Brett and Lauren Smalley stand in the State Farm office with son, Jax.• Name: Brett Smalley State Farm
• Owner: Brett Smalley, owner/agent
• Location: 5864 Highway 153, Suite 120, Hixson, 37343
• Opens: March 1
• Service: Auto, home, life, bank, business, mortgage and health insurance policies and retirement planning
• Staff: Five employees
• How it got started: Brett Smalley, a lifelong Hixson resident, came home this spring to start an insurance agency of his own under the State Farm banner. Smalley graduated from Hixson High School in 2005 and attended Middle Tennessee State University and played baseball all four years he was there. After MTSU, Smalley worked in insurance in west Tennessee for three years. Smalley is taking over half of Larry Sharpe's State Farm agency, as Sharpe retires at the end of this month.
• Five-year goal: Smalley wants his insurance agency to mirror the growth of Chattanooga. Hixson has "really exploded over the last decade," he said, and looks to continue doing so. And rather than limit himself to being Hixson's State Farm agent, Smalley wants to develop a clientele from all over Chattanooga.
• Why Chattanooga: Smalley calls himself a "hometown boy" who grew up 1.5 miles from where is State Farm branch is going to be located. He attended Big Ridge Elementary and Hixson High School, but most importantly, he has a little family of his own now - a wife, Lauren, and 5-month-old son, Jax - and he wants to raise it where he grew up.
• What is unique?: Smalley wants to help clients pick the coverage that is best for them. He said too often, consumers buy insurance but don't know how or when to use it. Smalley State Farm clients will receive an education in how their coverage works for them, he said.
• Website: www.smalleysf.com
• Phone number: 423-843-3300
• Fax number: 423-521-3333
• Hours: 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Mon-Fri, 9 a.m.-noon on Saturday