A customer looks through a book at Roanoke's first cash mob at Appalachia Press. REBECCA BARNETT | The Roanoke Times

Back in March I told you about Roanoke’s first cash mob at Appalachia Press on Salem Avenue in downtown Roanoke. More than 100 shoppers turned out for the event, which encourages a large group of people to spend money at a particular local business.

I recently talked to John Park, the organizer of Roanoke’s cash mobs, which have continued monthly since March.

The mob has hit a Northwest Hardware store, Too Many Books in Grandin and Tinnell’s Finer Food in Crystal Spring. On Wednesday the group will mob B&D Comics, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary. And in August, Freckles, a vintage shop downtown, will be the group’s target.

There was some skepticism from blog readers about the idea when it first got started. One reader likened it to having a bull in a china closet. Another called it misdirected, and another called it silly.

But business owners whose stores have been the target of the cash mobs say the events are great for their business.

Rett Ward, owner of Tinnell’s, said that when about 80 people flooded his store in May, the store not only saw a significant increase in sales, but also some first-time customers.

“It was very exciting to meet new people that didn’t know that we were around,” he said. “We don’t have the ability to advertise like the big stores do, so that was an amazing way to get our face out to new people.”

Ward knew in advance that the event was happening and set up wine and cheese tastings. He also invited his local vendors to come in and give out samples of their products.

For more information on Roanoke’s cash mob, see the group’s Facebook page.

Updated March 16: The cash mob at Appalachia Press was included in this USA Today story on the growing trend.

I decided to check out the cash mob at Appalachia Press last night to see what this latest trend is all about.

Mob isn’t an accurate word. The crowd – more than 100 people who showed up from about 5:30 to 6:15 p.m. – was polite and well behaved. Shoppers squeezed past each other in the 630 square-foot store with an “excuse me, please,” and store owner John Reburn said nothing was broken or went missing. He had his mother and a friend in the store helping him.

Reburn said he made 54 sales in 45 minutes.

Only the days leading up to Christmas can compare, he said.

What excited him even more was that about half of the people he saw in his store were new faces.

“To see people who have never walked through my doors was amazing,” said Reburn, who opened the silk screen and letterpress printing business on Salem Avenue in downtown Roanoke nine years ago. “They are impossible to get in my door.”

A small group of people waited outside to get in the store and attracted more shoppers who had been driving by and stopped to see what was going on.

At least one woman confused the cash mob concept with a flash mob.  Reburn had seen the woman pacing the sidewalk outside during the cash mob. Toward the end she came in the store.

“When does all the singing and dancing start?,” she asked.

Roanoke Times photographer Rebecca Barnett and I snapped these photos. (If you expand the slideshow and click “show info” you can see captions and credits.)

You’ve heard of flash mobs. How about cash mobs?

The idea behind this latest trend is to encourage a large group of people to spend their money en masse at a designated local business “to give the business owner a little bit of economic stimulus,” according to the Cash Mob website.

Downtown Blacksburg Inc. is organizing a cash mob for March 8 to go with their Small Business Saturday and BUY EAT LIVE Local campaigns. Downtown Blacksburg Inc. will announce which business will be mobbed a week before the event.

The Roanoke Times’ New River Valley publication, The Burgs, has more details.

What do you make of this trend?

A screen shot of the social networking website Pinterest.

Many retailers are all over the most popular social media sites, Facebook and Twitter.

Now, a newer site, Pinterest, has caught their attention.

If you aren’t using Pinterest, allow me to explain how it works. Users create virtual pin boards and categorize them (recipes, crafts, home decor, etc.). Then they can view a sea of images that other users have added to Pinterest. See something you like? Pin it to a board.

If a user clicks on the image, it takes them to the website where the image originated from, which is helpful if it’s a recipe or craft because you’ll need instructions. And, if a user is on another website and sees something they like, they can pin it to their board from that website. Similar to Facebook, you can follow your friends to see what they are pinning, and repin or like their pins.

Think of it as a visual way of bookmarking everything you see and like on the web.

Retailers are using Pinterest to advertise their products. For instance, World Market has created several virtual pin boards for Valentine’s Day products, Mardi Gras products, and Game Day essentials (check out their boards here).

West Elm has added its products to boards based on design, color and style (see the boards here).

Consumers, meanwhile appear to be using Pinterest to shop for items. Pinterest users have the option to look at images under the “gift” category. Click an image you like and you’ll be redirected to Etsy, an online site where handmade goods are bought and sold, or another online retailer.

Are you using Pinterest to shop or to follow your favorite retailers?

John Hritz | Flickr

The National Retail Federation last month estimated that Americans would spend a record amount of money for Super Bowl-related items.

Now, the NRF is also saying the same of Valentine’s Day spending, an indication of a recovery economy, the NRF said in a news release.

The Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions survey showed that the average person celebrating the holiday would spend $126, up 8.5 percent from last year. Total spending is expected to reach $17.6 billion, the highest in the survey’s 10-year history.

“As one of the biggest gift-giving holidays of the year, it’s encouraging that consumers are still exhibiting the desire to spend on discretionary gift items, a strong indication our economy continues to move in the right direction,”  NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said in a news release.

And who do you think will spend more, men or women?

According the survey, men will shell out nearly $169 on clothing, jewelry, greeting cards and more. Women are expected to spend about half that. Sorry guys.

Valentine’s Day isn’t just for spouses and significant others, the survey found. Children, pets and friends are also expected to be shown some love.

Of those surveyed:

• 19 percent will buy jewelry (for a total of $4.1 billion, up from $3.5 billion last year)
• 13 percent will buy gift cards (for a total of $1.1 billion)
• 51 percent will buy candy (for a total of $1.5 billion)
• 36 percent will buy flowers (for a total of $1.8 billion)
• 36 percent will treat someone to a nice evening out (for a total of $3.5 billion)

Are you planning to dig a little deeper into your wallet this year for Valentine’s Day, or, have you thought of a creative, inexpensive idea to show your love?

Store-brand or name-brand? (AP Photo/Rob Carr)

Look at the products in your pantry and refrigerator. Are they store-brand or name-brand labels?

Store-brand products began filling our shelves as many of us cut down on grocery bills. And we found that in many cases Kroger’s canned tomatoes weren’t much different than Hunt’s.

Fast forward a few years and it seems that Americans have grown fond of store-brand products. The Wall Street Journal had this story yesterday about how many shoppers are now loyal to store-brands, even when they cost more than name-brand products.

The article also states that the prices of store-brand products is overall still less than name-brands, but the cost of store-brand products is rising more quickly.

Do you shop based on price or brand name? Are there some products that you refuse to buy generic? Which store-brand products do you particularly like?

Did you do your holiday shopping from the comfort of your computer? It seems many did.

Online sales from November to the end of December hit $37.2 billion, a 15 percent increase over last year’s holiday sales and an all-time season high, according to research company comScore.

Cyber Monday brought in $1.2 billion in sales, up from $1 billion in 2010. It was the single day with the most sales.

ComScore reported that consumers were lured by free shipping, which was offered on more than half of all purchases. (Free Shipping Day, on Dec. 16, accounted for $1 billion in sales).

That’s good news for online retailers, and for FedEx and the United Postal Service.

Those companies hired more workers this year than last year, and expect to handle many returns throughout this month, according to this New York Times story.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

Looking to expand their business with new equipment but coming up short on a down payment, the owners of Strange Coffee Company have turned to a crowdfunding website.

Before we get into crowdfunding, let’s talk about Strange Coffee.

Russell Chisholm, owner of the now closed Easy Chair Coffee Shop in Blacksburg, and Brian Babock have been roasting coffee on and off for years. They bought a small roaster when they first got started, but as their business grew, so did their need for a larger roaster.

Then, when Easy Chair closed, they found themselves without a place to roast.

They’re now in a relaunch phase. The plan is to lease a space to roast in New River and raise money for down payments on a larger roaster and shipments of coffee. Their coffee is source from small farmers in Central and South America.

But how do you come up with $25,000 in this economy? Forget the banks. Babock and Chisholm turned to crowdfunding.

They are using the website IndieGoGo.com to solicit donations from the public in exchange for incentives. For example, give $11 and get $11 in credit towards coffee. Or, at the high end of the giving spectrum, give $2,518 and get a trip to a coffee farm.

The website takes 4 percent of the money raised if the goal is met or 9 percent if the goal is not met. So far,  Strange Coffee has raised nearly $6,000. Their campaign will be live for 47 more days.

“We’re not afraid to try new things for good or ill,” Babock said. “It’s a tough economy. No one is going to be able to write us a check for $25,000.”

Roanoke County’s Tanglewood Mall was one of several shopping centers included in an MSNBC story about malls that are looking for nontraditional tenants to fill increasingly empty spaces.

In addition to Belk, JC Penney, A.C. Moore, Bath & Body Works and other stores, the mall is home to Miller-Motte Technical College and the Science Museum of Western Virginia. (The science museum moved out of downtown’s Center in the Square while that building undergoes renovations. The museum plans to return to CIS when construction is complete.)

Brad Boothe, the mall’s marketing manager, said that Tanglewood saw many benefits in having the college as a tenant. That opportunity, he said, opened the mall’s management to the possibility of leasing space to other non-retail tenants.

“We really saw more positives that could come out of it than negatives, especially considering that retailers aren’t looking to expand,” Boothe said.

The technical college, he said, enrolls students of a certain age that retailers want to target. And the college’s salon, which opened last month, blends well with the mall’s other retail offerings, Boothe said.

Tanglewood’s long-term plan is to have a mix of retail and non-retail tenants – such as the science museum – that will make the mall a destination for families.

“It’s not just that we want to bring in any type of business. We want it to be more family-focused,” Boothe said. “A place where you can come out and spend a whole day.”

Here’s the MSNBC story. Tanglewood is mentioned one minute into the video.

What do you think of Tanglewood’s move away from retail?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The world of computers was very different when George Shen opened his Roanoke County store, PC City Computers, in 1992.

Shen has kept up with those changes, but he said advancements in technology are essentially putting him out of business. When a computer breaks down, most people opt to buy a new one because it’s not worth fixing, he said. And the emergence of smartphones and tablets have made it easier for people to work without a traditional computer.

Shen is closing his store at the end of the month. You can read more in Sunday’s column.

You read here last month that Walmart is bringing back layaway for the holidays. That was welcome news to several blog readers, who said they planned to take advantage of the service.

I talked last week with Kathy Grannis, a spokeswoman for the National Retail Federation, about the history of layaway and why it almost went extinct.You can read more about that in the column, too.

Do you plan on using layaway to buy gifts for the holidays?