Business

It moves and packages pills in a way you may have never seen before.

A job that takes a person several minutes has now been reduced to 30 seconds – thanks to a device known as an automatic dispensing system, or ADS.

For about a year now, Mobley Drugs Inc. has been using an ADS made by the Raleigh, N.C.-based company Rx Medic. The computer-run machine can store more than 200 different medications and dispense them instantly to fill a prescription.

A local company has played a role in helping reshape the residential landscape in Uptown Charlotte.

Majestic Landscaping & Palms, based in Lancaster, was hired earlier this year to deliver and plant windmill palm trees on the rooftop terrace of The Garrison at Graham, a new six-floor loft-style housing development that offers its residents close views of the Charlotte skyline.

Dennis Donahue, owner of Majestic Landscaping, said his business was contacted in July and did the job on Sept. 25, all in one day.

Robert Starnes got his start as a chef at a car dealership of all places.

Starnes, one of the three guys in Lancaster’s 3 Guys Bistro and Catering, said he created gourmet meals for customers at a Kia dealership in Gastonia, running a full-service restaurant there.

“It was hysterical – people loved it,” Starnes said.

He eventually contracted with Kia of Monroe and Greer and Toyota of Greer.

Because of last year’s success, the Lancaster Street Market is coming to downtown for its second series of Saturday events.

The street market gives vendors a chance to sell their handmade and handcrafted goods. Jewelry makers, bakers and craft workers are some of the artisans who participate in the market, which will be held on the first Saturday of each month.

It will run from 10 and 4 p.m. those days on the green space at Main and Gay streets.

The street market dates for 2009 are May 2, June 6, July 4, Aug. 1, Sept. 5, Oct. 3, Nov. 7 and Dec. 5.