November 30, 2007Weekend shoppingThe weekend starts today. Below are two shopping events happening locally. --Some retailers at the Grandin Village in Roanoke are springing for a holiday open house today. From 6 to 9 p.m., Village Flowers, New to Me, Too Many Books and Vida Bela will be open longer and each is offering special sales. --If you’re an elementary or high school teacher, you can save 20 percent on books and gifts and 10 percent on DVDs and CDs for three hours on Saturday. Barnes & Noble at Valley View Mall is hosting an educator discount event from 9 a.m. to noon. It’s for those who teach Pre-K through 12th grades. And you have to present your educator discount card to be eligible for the savings. Happy shopping and saving! November 29, 2007Designing a gift cardAre gift cards on your wish list this year? You’ve probably noticed more creative marketing for these cards lately. 
Some people don’t think gift cards are personal. Think again. This year some retailers are offering new ways to personalize these plastic cards. At Borders, customers can add photos and personal messages to its cards. The cost is an additional $4.95. Advance Auto has a new leaderRoanoke’s largest retailer just hired a Best Buy executive to take the reigns. Jackson has been a member of Advance’s board of directors since 2004, so he’s familiar with the automotive parts retailer. In the last year, Advance has had slow growth in sales at its stores, and several months ago, it laid off at least 250 employees. Jackson takes the helm from interim CEO and president, John Brouilliard. The former CEO and president, Mike Coppola, left Advance in May. I’ll hopefully catch up with Jackson today and find out more details about how his Best Buy experience will cross over into his work at Advance. November 28, 2007Finding more Roanoke tables onlineThe Internet may not be the first place that you turn when deciding where to have dinner. But more regional restaurants have joined OpenTable, a reservations Web site. Used more heavily by high-end eateries in larger cities, OpenTable slowing is attracting some Southwest Virginia eateries. 202 Market in downtown Roanoke joined the site when the eatery opened in April. And last year, Metro, another downtown restaurant, was the first to register at OpenTable. Other Southwest Virginia restaurants on OpenTable are Chateau Morrisette in Floyd and three Lynchburg eateries-- Shoemaker’s Fine Dining, Meriwether’s Market Restaurant and The Neighbors Place. To make reservations, patrons log on, click the desired restaurant and enter the time and name. There is no fee to make reservations online. Restaurants do pay for the OpenTable listing. Metro paid a $900 start-up fee and a $300 to $350 a month charge, said Andy Schlosser, the chef and owner, when the eatery joined the online service last year. Also, restaurants pay $1 for each reservation made. Local closing salesMy story in today’s newspaper gives more detail about John Norman Clothiers' closing in late December. The 75-year-old men's and women’s apparel store joins at least two other Roanoke Valley retailers that are planning large closing sales through the holidays. John Norman’s store-wide sale will begin on Thursday. Other retailers with closing sales are the Orvis outlet in Salem and Bombay Co. at Valley View Mall in Roanoke. Retailers are expecting that these discounts will draw more shoppers during the holidays than at any other time of the year. Holding sales during this important season for retail helps stores move out inventory quicker as they near closing time.
November 27, 2007John Norman Clothiers will close next monthA mainstay in Roanoke’s retail clothing market will shut its doors next month. John Norman Clothiers is closing on Dec. 24, according to owner Jeff Wendell. This men and women’s upscale clothing boutique opened its first shop in downtown Roanoke in 1932, selling only men’s apparel. Wendell has owned the retailer for the last 34 years. It has had locations at Tanglewood Mall and at the Corners Shopping Center in Roanoke County. 
It’s unclear why Wendell is closing John Norman in the midst of the holiday shopping season. A closing sale soon will start at the store, and all clothing, furniture and antiques will be discounted, according to a news release. I’ll post more details once I find them out. Photo by Roanoke Times photographer Sam Dean. Shop with your cell phoneHow many times while shopping have you tried to find a certain item, but you didn’t know where it was? 
This new service, also available at River Ridge Mall in Lynchburg, is offered by NearbyNow, a company that provides Internet and mobile search technology. Valley View has an extensive product search function on its Web site, but mobile searching gives you the opportunity to find items while you’re out and about and not near a computer. This move is in line with efforts by other retailers lately to communicate with customers via mobile phones. J.C. Penney gave customers who signed up a wake-up call on Black Friday. Nordstrom and Wal-Mart are sending off text messages about sales and other discounts. I haven’t signed up for these mobile offerings, but I plan to test some of them out. If you’ve tried them, let me know what you think. November 26, 2007Online shopping and the holidaysIt’s back to the daily grind after last week's turkey, early morning shopping and traveling. Today is the day that online retailers may receive an early Christmas present. Retail experts market the Monday after Thanksgiving as Cyber Monday, a 24-hour period that is one of the busiest for holiday-related online sales. I received some statistics about online shopping today in my inbox from Yahoo! Shopping. Here’s some of the info: • Compared to the holiday shopping season of 2006, page view traffic is up 37% for the 2007 Holiday season (to date) • Top 10 products from the weekend, based on Yahoo’s poll: November 23, 2007Black Friday is here
The sales included $399.99 Sony laptop computers, $99.99 Kodak 6 MP digital cameras and $449.99 32-inch LCD televisions. Bobby and Ashley Menkedick of Roanoke County were among the early morning shoppers waiting for Best Buy’s doors to open at 5 a.m. They planned to buy a $1,800 television that was on sale for $1,200. Both had not yet slept during the night and instead headed to Best Buy to save their place in line. 
Two women who browsed the toy section at Sears said they were disappointed that the sales at some mall stores were not as large as in the past. I also asked them if higher gas prices would change their holiday spending this year. Nikki Burton of Covington said she usually sets a Christmas budget and sticks to it. She's not concerned about gas prices impacting her spending. “I have a range of how much I want to spend,” she said. According to the National Retail Federation, up to 132.9 million Americans will shop this weekend. Check out more photos from the morning here. The malls and other local shopping centers likely will be crowded throughout the day today and much of the weekend. Don’t forget to let me know about your Black Friday shopping experience. Have a good weekend! November 21, 2007Let the shopping begin!I’ve been busy most of this week, mapping out my Black Friday coverage course of action. If you’re planning to shop on Friday, read my story in today’s newspaper about some Roanoke area stores opening earlier on Nov. 23 this year. Also, some retailers are making Black Friday promotions available on their Web sites starting tomorrow. They include Circuit City and Wal-Mart. It seems that before long, Thanksgiving Day could become a large shopping day as well! Happy Thanksgiving! Last minute Turkey Day diningBy 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: 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 hot on Thanksgiving Eve
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. November 20, 2007Your take on Wegmans
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: November 19, 2007Evolving downtown spacesToday 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. 
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. November 16, 2007One week until the season's kickoffWe’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. Circuit City: Target: November 15, 2007Who uses layaway?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? November 14, 2007J.C.Penney will open earlier on Black FridayMarathon 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. 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. Weigh in on WegmansWe’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.
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. 
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. November 13, 2007Sportsman's Warehouse opening nears
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. November 12, 2007Donate your solesDuring the holidays, some retailers throughout the area sponsor giving events for the needy. 
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. November 11, 2007More about Towers
Amy writes: “I am disappointed to see such a change in the cute little shops in the Towers. I hope we find more independently owned businesses are lured to The Towers.” RoanokeFound comments: “Fresh Market is down in sales as well, and is not the "new kid on the block" anymore. Nona comments: “The traffic around Towers is awful. It can be so hard to get in an out of the shopping center on the Colonial Avenue side that it discourages me from shopping there.” I caught up with a spokesman for the owner of Towers to talk about changes at the retail center and what future plans might be there for a turnaround. Read about it in today’s Business section. November 9, 2007Stick to the list!As the weekend begins, here are some budgeting tips from the National Retail Federation for holiday shopping. As I wrote in my earlier post, it’s hard not to be bombarded with Christmas spending when you’re out and about. 1) Make a list of everyone you need to buy for and how much you plan to spend on them before visiting a store or a Web site. And of course, stick to the list. I’ll add some tips that work for me. I’m a list maker. Similar to one of the suggestions above, I like to make lists of who to buy for, what I want to find for them and roughly how much the item would cost (if I’ve done my homework). Also, I establish in my mind a goal amount to spend for that particular trip. The idea is not to exceed the goal. And stay away from the credit card and impulse buying. Send along some of your tips. The holiday push is onIt feels like Christmas already, and it’s still early November. Though it’s not unusual to see retailers putting out holiday merchandise as early as September, there have been more signs lately that stores are turning up the holiday marketing a notch. Here are a few examples in the Roanoke Valley: --Fresh Market at Towers Shopping Center already has whipped out Christmas candy displays throughout the store. This is alongside promotion tables for its Thanksgiving dinner items. 
--Santa Claus debuts tonight from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Valley View Mall. But the mall’s marketing director said this is no earlier than other years. It's hard to enjoy Thanksgiving with the holiday rush on. I've even seen Christmas decorations at a local office building. What examples have you noticed? November 8, 2007Are you spending?Are you in a hurry to buy for the holidays yet? October sales results for some of the nation’s largest retailers do not reflect positively on consumers’ enthusiasm for spending lately. High food and gas prices and slumping home values are some of the factors to blame for sluggish sales performances. What might be holding you back from spending latey? Seeking news about Save-A-LotA city building permit has been issued, and renovation work is going on at the site of a new grocery store on Melrose Avenue in Roanoke. But there’s still no word on the store’s expected opening date and other specifics. 
Save-A-Lot is the grocer listed on the building permit for this site that also once housed a Winn Dixie store. Save-A-Lot is based in Missouri, and according to its Web site, it is a discount grocer, selling products at 40 percent less than what shoppers would pay at traditional grocery stores. November 7, 2007Get connectedConfiguring a Wi-Fi network at home? Want to transmit sound from your iPod throughout your house? Log onto www.circuitcity.com/live tonight from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. This online show will offer a panel of experts to give advice and answer questions about how to make your home a digital place. You will be able to submit questions and participate in real-time polling by logging on and signing up. This isn’t Richmond-based Circuit City’s first how-to Web cast. There have been others this year, on topics from video gaming to digital imaging. The retailer with one Roanoke store is trying to boost its image and attract customers. Circuit City recently announced the departure of its executive vice president of merchandising, David Mathews. This is the third senior level executive to leave Circuit City in the last year. The timing is not ideal given that the holiday sales period looms. The changes also come at a time when Circuit City continues to battle competitor Best Buy for market share in an increasingly difficult consumer electronics environment. Circuit City had a net loss of $62.8 million in the second quarter of this year. Sales during the quarter also were down 6.2 percent at $2.64 billion from $2.82 billion last year. If you watch Circuit City’s Web show tonight, let me know what you think of it. November 6, 2007Expensive handbag stealHere’s a true deal on a luxury handbag. You can buy a $2,000 Louis Vuitton handbag for only $15--if you win a local contest. This Thursday there will be drawing for a Vuitton handbag designed by Japanese artist, Takashi Murakami. Murakami’s work is featured in an exhibit at the Art Museum of Western Virginia in Roanoke. But you have to buy the $15 raffle ticket for a chance. Tickets are being sold at the art museum and at Valley Bank locations. The Contemporaries, a social group that supports the museum, is sponsoring the raffle. The drawing will take place during the museum’s opening reception for the Painting for Joy exhibit. Want a Lands' End in Roanoke?
Lands' End, based in Wisconsin, is offering people the chance to name the city where they’d like a store to open. The company will announce the winning location at the end of January. It’s taking votes through Dec. 31. Here’s the email address: nextshop@landsend.com. A Lands' End spokeswoman, Katie Kiefer, said she could not disclose whether the retailer is planning any Roanoke stores in the future. So far, there are eight Lands' End stores inside Sears in Virginia. Most are located in Northern Virginia.
November 5, 2007Weekend trip and costume retail newsI spent the weekend in State College, Penn., watching a Penn State football game and visiting the area. It was interesting to see the national retailers that this city of 38,000 residents fits into its downtown. Eddie Bauer, Abercrombie & Fitch, Starbucks and Panera Bread are some of the stores taking spots throughout the small downtown streets. There also are many local shops from kitchen stores to sports retailers. Of course, the university with its 36,027 undergraduate and 6,267 graduate students at its University Park campus is the major draw for these retailers. Now, on to local retail happenings. Life is Gantner, a swimwear and costume store that closed last weekend at Towers Shopping Center, is combining forces with another local shop. November 1, 2007Cut backs at Advance AutoNext year Advance Auto Parts will slim down its number of new stores. I listened to a conference call with analysts today for Advance’s third quarter earnings, and executives said they’re planning to open 110 to 120 stores in 2008. That’s much less than the 190 to 200 stores that the company plans to open this year. This is one way the Roanoke-based automotive parts and accessories retailer is trying to cut costs. Executives are blaming slowing sales on a variety of economic woes that are plaguing customers. Bombay's closing sale is underwayBombay Co.’s closing sale has begun at Valley View Mall. The store is one of more than 300 locations for this furniture retailer that is shutting down because the company filed for bankruptcy in September. The retail landscape has not been bright for furniture manufacturers and retailers nationally. Along with increased competitive pressure from imports, some companies, including Stanley Furniture Co. in Henry County, have felt pressures from the slump in the housing market, the national mortgage crisis and a lack of overall consumer confidence. On another note, today marks the first month of the Storefront blog. It's been fun so far! Send any comments or suggestions my way. |
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