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Comings and GoingsBy Cathy Jett
North Carolina Furniture's closing sparks investigation Nov. 18, 2009 5:24 pm
Order anything recently from North Carolina Furniture Company in King George County? If so, you may be out of luck. The business closed recently, the building is for sale and the phone works only on outgoing calls. The King George Sheriff's office is investigating, and I'll have a story about this and what steps you can take in Thursday's business section. On a more altruistic note, Monkee's, a women's clothing boutique in downtown Fredericksburg, is having a canned food drive Monday through Wednesday for the Fredericksburg Area Food Bank. As an incentive, Monkee's is offering a 25% discount for on all fall and winter merchandise to customers who bring in canned food items.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=53&p=1258583052
Tags: North Carolina Furniture, King George closed, Monkee's
Job fair set for Nov. 23 in Culpeper Nov. 10, 2009 3:40 pm
Rep. Eric Cantor, R–Henrico will host a job fair with area businesses from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 23 at Germanna Community College’s Daniel Technology Center in Culpeper. Adams & Garth Staffing and Executive Search For details, visit http://cantor.house.gov/jobfair/. The information hadn't been updated since a similar fair earlier this year when I checked Tuesday afternoon, but hopefully it will be shortly.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=53&p=1257885605
Tags: job fair, Culpeper, Eric Cantor
Readers share suggestions for the Eagle Village Giant Oct. 26, 2009 5:35 pm
What changes would you like to see at the Giant in Eagle Village? Two readers so far have sent in their suggestions after reading my What's in Store? column last Friday. It was about Giant Food resuming negotiations with the University of Mary Washington Foundation after talks stalled during the summer. Susan Howe said she likes shopping at Giant because it's smaller and not as overcrowded as some area grocery stores. She recommended that the Landover, Md.-based chain cater to the college students who will be living in the new dorms going up in Eagle Village or walking over from campus by adding a deli/eating area for pre-made meals that they could eat there or take back to their rooms. Another reader, who only identified himself as "Jon," said that he would like to see the existing building torn down and replaced with a more modern store. "It would be awful to not remodel and leave the store the way it is in 1970s fashion," he said. Jon also said he'd like Giant to increase the number of cashiers during peak times. If you have any suggestions about what you'd like to see happen to the Giant store as Eagle Village is renovated, please contact me at cjett@freelancestar.com or to Giant Food by going to the customer service tab at giantofmaryland.com, then clicking on Contact Consumer Affairs.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=53&p=1256592928
Tags: Giant, Eagle Village
CVS is rewarding customers for recycling Oct. 16, 2009 1:33 pm
Reusable shopping bags are slowly starting to replace the flimsy plastic ones that can clutter the environment if they aren't recycled. Not only do I feel good about using them, but most grocery stores usually knock off a few cents on my bill when I do. Now CVS is giving shoppers who've signed up for CVS’s ExtraCare rewards program an even better incentive. For 99 cents, they'll get a leaf shaped Green Bag Tag card, which can be attached to a cloth bag or knapsack. Make a purchase, get the card scanned and, after every fourth shopping trip, a $1 Extra Care Buck coupon will be printed on your receipt. CVS Caremark Corp. says that most of its 7,000 stores will have the tags within the next two weeks, and the program should be running at all stores by the end of November. Some of the money raised from the 99-cent tags in 2010 will be donated to an ecological cause. As Martha Stewart says, "It's a good thing."
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=53&p=1255714425
Tags: CVS, shopping bags, reuse
Fuddruckers launches new burger Oct. 14, 2009 11:05 am
Beef isn’t high on my list of must-haves for dinner, but ever now and then I get a hankering for a big, juicy burger.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=53&p=1255532715
Tags: Fuddrucker's burger
New Walmart on U.S. 17 will have retailer's latest design Oct. 12, 2009 3:58 pm
Shopping at a Walmart tends to drive me crazy. The aisles between the shelves are typically filled with bins or stand-alone shelving units, and the shelves themselves are often so high that it's easy to lose sight of the person I'm shopping with if they get distracted. But Walmart's new store design, being rolled out locally at the store opening Wednesday on U.S. 17 in Stafford, addresses those concerns. The aisles are wide and uncluttered, much of the shelving is only a tad over five-feet-high and, as an added bonus, the store has a number of green features from the skylights in the ceiling to the recycled materials used in some of the flooring. They're among a number of updates based on consumer input that the retail giant will be making at 80 percent of its new and existing stores over the next five years. I'll have more details about the U.S. 17 store and the expansion underway at the Walmart near Ferry Farm in Wednesday's business section. Feedback about the changes will be welcome!
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=53&p=1255377495
Tags: Walmart, Stafford, U.S. 17
NASCAR-themed attraction coming to Kings Dominion? Aug. 18, 2009 2:23 pm
Kings Dominion will hold a press conference Thursday to announce it's largest capital investment in its 35-year history. The fact that Taylor Earnhardt, youngest daughter of NASCAR racing legend Dale Earnhardt Sr., will be there along with Jeff Steiner, executive vice president and general manager of Dale Earnhardt Inc., and representatives of a roller coaster enthusiast club will be available for interviews at the event are fueling speculation that the park will be getting a NASCAR-themed roller coaster. "Rumors of a steel coaster well over 300-feet-tall have been making the rounds for several months," said Steve Thompson of the Mid Atlantic Coaster Club, which is based in Springfield.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=53&p=1250619803
Tags: Kings Dominion, NASCAR, roller coaster
NASCAR-themed attraction coming to Kings Dominion? Aug. 18, 2009 1:07 pm Sears Holdings Corp. aims to get an edge over its competition this holiday season by getting shoppers to start
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=53&p=1250615248
Fredericksburg area is experiencing a room boom July 8, 2009 5:36 pm
The Fredericksburg region is experiencing a hotel building boom. There were 89 hotels with a total of 8,274 rooms as of this past May, the most recent month for which HotelNewsNow.com, which tracks the hotel industry, has figures. That's four more hotels and 334 more hotel rooms than last May, and 17 more hotels and 1,722 more hotel rooms than were here in May of 2004. And it doesn't include the Courtyard by Marriott that opened at the corner of Charlotte and Caroline streets in downtown Fredericksburg last week. The region, in this case, includes the city of Fredericksburg and the counties of King George, Prince William, Spotsylvania and Stafford. Of these, Spotsylvania accounts for 14 hotels, including a Residence Inn by Marriott that opened near Spotsylvania Towne Centre late last year and a Holiday Inn that opened in Thornburg at the end of March. That number will increase once the Candlewood Hotel under construction at Massaponax is finished. Area hotels are doing comparatively well. The occupancy rate last May was 65 percent, and 57.9 percent year to date. While that was, respectively, a 4.8 percent and 4.4 percent decrease from the same time periods in 2008, it beat the state average. Virginia hotels had a 59.1 percent occupancy rate last May and a 57.9 percent occupancy rate year to date.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=53&p=1247088994
Tags: Fredericksburg area, hotels
Thrift shop to open in Four Mile Fork Shopping Center June 26, 2009 4:13 pm
New Season United Methodist Church will open a thrift store tomorrow, June 27, in Four Mile Fork Shopping Center next to Hard Times Café. The church has stocked the store with quality, low-cost items including clothing, handbags, shoes, furniture, books and children’s items. “In our current economic crisis, we thought this would be one tangible way we could serve this community,” said Robb Almy, New Season's pastor. New Season decided to open the thrift store after relocating from Lee Hill Elementary School to the Four Mile Fork Shopping Center. It is sponsored by the United Methodist Church, and serves the Massaponax and greater Fredericksburg community. The church holds worship serivces at 10:30 a.m. Sundays and provides children and youth programming. The thrift shop will be open from 3 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays. Donations will be accepted during operating hours, and anyone interested in volunteering should call the church at 540/834-4413.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=53&p=1246047230
Tags: New Season,, thrift shop, Four Mile Fork Shopping Center
May 27, 2009 4:16 pm
Einstein Bros. Bagels, long a fixture in Park & Shop Shopping Center, is being torn down today. Work should be finished tomorrow, at which point the asphalt will be ground up and recycled. The University of Mary Washington Foundation has already had Roses and several other store fronts in the old shopping center demolished to make way for the first phase of its Eagle Village mixed use project. Here's what you can expect once that phase is completed next year: For updates on the Eagle Village project, check out http://www.umw.edu/foundation/eaglevillage/construction.php.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=53&p=1243455407
Tags: Eagle Village, Einstein Bros. Bagels, UMW
Grocery shopping goes high tech at some area Giants Apr. 25, 2009 6:44 pm
Giant Food has made the next leap from self-checkout. Three area stores--the Super Giant in Harrison Crossing in Spotsylvania County and the Giants in Doc Stone Commons and Town & County shopping centers in Stafford County--now have handheld scanners that customers can check out and use with the swipe of their Giant bonus card. I tried out one of these devices, called a Scan It!, for a story that will appear in the business section of next Saturday's The Free Lance-Star. On the plus side, it was lightweight, easy to use and came loaded with discounts available only to Scan It! users. It also kept a running tally of how much I was spending. But there are a few things that customers are learning by trial and error. One woman I interviewed said the sale price of a bakery item she scanned didn't kick in. She was told that the bakery department doesn't update barcodes after items are discounted, and she'd have to get a cashier to ring it up for her. If you try out a scanner at Giant, or have used on at a Bloom store, please let me know what you think. I'd love to get your feedback.
Perma-link: http://www.fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=53&p=1240699474
Tags: Giant Food, Scan It!, scanners
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Cathy Jett is the assistant business editor at The Free Lance-Star, and specializes in covering the area's retail scene.
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