeks after initially opening in March 2020, local businesses nationwide began to shut down due to COVID-19.

Despite the office standing mostly empty over the past year and a half, the team worked remotely and awaited collaborating together in person again.

"This building and our team have been through a lot to bring us to where we are today," Burkett said. "We didn't foresee a grand opening celebration happening a year and a half after we opened our doors, but we wanted to follow guidelines and ensure safety for our employees and guests."

The highlights of the event included a ribbon-cutting by Business High Point-Chamber of Commerce. Speakers at the event, along with the firm's senior partners, included Mayor Jay Wagner, Councilman Cyril Jefferson and Patrick Chapin, president and CEO of Business High Point.

Attendees played outdoor games, enjoyed refreshments from food trucks under large tents and took indoor tours of the building in small groups.