2009.09.15
New eatery set for former Salem tearoom
It looks like a new restaurant is coming to a former tearoom in Salem.
There's a sign in front of the former spot of Petticoats and Petit Fours at 311 W. Main St., announcing that the Salem House Restaurant is coming soon.
Petticoats and Petit Fours closed several months ago
I don't yet know the details about the Salem House Restaurant.
Does anyone know if Abbott's in garden city will reopen? It has been a long time since the fire. They removed the name off the windows sometime ago but a sign out front still says "closed reopen soon". I know that place isn't fancy by any standards (just a old bar) but they do make one of the best burgers around. I asked in another blog awhile back and never heard anything. thanks.
Comment by Mike D — September 15, 2009 @ 11:45 am
Oooh! I wonder what it will be like! I loved the tea room, it was such a neat venue, and they had delicious scones!
Comment by Michelle — September 15, 2009 @ 1:46 pm
I hear all the time "support your local businesses" and when it comes down to it, people shop wal mart and eat chain restaurants and stay at the un-comfort inn. So the money - while hiring locally - goes right back out of the community.
Sadly, a neat place like Petticoats and Petit Fours is another in this long line of 'non support therefore closure.'
The only support we have at our business are the endless day in and day out calls for donations "can't you just give us a two night weekend stay?"...meanwhile my spouse works full time outside this B&B to help pay the bills. Then does everything else HERE every night and weekend. We do not hire ANY THING out, we do it all.
Sorry to soapbox y'all...just wanted to mention how sad it is that this has closed, and a new restaurant will go in and chances are it will close within one year...PLEASE SUPPORT LOCALLY.
Comment by Shellie Leete — September 15, 2009 @ 2:04 pm
Shellie how many people did you employee? I'm sorry, you can complain about Wal-Mart and all of the other places, but at the end of the day they put people to work in the Roanoke Valley. If you want to compete for local customers you either need to provide something you can't get somewhere else or be the best at what you do.
There are not too many local customers looking for a B&B in town. I'm sorry your business didn't work out but don't blame Roanoke consumers for not spending money to stay the night in their own town during down economic times.
Comment by Original Greg — September 15, 2009 @ 3:44 pm
Our business does work out, we have improved revenue when others are going in the tank. That is not what I am saying. I am using my own experience of shopping locally to express that the TEA ROOM everyone loved went OUT of business due to lack of local support. People don't think that way - they think of local businesses as raking in the dough only.
People say "Oh we loved that place too bad" and meanwhile they have gone bust. I am not complaining about walmart. I am speaking up for local businesses.
Comment by Shellie Leete — September 16, 2009 @ 8:07 am
I didn't love the tea room and didn't mind at all that it closed. It had a very limited demographic. I could see it being great for a 10 year old girl's birthday party or someone who is really into having the high tea experience, but not for the general public, regardless of whether or not they're into supporting local businesses.
Comment by Sara — September 16, 2009 @ 11:00 am
Three cheers for Shellie.
Independent local businesses work harder, longer, and do it better just to make a living.
Our thanks is often felt when the "loyal" customer comes in & says "I bought this down the street,(or on the internet) did I get a good deal? I trust your opinion." If they trust us so much, why didn't they buy it from us?
Mr./ Ms. Consumer needs to wake up before it's too late & all the local business are run into the ground.
The expertise, care, customer service, and love that is shared daily by the independent business person will disappear one day soon. Then the consumer "might" realize that the it was not the fault of mis-management, but genuine abuse by the greedy consumers.
Yes, we're the first to be asked to support the local school, function, or charity. This comes out of our own pockets. But check the facts on the contributions WallyWorld & others make. They tout their support, yet the real fact is their employees have been forced to make a contribution -or- a supplier has been blackmailed into making the contribution. (contribute or we won't sell your product anymore) Then the mega store tells-the-world how benevolent they are, when they've given 'nothing' in reality.
Bitter? Naaahh...
My reward comes from the handfuls of appreciative customers, and they are the BEST!
Comment by Steve — September 16, 2009 @ 11:17 am
Wow Steve, that was a mouthfull. Unfortunately a handful of customers will not keep you in business. I'm sick of all the people complaining about people not shopping at local establishments. The fact is if you can get it cheaper somewhere else and the somewhere else is convenient then that's where you are going to go. And don't give me the sad quality story either. For major items Wal-mart sells the exact same things everyone else does they just sell it cheaper.
Times they are a changing but there is a place for local small businesses. When Kroger started opening up grocery stores it didn't run the farmers market out of business but you don't go to the farmers market for all of your family of four's grocery needs.
I'm sorry but Wal-Mart employees 415 people in Roanoke County and Lowes employees 300 people. That's 715 people in the county alone. How many of those people would get jobs at the local mom and pop if Wal-Mart and Lowes went out of business? According to Shellie it would be 0 because the local stores do it all themselves. If that's not giving something to a community I don't know what is.
Comment by Original Greg — September 16, 2009 @ 2:31 pm
An independent business has to offer a unique product you can't buy at the big box. Imagination Station closed because they had the same toys as WalMart and Toys R Us only at a higher price. That is just one example. Local business you are not a charity- you have to work to earn my dollars. No, you can't beat WalMart on prices but you can beat them on uniqueness.
Comment by RJ — September 16, 2009 @ 3:29 pm
Well said RJ
Comment by Original Greg — September 16, 2009 @ 8:48 pm
I personally think Walmart is is the process of shooting themselves in the foot. More and more of their own label products. I am finding there is a choice of maybe one brand plus their own on many items. It seems every time I go there the selection is smaller. (At least in the grocery line) Sure some store brands are fine, but others are definitely not the quality I am looking for. I foresee fewer trips to Walmart for me. Unfortunately the difference in prices on some items are so out of line that anyone on a budget needs to do some shopping at Walmart. I find the complaining about them rather annoying. They employ lots of people, maybe not a glamorous job, but a job! If those people don't like their jobs then they can go elsewhere. The complaints about Walmart are definitely tiresome. Good points and bad about them, but they do add to the local economy. Some stores are a wreck and some nice. Some employees pleasant and some not. Same goes for any other store in town. I would much prefer to buy 100% of groceries from Kroger 2 miles from home, but when say squeeze Parkay at Walmart is $1.53 at Walmart and $2.39-$2.79 at Kroger, where would one buy it? Those type of prices on certain items forces me to drive the extra miles to Walmart every couple weeks to stock up on staples while buying 100% of my produce and meats from Kroger.
Comment by Diane — September 17, 2009 @ 8:00 am
As another local business owner, I have to agree that I find the donation requests extremely frustrating. I've been on both sides of that fence- I've done a lot of fundraising myself and have been the one out there trying to get donations. In doing so, I found that the local businesses like mine would NEVER turn you down. It could be the tiniest little business and they would always give you something. But try getting a gift certificate from Logan's, CVS or Best Buy. That was an absolute bust every time. But in the same categories, El Toreo, Lipe's and Audiotronics always gave something. The point is that while big business (like Walmart) may employ more people, if we supported the smaller people more, maybe they could hire more people of their own. I like knowing that the money I spend with Primarily Kids, Dandelion Feet, Stephen's, etc. stays right here in the valley and gets spent again. I laugh to myself every time someone who shops consistently at Target for their teacher and birthday gifts comes into my store asking for a donation for the PTA. I would be much more willing to donate more if someone who actually supported me (and my business) did the asking. What's really funny is when someone comes in and asks for a discount if they buy x number of something. I'm always tempted to ask them if I have your husband write both my will and my advance medical directive, will he give me a discount? How about if he does my personal as well as my business taxes...do I get a discount? People ask for things at a small retailer they would not even consider asking for at a chain store. My idea is that every person in America should work retail or wait tables at least once in their life. They will have a vastly different perspective after that experience.
Comment by Roanoke Mom & Business Owner — September 18, 2009 @ 10:17 am
I do the bulk of my shooping at the big chains because they are more convenient, have better prices, and they just carry what we need. We don;t have local options anymore for most things, and where they exist, they either carry very unique items you can't get at a box store, or they carry the same stuff at a higher price. Similar to what has been mentioned here, I'm not going to go to the local clothier and pay $75 for a pair of dress pants when I can go to Wal-Mart and get a pair of decent pants for $13.82. They may not last as long or be as comfortable or fit as well, but it fits my budget and that's my main driver. Lowe's, Wal-Mart, and Kroger get the bulks of our household budget money for everything from groceries, household goods, shoes, hardware, lawn & garden, clothing, and everything else that they sell. Also having worked for a box company and seen the competing offers from local mom n pop stores, my experience has shown that the pay and benefits are better from the big stores. Maybe that's not true everywhere, but it's what I've seen. When you factor in that the sales at a big box provide the pay and benefits for the hundreds of employees they have, plus tax revenues for the locality and state through sales and property taxes and corporate taxes, the big stores do wind up returning a huge portion of their sales back to the community in one form or another. In the end, I think the 'keeping it local' mantra is mostly a hollow argument, though I admit it sounds nice. If a local company can provide something a box can't in terms of service, selection, price, quality, or knowledge...you bet I'll use them. But shopping local just for the sake of shopping local, I won't do it...there has to be more to it.
Comment by Other John — September 18, 2009 @ 10:25 am
I would not shop at Wal-Mart if it was the last place to shop! Wal-Mart is a HORRIBLE EMPLOYER and DOES and WILL CONTINUE to take out the "Local Business".
People would rather drive and spend the money in gas that they would be saving instead of just going to their local stores. And I don't mean the over-priced convience stores either. There is a reason for the word "convience".
My time is too precious to be wasting it away in a Wal-Mart store where the Employees hate where they work and I would get horrible service ALL THE TIME.
Now....I am ready for the WAL-MART crazies to come out and bash me...LOL.
My opinion...and we are all allowed to have one.
Have a great day!
Comment by Happy — September 18, 2009 @ 12:51 pm
Happy (kind of ironic name you don't sound very happy)
Have you ever worked for WalMart? If not your statement about them being a "horrible employer" is not valid. I have relatives and friends who work for WalMart and they do not think WalMart is a horrible employer.
I hope you aren't considering Krogers as a local business. Where do you buy your groceries? The only local independent I know of is Tinnels
I can understand why you think you get horrible (you like that word) service at WalMart if you go around with that attitude. (You think people who like WalMart are "crazies")I don't think you are a crazy for not liking WalMart. I do think you must have a lot of extra money since you do not have to consider cost savings. Lucky you. A lot of people are able to buy more food to feed their families because of WalMart's low prices.
At least you didn't accuse WalMart of hiring illegal aliens and keeping them locked in the back room.
Comment by RJ — September 18, 2009 @ 2:55 pm
Hey Happy a lot of the stuff you are buying at local stores and restaurants comes from Wal-mart/Sams anyway. You are just paying a higher price for it. A lot of you Wal-mart haters would be shocked if you saw all the local businesses that shop at Sams and Wal-mart. So I have a question, Why are all the small business owners buying a lot of their supplies from Sams instead of another small business?
Comment by Original Greg — September 18, 2009 @ 4:03 pm