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By now, you’ve either decided to eat your Thanksgiving turkey at home or at a restaurant. By chance, if you’re still trying to find a place to dine on Thanksgiving Day, a few local eateries are still taking reservations or are open on a first-come, first-served basis.

Here are some of them:
--419 West in Roanoke County
--Wyndham Hotel in Roanoke, buffet
--K&W Cafeteria with several Roanoke Valley locations, first come, first serve
--Cracker Barrel in Troutville, first come, first served
--The Inn at Virginia Tech, Thanksgiving brunch buffet, taking reservations only after 2 p.m.
--Preston’s Restaurant (inside the Inn at Virginia Tech), four course menu, taking reservations only after 6:30 p.m.

Click here for more Thanksgiving related recipes and restaurant listings. Also, note that both the Hotel Roanoke's Regency Room and Crystal Ballroom are booked for Thanksgiving.

Lindsey Nair, food writer for the Roanoke Times, has taken the time to compile much of this helpful guide for readers. To read her recipe ideas and other food and restaurant tips, check out her blog here.

Pizza is not the kind of food that you usually think of near Thanksgiving, but today actually is one of the largest days of the year for pizza restaurant sales.

The day before Thanksgiving, known as Thanksgiving Eve, often is Pizza Hut's largest day for sales of the year. The company has said in the past that sales on this day even outpace other common pizza-eating occasions, such as the Super Bowl.

And Domino’s Pizza estimated that its pizza sales will increase 68 percent today, compared with a typical Wednesday night, according to a company news release. Domino’s also estimated that it will deliver more than 1.1 million pizzas tonight nationwide.

In recent years, local pizza restaurateurs said they increase staff in expectation of large crowds for eat-in or carry-out on Thanksgiving Eve.

This craving for pizza makes sense. Many people invite out-of-town relatives to their homes for Thanksgiving. But since the hosts likely have spent much time in the kitchen preparing for the Turkey Day feast, pizza is a logical option to feed crowds on the night before Thanksgiving.

Some pizza restaurants even offer Thanksgiving Eve deals.

At least one Roanoke Pizza Hut has some larger family size meal deals running through tonight. The specials include a meal for four for $29.99, featuring two medium pizzas, two orders of breadsticks and a two-liter drink.
And a deal for six people features two large pizzas, two double orders of breadsticks and two two-liter drinks for $39.99.

Your response to my Wegmans post last week has been tremendous. It appears that Wegmans Food Markets is more than a favorite for many of you. It’s your grocer of choice.

I reported that Wegmans, a specialty grocer based in New York, is planning some Virginia locations next year, but they are located in Northern Virginia. And the closest stores to Southwest Virginia are in Sterling and Fairfax.

Here’s what some of you said about Wegmans:

Joann Hoag comments about Wegman’s prices:
“When we lived in the Ithaca, NY area I shopped at Wegmans every week. Although their prices for some things were higher than other stores, their quality far outweighed any price difference. Krogers is a nice store but it's just not Wegmans. And Ukrops doesn't even come close, I'm sorry to say. I would dearly love a Wegmans to come to our area, but I'll bet that Charlottesville &/or Richmond will beat us.”

Read more »

Today I’ve been reporting on residential condominiums in downtown Roanoke, and that’s why I'm writing such a late blog post.

But I've been learning some interesting news about downtown's evolving retail and office condo market.

A Roanoke lawyer, Neil Horn, has a contract to purchase office space on the street level of the Campbell Garage Lofts on Campbell Avenue in downtown, according to the building’s owner, George Stanley.

Horn may take the spot beside a condo office for Kennard Creative, a graphic design and advertising business that moved into the 700-square foot location in May. Local owners, Jeff and Hilary Kennard, paid about $95,000 for the space, pictured to the left.

Not too far away, a business has a contract to buy a commercial space on the first level of the Fulton Motor Lofts, a condo project on Salem Avenue. That still leaves a second condo spot up for grabs in the building, said owner Bill Chapman.

Condo office and retail spaces are not entirely new to downtown Roanoke. But mostly they have required businesses to buy an entire building or floor. Lately, however, smaller condo locations have been popping up for sale in downtown.

Businesses purchasing their own space is a signal of the long-term viability of downtown Roanoke, developers have said. But the commercial condo market is more widespread in larger U.S. cities, such as New York, Chicago and Boston. In these cities, everywhere you look there are mixed-use buildings with retail locations on the bottom level and offices or living units in the upper floors.

The downside to businesses owning their own space is there is less flexibility to make a move. The upside, however, is that the owner can build equity and receive a significant return if they end up selling out.

Photo by Roanoke Times photographer Eric Brady.

We’re a week away from Nov. 23, which is Black Friday, one of the largest shopping days of the holiday season. But if you’re mapping your shopping path that day, you don’t have to wait until Thanksgiving Day to scour the advertisements in the newspaper.

A few weeks ago, I blogged about some Web sites that post sneak peaks of the sales that retailers will have on Black Friday, which is the day after Thanksgiving. At that time, there were only a few sales from retailers posted.
Now, many more deals have hit these sites.

Here are some of them:
Toys R Us:
Deal or No Deal electronic games: 50 percent off
Assorted Nintendo Wii video games: $14.99
Barbie Fairytopia 2-pack dolls: $9.98

Circuit City:
Acer desktop PC with Intel Pentium D Processor 925: $229.97
Fujifilm 9.0 MP Camera: $129.99
HP Portable Photo Printer: $49.99

Target:
Polaroid Video Camcorder: $69.00
54’’ Sportcraft Turbo Air Hocky Game: $48.00
3 pack Hannah Montana & friends dolls: $30
2-pack magic gloves or mittens: $1

Read more »

As a child, I knew that Christmas was near when my mom and grandmother rounded up my younger sister, Candi, and I for a shopping trip to the local Leggett store, which is now Belk.

We would spend at least four hours in two cramped children’s dressing rooms trying on new winter clothes. We’d pick out bulky sweaters, character sweatshirts and pairs of corduroy pants in shades of purple and pink. It was quite an adventure for us.

By the end of it all, clothes usually were strewn all over the dressing room floors, and Candi and I were worn out. We weren’t much on shopping those days, though now it’s one of our favorite ways to spend time together.

After we chose our favorite items, my mom and grandmother would march over to the layaway counter. They would put every article of clothing on layaway. My sister and I didn’t see the clothes again until Christmas morning, when we ripped open perfectly wrapped packages.

Most retailers offered layaway services at that time, which was in the late 1980s and through the 1990s. Layaway allows customers to pay for purchases in increments over a period of time while the store holds items.

Now, you can’t find many stores with layaway programs. It was big news last year when Wal-Mart got rid of the service. Because more people use credit cards nowadays, retailers figure that layaway isn’t worth the time, space and extra staff.

A few retailers still offer layaway, and in the Roanoke Valley, they include T.J. Maxx, Kmart and Samuels Diamonds.

Stay tuned for a story about layaway services next week in The Roanoke Times.

Do you make purchases using layaway? And if not, why?

Marathon shoppers, here’s another incentive to rise before daylight on the day after Thanksgiving.

J.C. Penney announced today that it will open its stores nationwide an hour earlier, at 4 a.m. on Nov. 23, which is Black Friday. This is the day after Thanksgiving when stores across the country have door-buster sales that entice some shoppers in the wee morning hours.

J.C. Penney’s 4 a.m. opening still isn’t as early as some malls and retailers across the country. Some now open at midnight on Thanksgiving night, hosting entertainment and give-away events to celebrate the kickoff to a competitive holiday shopping season.

Still, the new hours reveal that J.C. Penney is getting more serious about drawing customers as early as possible on Nov. 23. The retailer will open earlier on Black Friday than other anchor stores at Valley View Mall in Roanoke, such as Macy’s and Sears. Those stores will open at 5 a.m. or 6 a.m., according to the mall.
J.C.Penney has two Roanoke Valley locations.

And if you don't think you can swing the early morning awakening, you can sign-up for a Black Friday wake-up call from J.C.Penney on your cell phone! And no, I'm not kidding.

Get more information about the wake-up call at www.jcp.com.

We’ve had a lot of grocery store news this year in the Roanoke Valley. With Ukrop’s Super Market opening in June, Kroger planning a new store in Roanoke County, and news of a Save-A-Lot grocer for Melrose Avenue, this area has become a hot bed for food retail developments.

News about grocery stores often brings talk about grocers in other parts of the country that people may love or hate. Wegmans Food Markets comes up in many of my conversations with people who have lived or visited the Northeast part of the country. And many rave about the store.

Wegmans is a specialty grocery chain, based in New York. Its 71 stores across Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia are comparable to Fresh Market but are larger.

Selection includes a deli bakery area, varieties of produce, meats and seafood, gourmet cheeses and a market café for items to go. I have not compared prices for items, but this is not a discount grocer.

I researched Wegmans and discovered that it has two Virginia stores. It’s planning more next year in the state. There are Wegmans stores in Fairfax and Sterling, both cities in Northern Virginia. Next year, Wegmans will open locations in Woodbridge and Lake Manassas.

Read more »

The new Sportsman’s Warehouse is up. You can’t miss this 48,000-square feet retailer with a tan exterior, off Hershberger Road on Ferncliff Avenue in Roanoke. It stands between Home Depot and a shopping center housing Burlington Coat Factory.

Just in time for the holiday season, Sportsman’s Warehouse still is planning a Nov. 21 opening. You’ll find an abundance of items for the outdoors lover here, such as hunting, fishing and camping gear and outdoors apparel and shoes.

A spokesman for the retailer, Mike Van Orden, said there will be a grand opening, with drawings and sales, on Dec. 1. He did not have details about these special offers.

The store will employ 65 to 70 people, and it still needs to hire 10 to 12 more employees, Van Orden said. It’s hoping to hire more cashiers and employees to work in the hunting, fishing and footwear departments.

Read more »

During the holidays, some retailers throughout the area sponsor giving events for the needy.

This is the second year for one local campaign. It’s called the Giving Soles Shoe Collection. Dandelion Feet, a downtown Roanoke women’s shoe store is collecting gently worn or new adult and children’s shoes to give to the Roanoke Rescue Mission. The store hopes to collect at least 600 pairs of shoes.

Now through Dec. 25, you can drop off footwear at Dandelion Feet at 108 Church Ave. Another local drop-off point is the office of Bella Magazine at 4212 Cypress Park Drive in Roanoke.

Get more information about the donations at www.dandelionfeet.com/Giving_Soles.

This photo was taken by Stephanie Klein-Davis, a Roanoke Times photographer, last December in front of Dandelion Feet.