Market Square team members John Nicholson (left), and Zach McRoy (right) put the final touches on the shelves. Photo by Jon Shup of the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-Op

The Roanoke Natural Foods Co-Op’s store in downtown Roanoke opened this morning, said co-op spokesman John Bryant.

The 1,225-square-foot store opened in the former Thomas Market space. (Thomas Market closed for Center in the Square’s $27 million renovation, which are complete. The owners of Thomas Market decided not to renew the store’s lease.)

The co-op’s store offers grab-and-go foods prepared daily at the co-op’s Grandin Road store and carries items similar to those offered at the Grandin store, but with a smaller selection.

The store is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

A grand opening is being planned for June, Bryant said.

The co-op started more than 40 years ago as a small natural food store in the basement of a southwest Roanoke County couple’s home. It has now grown to include two stores, and a 25-acre urban farm, Heritage Point, at the Roanoke Center for Industry and Technology. The farm is producing vegetables, fruit, free-range eggs, cut flowers and honey that will be sold at the co-op’s stores.

Seafood Charlie’s Salem store is closed indefinitely. Facebook photo

Update posted May 8: I’ve been in touch with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services today to find out more about why Counts can sell at the farmers markets without a problem but must comply with state regulations at his store. The department’s spokeswoman, Elaine Lidholm, didn’t know offhand but said she would look into it and get back to me.  said that she spoke with the director of food safety, who told her that the difference is that at a store the food is being stored for a period of time, rather than just for a day at the market. That means a retail store must properly store food at a certain temperature, among other requirements, Lindholm said.

VDACS inspects retail food stores (stores that sell food, but not prepared food – it is the Health Department’s responsibility to inspect restaurants), such as Seafood Charlie’s, to enforce Virginia food laws. “It is incumbent upon any business owner to find out which laws and regulations they need to follow,” she said.

End update.

Seafood Charlie’s, which opened last month in Salem, is closed indefinitely as the owner decides whether it is worth his time and money to comply with state regulations.

Charlie Counts had been selling fresh, local seafood at farmers markets since 2011. He decided this year to grow his business by opening a store on Fourth Street in Salem.

Things were going well and the store was regularly selling out of fish. But then the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which regulates food wholesalers, notified Counts that he needed to label his food and install two more sinks, among other tasks, Counts said.

He wasn’t sure when I talked with him Tuesday whether he would invest the time and money to comply.

“The place might be more trouble than its worth,” Counts said. Installing more plumbing would require him to knock out a wall, and Counts said he has already put a lot of time and money into the building.

Customers won’t see Counts at farmers markets this week. He is taking the week off to figure out what to do with the building.

He said he plans to return to the markets next week, but said even that might come to an end because he is not earning enough money to make it worth his time. He opened the storefront to grow his business and his profits, he said.

“The farmers markets only have so many people that go down there,” he said. “It’s a limited audience. I thought I’d be able to expand and actually make a living doing this.”

Counts said he is exploring a few options that would allow him to continue to sell outside the farmers markets.

I’ll keep you posted on what Counts decided to do with the business.

Mellow Mushroom will demolish the former Backstreets Pizza and Grill restaurant and construct a new building for the pizzeria.

That’s according to reporter Mike Shaw, who spoke with the franchisee today.

The Roanoke Times reported in March that Mellow Mushroom was planning to open in Blacksburg, but the corporate office would not disclose a location at the time.

The restaurant is expected to open next spring.

Read more here.

Jeans are strewn about the rubble from the garment-factory collapse. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

In the aftermath of the clothing factory collapse in Bangladesh that killed more than 600 workers on April 24, retailers are racing to address the public’s concerns about working conditions in the factories where clothes are produced.

Retailers that use factories in Bangladesh, such as Gap, The Children’s Place and Walmart, are trying to figure out how to improve working conditions, but keep costs low. The minimum wage for a garment worker in Bangladesh is $38 a month, according to the Associated Press.

One American retailer, The Walt Disney Company, ceased production in Bangladesh and other countries, including Pakistan, after deadly factory fires at those places last year.

The Children’s Place, based out of New Jersey, told the New York Times it is working with Bangladeshi officials, retailers and organizations to improve safety in factories. The New York Times quoted the company saying it “will be active in supporting important, systemic reform.”

The New York Times also reported that Gap, Walmart and other retailers were paying for factory managers to be trained in fire safety.

For the consumer, it is often difficult to know much more about clothing other than what’s stated on the tag. The building collapse (and last year’s factory fires), have brought to light many of the problems with wages, treatment of workers, and the conditions in which they work.

How important is it to you that the places you shop are ethical in their pay and treatment of workers? Has the building collapse made you question where your clothes are produced and under what type of conditions?

Photo courtesy of Cedars

A Lebanese restaurant will make its debut in Roanoke on Monday.

Cedars Lebanese Restaurant has been years in the making for the Saliba family, who moved to the United States from Lebanon in 2001.

Since then, their cuisine, which they have prepared for friends and catered at various events, has earned them praises — and often the suggestion that they should open a restaurant.

Gaby Saliba, 25, has spent the past few years researching the market and locations for the restaurant. He wanted to be downtown because of the daytime population and foot traffic, he said.

He found what he said was the right location in the formerBinaba shop (which has moved to Market Street under the name Villages of Africa) on Campbell Avenue, betweenNawab and Benny Marconi’s.

He and his family have spent the past five months fixing up the space. They refinished the hardwood floors, put up new drywall, gutted the bathrooms and more.

“We wanted to do it right,” Saliba said. He wouldn’t say how much money he has spent on the renovations.

They constructed a wall to separate the kitchen from the dining room, but the wall has open windows because Saliba thought it was important that customers could see where and how their food was being prepared.

He is using as many local food vendors as possible, although many of his ingredients are being imported. Those ingredients include spices, oils, chickpeas, pickles and some cheeses, Saliba said. If he is granted an ABC license he will offer beer and wine. For now, the restaurant will carry Laziza, a non-alcoholic beer.

The menu includes items such as hummus, hummus with shawarma (thin, sliced marinated beef), baba ghanouj, falafel, raw kibbeh (beef with wheat and seasoning) and labneh (yogurt with olive oil). Platters include several types of kebabs (chicken, lamb, ground beef), beef shawarma and shish taouk (cubed chicken breast). The menu also includes wraps and salads.

The Saliba family will cook the food “exactly how we would fix it at the house,” Saliba said.

Customers will not only be getting Lebanese food, but also a bit of culture, Saliba said.

“We want to bring a more diverse taste to Roanoke, and we want to show the Lebanese culture,” Saliba said.

He said the decor, with pictures on the walls, will convey the culture, as will servers who can educate diners about the food.

The restaurant has 11 tables and will serve a quick-order lunch, meaning customers will order at the counter and clear their tables when they are finished. A wait staff will be on hand for dinners.

Saliba said he doesn’t have any experience running a restaurant, but he has management experience and has hired a consultant.

Saliba started his own computer business, GMS Computer Services and Sales, which he sold about a year and a half ago. Running that business taught him management skills and other business basics such as figuring out how to price merchandise. Saliba is now working in the IT field and plans to continue working that job while running the restaurant.

Cedars is the only Lebanese restaurant in downtown Roanoke. The Hummus House, which was inside in the Crystal Tower building at the corner of Second Street and Campbell Avenue, closed a year ago when the building was purchased for redevelopment. The owner had said he was going to try to reopen the restaurant elsewhere but hasn’t done so.

Also in the column, a Smith Mountain Lake retailer selling items made from alpaca fibers has moved into a larger storefront, and more information on Kroger’s coupon policy, including feedback from blog readers.

Balzer renderings courtesy of Virginia Varsity Transfer

The closed Sonic drive-in on Apperson Drive in Salem will be torn down beginning Monday to make room for Virginia Varsity Transfer’s new storage office.

Virginia Varsity, a moving and storage company, has purchased the Sonic site and plans to build a new 4,000 square-foot office and retail space, said company owner John Lugar.

The building will have retail space for moving equipment, a conference room, 26 storage spaces in the back and a “sizer,” a 40-foot long bay with a moveable wall to show customers different storage space sizes.

Construction is expected to be complete by the end of summer, Lugar said. He wouldn’t disclose how much money the company is investing in the project.

Virginia Varsity’s headquarters and Salem storage spaces are located about a block away up a hill off Apperson Drive and don’t have good visibility from the road, Lugar said. That was one reason he wanted to move the office and retail space closer to Apperson Drive. Lugar said he expects more walk-in traffic at the store when it opens.

Lugar and a friend started the company 26 years ago this month after moving a family to Florida on their fall break from college. Lugar bought out his friend two years later becoming the sole owner. Since then, the company has built three storage facilities in Roanoke County, Salem and Botetourt County.

Hybrid Martial Arts has returned to downtown Roanoke.

In April, the center moved into the former Brickhouse CrossFit building on Salem Avenue near the intersection of Third Street in the West Station district of downtown Roanoke.

The martial arts business started in 2001 in a building on the corner of Kirk Avenue and First Street. But owners Tim Rumfelt and Dennis Hayes moved the business to Williamson Road about a year later because they felt the downtown location was “off the beaten path” and there wasn’t much development going on at the time, Rumfelt said.

A decade later, the men decided they wanted to buy, rather than rent, a building for the business. They looked downtown and found the Brickhouse Crossfit building. (Brickhouse Crossfit moved down the street). The location appealed to the men because it was the right price, the right size, and had good floor space, Rumfelt said. They also liked that it was downtown, making Hybrid equidistance to their students.

And, Hayes said, they are excited to be a part of the westward expansion in downtown Roanoke.

“We’re just happy to be part of the growth downtown,” he said.

Hayes and Rumfelt bought the building for $163,000 in March. They moved in the first of April after putting down 1,500 square feet of mats, hanging five punching bags, remodeling the bathrooms (which included the addition of showers).

Hyrbid specializes in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Gracie Jiu Jitsu, Thai boxing, Judo and mixed martial arts.

Update (1:30 p.m. Monday): Shoptimist columnist Rebecca Holland wants to know whether Kroger’s new pricing policies will change shoppers’ habits. See what folks are saying on her blog.

Kroger on Sunday reduced prices on thousands of items throughout its stores in the Mid-Atlantic region, which includes Virginia.

“This venture is a multi-million dollar investment for the company and loyal Kroger customers will reap the benefits,” a news release from the company said.

The price reductions apply to grocery, produce, organics and general merchandise items, said Carl York, a spokesman for the company’s Mid-Atlantic region, which also includes North Carolina, West Virginia, eastern Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Kroger is able to lower prices because it expects to sell a high volume of the items it has marked down, York said.

“It’s one of those things that you believe if you lower prices you can drive the volume,”, he said. “It really takes quite a bit of volume to make it work.”

Kroger has been systematically lowering prices since 2008, going through department-by-department to see which items it could sell at a lesser cost.

This across-the-board price decrease was deliberate because Kroger wanted it to be impactful, York said.

Kroger is also making changes to its coupon policy.

The grocer announced on its Facebook page Sunday that effective May 12, Kroger will no longer double manufacturer coupons at stores in the Mid-Atlantic region, the Facebook post said.

“We understand that this is a significant change,” the Facebook post said. “We hope that you come and see our new low prices – as well as the many other ways to save – for yourself.”

Kroger is working on beefing up its digital coupon offerings on Kroger.com, York said. The coupons are loaded onto customers’ loyatly cards so the discounts apply automatically at the register.

(I will be out the office until Wednesday, but my editor is checking blog comments. I’ll respond to questions when I return.)

When Jewell Hunt opened J and J Fashions in Rocky Mount in 1968, she knelt in the doorway and prayed.

If God would help the business succeed, she promised to use the business as a ministry.

J and J Fashions is celebrating 45 years in business this year, and Hunt and her daughter, who has taken over the store, attribute its success to their Christian beliefs, “hard work, and truly treating people the way you want to be treated,” Hunt said.

“We have people who come in and they don’t have any interest in shopping, but they come here because they know we care,” said Hunt’s daughter, Sheila Copenhaver .

Hunt started her career in retail at the age of 14 working at a Sample Shoe store in downtown Rocky Mount. As an adult she worked for Leggett first in the children’s department, and then as a sportswear buyer for the store.

She opened J and J Fashions in the same storefront where her retail career began – the former shoe store space on Franklin Road.

Copenhaver worked with her mother at the store through high school and college. She continued in retail with a furrier after she married and moved to Germany with her husband, who was in the military.

Once back in Virginia, she resumed working at J and J Fashions. Hunt, 79, gave Copenhaver ownership of the store four years ago, although Hunt still works at the shop about four days a week.

On Copenhaver’s first day as owner, she and her mother again knelt in the doorway and prayed for the success of the store so they could continue giving back.

They have made good on their promise, they said.

The store has donated to the Red Cross, United Way and soup kitchens, Hunt said.

Perhaps their greatest contribution, the women said, is helping and caring for the women who shop in their store.

Copenhaver recalled a woman who came into her store and took some items into the dressing room. The customer had been in the dressing room for a while when Copenhaver asked if she was OK. When she got no response, she opened the dressing room door to find the woman in only her underwear, covered in bruises.

“I said, ‘Honey, you need some help. No one should have to go through this,’ ” Copenhaver said. She prayed with the woman and offered to get her help.

Hunt has volunteered her time and her merchandise to funeral homes.

In one instance, Hunt said, she choose the most expensive dress and scarf in her store and took it to a funeral home for a woman who had died and didn’t have anything suitable to be buried in .

A woman at the funeral recognized the way the scarf was tied as Hunt’s work, and requested that Hunt tie her scarf at her funeral, Hunt said.

“It’s more than just a job to us,” Hunt said.

The store’s reputation stretches far beyond Franklin County. Copenhaver said they have customers who drive from Richmond and even from out of state. Earlier this month, Copenhaver was shipping an order to Nebraska, she said.

Among the lines J and J Fashions carries are French Dressing, FDJ, Sharon Young, Anuschka and Brighton. The store is the top seller in Virginia for Ming Wang, Copenhaver said.

The store also features some of Copenhaver’s jewelry designs, which are also distributed to other retailers.

Copenhaver is hopeful that her daughter, who is a personal shopper for J.Crew in Lynchburg, will someday take over the store.

For now, Copenhaver said she is going to continue with what’s kept the business successful for 45 years.

“We’re just going to keep doing what we’ve been doing the best we can,” Copenhaver said. “We are going to keep offering great customer service and offering what the customer wants.”

Also in the column, a Roanoke jeweler is semi-retiring and will be open by appointment only, and Audiotronics is moving its north Roanoke County store to the former Replay Games and DVD store on Williamson Road.

The Samsung Experience shop. Photo courtesy of Best Buy.

Best Buy and Samsung announced this month that they have formed a partnership to bring “Samsung Experience Shops” to Best Buy stores which will allow customers to interact with various Samsung products in one place.

The Roanoke and Christiansburg Best Buys will be among the stores getting these shops, said Best Buy spokesman Jeff Shelman.

The Roanoke store is in the first wave of shops to open, hopefully within the next few weeks.

The Christiansburg shop is expected to open June 1, Shelman said.

He did not know the size of the shops in Roanoke and Christiansburg, but said the average size is about 400 square feet.

The shops will feature Samsung phones, laptops, tablets, cameras and accessories, which will be on display for customers to use. The shops will be staffed with a Best Buy employee and a Samsung expert who will be able to perform software upgrades and offer support.

The idea behind the shops is to make it convenient for customers to explore Samsung products and see how they work together, according to a news release from Samsung.

“We want to be the go-to place for people who want to purchase Samsung products,” Shelman said.

One technology website has said the Samsung shops are aimed at competing with Apple, which also has its products on display in Best Buy stores.

There has been a lot of talk on this blog about showrooming and even reverse showrooming . Do you think these shops will win out over online shopping because of their interactive nature?