The next time you buy a new pair of Levi's jeans, it may have a new kind of care label.
By January, the care label of Levi's jeans will include a note encouraging wearers to donate used clothing to Goodwill.
This is a partnership between Levi's and Goodwill to reduce the large amounts of clothing and other textiles that end up in U.S. landfills. It's called "A Care Tag for our Planet."
Click here to find out more details.
In the journalism world, we report what we know, even in cases when there is little information to share.
Many readers have asked me about the status of Bojangles', a fast food restaurant that's under construction at the corner of Colonial and Brambleton avenues in Southwest Roanoke County.
The owner of this Bojangles' franchise, Stan Seymour, has not returned my calls to him in the past month for status updates on this new restaurant.
So, I'll report to you what I know. It's obvious that construction is moving along at this site, from looking at the photo to the left. This new fast food restaurant will measure 3,800 square feet, and it will have a drive-through. This will be the fifth area Bojangles' franchise for Seymour. Last year, he opened a Bojangles' on Peters Creek Road.
I don't yet know the projected opening date for this restaurant, as well as additional details, such as whether there will be another business near Bojangles'. Seymour owns the land, and he told me that the site is large enough to fit another business, such as a bank branch.
Now, it's your turn. If you've heard any news about this new Bojangles', let us know what you know.
Look for a major expansion of Les Cheveux Salon & Day Spa's services at Towers Shopping Center this year and in early 2010.
The owner of this Roanoke salon and spa is making plans to open a new spa on Nov. 18. This spa will be an extension of Les Cheveux, offering body wraps, microdermabrasion, couples massages and facials in a 750 square foot space beside Weight Watchers, in the enclosed portion of Towers.
Owner Sherman Argenbright told me that this expansion will give Les Cheveux more space for additional spa services. The salon will continue to offer pedicures and manicures at its original location on the upper level of Towers, near Fresh Market.
But the spa isn't the only new addition at Towers. A cosmetology and aesthetics school is in the works.
Argenbright told me that he plans to lease a 1,500 square foot space near Ram's Head Book Shop for this new school, called Les Cheveux School of Cosmethology and Aesthetics.
Two instructors will teach cosmetology and one will teach aesthetics.
Argenbright said now is the opportune time to open this kind of school because hairstylists jobs are in demand.
"That industry has not been affected as much as the economy," he told me.
Sales for Les Cheveux's current services are up 15 percent from last year.
Argenbright's hoping to open the school by Jan. 15.
The tuition isn't cheap. It costs $10,000 for the full year cosmetology program and $6,600 for the aesthetics school. According to Simply Hired, a job listings Web site, the average stylist has 1,500 to 1,800 hours of education, with the costs ranging from $6,500 to $15,000.
At the new Les Cheveux school, students would have 1,500 hours of cosmetology training and 600 hours of aesthetics classes.
This Saturday is Halloween. Here's an interesting interview by the National Retail Federation with Steven Silverstein, who is CEO of Spencer's, which also owns Spirit Halloween. Both stores have Roanoke locations, though Spirit Halloween is only open temporarily through this Saturday.
In the interview, Silverstein talks about his stores and why he has been advocating to officially move Halloween to the last Saturday of October every year. What's your take on this kind of move?
If you're looking for places to take your children trick-or-treating this Saturday, keep in mind that several Roanoke Valley malls have trick-or-treating times for kids.
On Saturday, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. children can trick-or-treat at the stores at Tanglewood Mall in Roanoke County. At 5 p.m., there also will be a Halloween story-time event in the mall's center court area and a costume contest at 6:30 p.m.
Valley View Mall also has trick-or-treating at its mall stores this Saturday, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Construction is progressing at West Village, an outdoor retail center on Electric Road in Southwest Roanoke County. A large building is rising as part of the center's third phase, but no stores or other kinds of businesses have signed leases to land there yet. West Village already houses a variety of shops and restaurants, from Annie Moore's Pub to Fink's Jewelers and Henri Kessler Furs.
Waldvogel Commercial Properties, a Roanoke real estate firm, recently started marketing the available spaces for lease. Check out the firm's description of West Village online, including the nearby household income levels and the traffic counts. The average household income is $62,477 within 3 miles of West Village, and 29,000 vehicles drive by this shopping center each day, based on a 2008 count. Also, the name is changing to the Shoppes at West Village, according to the Web site.
The spaces fronting this third structure are nearly complete, but the developer is awaiting retailers who will sign leases and determine how to build out and design their individual spaces, said Krista Vannoy, who is marketing the center for Waldvogel. This includes 1,240 square feet of store space.
Vannoy told me that she is seeking "retail that goes along with a higher end market." That could be new restaurants, shoe stores and more, she said.
Layaway no longer is a service of the past. This holiday season, Toys R Us is bringing back this gift-payment option that allows consumers to pay for purchases gradually in a specific period of time. Many consumers have begun using layaway to avoid paying with a credit card.
Sears and Kmart stores already have layaway, but this year, they are offering the service online.
Here are the particulars of Toys R Us' layaway. It requires that you pay 20 percent of the total purchase price upfront and a $10 service charge.
With the rise of layaway this year, below are some tips from Shop Smart magazine about how to get the most out of this payment option:
1. Sign up to have payments automatically taken out of your account. It will help you to keep up with the payments.
2. Think before you buy to be sure that you can afford to pay off the item and set a realistic budget.
3. Bundle items, especially at stores that require a flat layaway fee.
I'm looking for people who are using layaway or plan to use layaway for Christmas purchases this season. If you'd like to talk about it, e-mail me at jenny.boone@roanoke.com.
Everywhere we turn, retailers are trying to entice us with some kind of deal. Lately, these promotions seem to flag items that are less than a certain dollar amount.
For example, there is Walmart's 100 toys under $10 promotion.
Valley View Mall also is advertising 20 items under $20. Some of the ideas, specific to the fall season, are Charlotte Russe plaid shorts for $19.99, J.C. Penney necklace sets for $18.99 and Old Navy cowl neck shirts for $16.50.
Click here for more of the mall's 20 under $20 suggestions.
What other promotions like this have you noticed?
Yesterday, I listened to a conference call with the National Retail Federation and BIG Research. It was a discussion of some of the spending trends that we're likely to see or take on ourselves this holiday season.
The NRF reported yesterday that the average consumer will spend $682.74 on holiday purchases this year, which is down from $705.01 in 2008.
For a run-down of the NRF's projected top 10 trends for the holidays, click here to read the organization's blog.
Some of the trends that I think are most interesting from this list are that greeting card spending is expected to be steady this year, alongside purchases of candy and food (including restaurant gift cards and gift certificates).
Also, 11 percent of people say they will buy Christmas gifts at thrift stores or resale shops. This is a new and obviously important category in the consumer survey this year, according to the NRF.
The cupcake craze continues.
Yesterday, I noticed the beginnings of a bakery business in the Grandin Village area, inside the former location of Coda, a coffee shop, on Grandin Road in Roanoke.
The shop, called Viva La Cupcake, opens today, according to an email that I received from owner, Pennie Ahuero. Here's a link to the Viva La Cupcake Web site. The new shop specializes in catering for special events, but it also serves individual cupcakes and beverages, such as coffee and milk.
Once I find out some more details about this new cupcake enterprise, I'll pass them along to you.
Viva La Cupcake arrives just as the owner of Bubblecake, another local cupcake shop, said that she will be opening a second location in downtown Roanoke.
The incentives are rising for shoppers who refuse to use plastic bags.
Target and CVS have joined the small number of retailers nationwide that are offering slight savings on your bill if you use reusable sacks, rather than plastic bags, according to this story. Environmental groups claim that plastic bags are harmful for the environment.
Starting Nov. 1, Target will give you a 5-cent discount for every reusable bag that you use to pack your purchases at its stores across the country.
Also at CVS stores, you can earn Extra Buck savings when you scan a special green leaf tag and your CVS card. The green tags are supposed to be attached to a cloth bag or a similar sack. After four scans, CVS will give you a $1 Extra Buck coupon.
But you have to pay 99 cents to get this green leaf tag.
CVS is launching this program at 7,000 drug stores throughout the next three weeks.
What's your take on these programs? Will you take advantage of these small discounts for toting your own bags to the store?
