Bookseller coming to Towne Centre
Joseph-Beth Booksellers will open a 26,000-square-foot store in The Village at Towne Centre in April.
The independent company's stores carry a broad selection of popular fiction and nonfiction book titles, along with local authors, magazines, newspapers, children's books, music and videos. The Fredericksburg store also will have a bistro.
According to Joseph-Beth's Web site, it "is one of the nation's strongest and most prosperous independent bookselling companies."
The store in Spotsylvania Towne Centre's open-air section will be the sixth location for the bookseller, which opened its first store in Lexington, Ky., in 1986. The company is now headquartered in Cincinnati. Other locations include Charlotte, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
Joseph-Beth also owns and operates Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Nashville and Memphis.
--Cathy Jett
The Write Touch is moving into Lydia's
The custom stationery business that operated at The Write Touch in Fredericksburg will be moving into Lydia's at 417 William St.
Lydia's owner Kitty Wafle purchased The Write Touch's contents and equipment after hearing that the Caroline Street business had closed this month.
The business will reopen as "Write at Lydia's" in the back of Wafle's William Street shop by mid-December. Write Touch employees Velvet Payne and Vanessa Simms will work at the new venture at Lydia's.
Lydia's currently sells a variety of monogrammed gifts and accessories. Wafle said people who get their wedding invitations and other customized stationery will also be able to register for monogrammed gifts.
"It's an excellent fit," Wafle said.
--Bill Freehling
Oil prices tumble
Oil prices dropped to near $74 a barrel yesterday then rose close to $76 as Dubai's debt problems jolted world markets, raising concern about the prospects for global economic recovery.
By early afternoon in Europe, benchmark crude for January delivery was down $3.94 to $74.02 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, then rose to $75.80 later in the day.
Just a year after the global downturn derailed Dubai's explosive growth, the emirate is now so swamped in debt that it's asking for a six-month reprieve on paying its bills. Its main development engine, Dubai World, has said it would ask creditors for a "standstill" on paying back its $60 billion debt until at least May.
That news roiled markets worldwide and sent crude tumbling more than 6 percent in Asia to a six-week low of $72.39 a barrel before the price recovered. The volatility spread to Europe, where crude kept dipping below $74 but also went as high as $74.75.
GM official says Opel in the works
FRANKFURT
--General Motors Co.'s top European official said yesterday that a plan for Opel to be unveiled next month will include a schedule to launch new models and a financial break-even target.Nick Reilly's comments in an official GM blog came as the U.S. automaker finalizes its restructuring plan for Opel and British sister brand Vauxhall, a program it has said will result in about 9,000 job cuts across the continent.
--The Associated Press