Nabors Opens New Store
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Nabors Home Center owner Lee Nabors shares the history of his family’s business during Saturday’s grand opening celebration in Water Valley.
WATER VALLEY – A Mississippi family business that traces its roots to a small hardware store in Vardaman more than 60 years ago opened its newest location in Water Valley, bringing a new home improvement and building supply retailer to the city and marking a significant private investment along the Highway 7 bypass.
Nabors Home Center celebrated the opening of its Water Valley store with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and grand opening Saturday attended by local officials, business partners, employees and members of the Nabors family.
For owner Lee Nabors, the event represented the culmination of more than two years of planning and construction.
“This has been a long project,” Nabors said. “Just over two years ago, this was a pine thicket. We’ve come a long way in building this facility.”
The Water Valley location joins existing Nabors Home Center stores in Houston, Eupora, Amory and Ackerman. The company serves both professional contractors and retail customers throughout north Mississippi.
Nabors Home Center operates as a Do it Best retailer, part of a nationwide cooperative of independently owned hardware and home improvement stores. During the ceremony, Nabors noted that he serves on the executive board of Do it Best, which supports thousands of independent retailers throughout the United States and internationally.
During the ceremony, Nabors reflected on the company’s beginnings, which date back to the early 1960s when his grandfather, Harley Vardaman Nabors, founded a hardware store in Vardaman.
“He built this business on integrity, honesty and treating people right,” Nabors said. “He was not an educated

Mayor Tommy Reynolds congratulates Lee Nabors during the grand opening of Nabors Home Center’s newest location in Water Valley Saturday. Mayor Reynolds said the investment reflects confidence in the community and will help strengthen the city’s commercial base.
man by any means. He was just a good man.”
Ownership later passed to Lee’s father, Fred Nabors, before Lee and his wife, Millette, purchased the business and expanded it into multiple communities across the region.
Today, the company remains family-owned, with Brennan Pugh serving as vice president and representing the fourth generation of family leadership.
Nabors credited the company’s employees with helping fuel that growth.
“I value a loyal employee more than I do an occasional customer,” he said. “You’ve got to have a good staff, you’ve got to have good vendors and you’ve got to have good customers.”
Nabors thanked a number of partners who helped bring the project to completion, including employees, vendors, contractors, lenders and local officials. He singled out Mayor Tommy Reynolds and the Board of Aldermen for their assistance in preparing the site for development.
“There was a lot to be done at this site to make it buildable and where it could sustain this kind of investment,” Nabors said. “The board and the mayor stepped in time and time again and made it happen.”
Nabors also recognized BankFirst, which provided financing for the project, along with North Central Planning and Development District and numerous contractors and suppliers involved in the development.
Mayor Tommy Reynolds said the city was pleased to welcome another family-owned business to Water Valley.
“This is a family business, and I believe the Nabors family is going to be a great addition to this town,” Reynolds said. “If this community is going to prosper and develop, it needs leaders and families like Lee and his family.”

Brody Pugh cuts the ribbon with a little help from his grandfather, Lee Nabors, during Saturday’s grand opening celebration at Nabors Home Center. The event drew one of the largest crowds for a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Water Valley in recent years.
