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We've had some discussions here about the growth of the popular Redbox kiosks, where you can rent DVDs for $1 a day. Now, movie rental chain, Blockbuster, is moving into this kiosk niche.

Blockbuster said yesterday that it will close 960 stores and add 10,000 kiosks by next year for renting DVDs and games.

It's unclear which stores would close, and if they will include five Blockbusters throughout the Roanoke Valley and two in Blacksburg and Christiansburg.

According to this story, 18 percent of Blocksbuster's stores are unprofitable.

There have been quite a few retail and restaurant openings lately.

Two recent openings include Bella Beauty at Valley View Mall in Roanoke and Burger in the Square in Roanoke County.

Bella Beauty, a store selling mainly hair care products, landed a spot on Valley View's upper level near Macy's. This store is locally owned, but the owner has not responded to an inquiry for further information about the venture.

Burger in the Square opened on Brambleton Avenue last month. This is the same Burger in the Square that has a spot inside the Market Building in downtown Roanoke. You can read more details about this burger joint's opening on the SwoCo blog.

Just in time for college football season, a new sports store arrived in Christiansburg this week, bringing college, NFL, Nascar and other sports team merchandise.

But this store won't be selling Virginia Tech shirts, hats, mugs, t-shirts and other Hokie garb because of a non-compete clause at the New River Valley Mall.

B&C Sports Collectibles opened this week at the New River Valley Mall, which isn't too far from Virginia Tech's Blacksburg campus. The retailer, which has stores in Roanoke and Lynchburg, sells other college team merchandise, from the University of Virginia to Miami and Florida State, all rivals of the Hokies. 

But B&C cannot sell Virginia Tech products, because another store at the mall sells Hokie merchandise exclusively, said B&C's owner Ernest Daniel. 

Many shopping centers have non-compete clauses that bar certain kinds of retailers from joining the mix and selling the same products as another store at the center.

Still, B&C can special order Virginia Tech-themed furniture from its Christiansburg location, Daniel said.

Though Daniel sells Virginia Tech items at his other stores, he told me that his Christiansburg location carries a variety of sports items, such as NFL jerseys and sports cards, that are in demand for that area.

The Virginia Tech retail market "is probably more saturated than I've seen it," Daniel said. Locally-owned stores devoted to selling Hokie garb continue to pop up throughout the New River and Roanoke valleys.

This is B&C's second year at the New River Valley Mall. The retailer came to the mall last year as a temporary tenant.

This year, B&C has a short-term lease there through January. Daniel told me that he's hoping to stay long term if the store has a successful several months.

At Lynchburg's River Ridge Mall, Daniel also is planning to open a seasonal B&C Sports store in October. B&C Sports already has a long-term store at that mall.

A nurse with a penchant for healthy eating is starting her own good-for-you enterprise in Roanoke County.

Today, I caught up with Barbara Sparks, who was working hard inside a new health  shop that she will open on U.S. 220, just beyond Clearbrook Elementary School.

Called Halcyon Health Foods, her store will carry a variety of dry foods, from legumes to peanuts, and bulk items, such as grain and oats. She'll concoct fruit smoothies and juices at an in-store smoothie bar and sell vitamins and health supplements.

In addition, Sparks, who's also a massage therapist, plans to offer massages for women in one room of this log building.

Sparks of Boones Mill previously was working for the Lifestyle Health Center in Rocky Mount. She's had a long-time interest in health education and eating.

Her mission with Halcyon Health Foods is "to offer people resources to prevent, stop and reverse chronic lifestyle disease," she told me. Halcyon means peaceful and tranquil. It also was the name of her college dormitory.

Working on a "shoestring budget," Sparks said she wants to open this new shop by mid-September.

Retailers have been pushing denim sales lately with special deals and events.

To celebrate its 40th anniversary and to promote its 1969 jeans, Gap stores nationwide, including the one at Roanoke's Valley View Mall, are hosting free acoustic concerts tonight.

Small Town Gossip, a band from Winston Salem, N.C., will play at Gap's store at Valley View from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. tonight. Also, all day today, shoppers will receive a 15 percent discount on their entire purchase at Gap, if it includes a pair of new jeans.

Already, pairs of jeans are discounted $20 at Gap.

Here are more details about this anniversary event.

Happy Friday to you all. It has been a busy week in local retail, with many new store openings. One more is coming in another week and a half.

Bolton's opens at Valley View Mall in Roanoke on Aug. 25, two days earlier than its previously announced opening date. This women's apparel retailer is expanding its presence into Virginia, mostly landing in vacant B.Moss Clothing Co. locations inside shopping centers. Last year, B.Moss closed all of its stores nationwide, after filing for bankruptcy.

Bolton's, a discount chain based in New Jersey, is landing in the former B.Moss space on Valley View's upper level. A&E Stores owns Bolton's.

Also, Shoe Dept. Encore opens today at Valley View. You can read my former blog post about this new store here.

It's still early to know if the opening of Walgreens, beside Ukrop's Super Market in Roanoke, will significantly increase traffic at the Ivy Market retail center. This drug store chain opened at the Franklin Road center today, following several years of delays.

Ukrop's officials have blamed slow traffic at the grocery store on the undeveloped Ivy Market center. IMD Investment Group, the developer of this center, planned for additional retailers to open at Ivy Market.

But Bland Painter of IMD has said that due to the poor economy, there are no new stores to announce for this site.

In response to Walgreens opening, I received an emailed statement today from the Roanoke Ukrop's store manager, Jason Woodcock.

"Ukrop's is pleased to welcome Walgreens to Ivy Market. We have long advocated for additional retailers at our location as a way to enhance the vitality of our convenient location. With an additional option for consumers, we are now closer to the vision of Ivy Market becoming a true shopping destination. "

Here's my story with some details about the new Walgreens.

In case you missed the news in this morning's newspaper, here is another store opening to add to this week's list.

On Thursday, the long-delayed Walgreens finally will open its doors beside Ukrop's Super Market in Roanoke.

Here are the details in today's story.

This is a busy week for store openings. Last week I found out that the new Shoe Dept. Encore store opens on Friday at Valley View Mall.

And not too far away, Audiotronics, a local electronics company, will open its second Roanoke County store on Wednesday. It's landing a store inside the former Autoway building at 6802 Peters Creek Road.

Audiotronics, which sells, services and installs home video and audio products, car stereos and more, bought the 7,000 square foot building for $1.1 million.

In a news release from Audiotronics, one of the owners, Matt Hartberger, said the closing of a national electronics retail chain earlier this year opened up the market for his company in North Roanoke County. Audiotronics has another store on Ogden Road in Southwest Roanoke County.

"When Circuit City went out of business, there was an opportunity for us to open a location on that side of town," Hartberger said, in the news release. He said Audiotronics will be able to reach more customers in North Roanoke and Botetourt areas with the new store.

The company has hired four additional employees for its new store, and it likely will hire more this year or in early 2010.

In another week, a large shoe store will open its doors at Valley View Mall.

For the past few months, construction has been going on inside four retail spaces near Macy's on Valley View's upper level. These spaces formerly were home to LensCrafters, the Shoe Depart., Henebry's Jewelers and One-Stop Cellular. Now they are being transformed into a large, 13,000-square-foot shoe store.

The new retailer is called Shoe Dept. Encore. North Carolina-based Shoe Show owns this concept. It also owns Shoe Dept. stores.

Today, I spoke with Christy Williams, who is district manager for Shoe Show's Shoe Dept. division. She said the new Roanoke store will open on Aug. 14.  There are two temporary Shoe Dept. stores at Valley View. These stores will close this Monday to merge into the new Shoe Dept. Encore space.

This new footwear store sells most of the same brands as the Shoe Dept., but the selection will be much larger with additional brands.

Also, Shoe Dept. Encore has several unique features. In the children's section, you'll find a three-horse carousel. And both the men's and children's departments will have televisions, Williams said.

She described the overall design of the retailer as "more modern," than Shoe Dept. stores.

Apparently, there's a mini Shoe Dept. Encore store at the New River Valley Mall in Christiansburg, Williams told me. It opened last year.