I hereby label this week: “The Week of Selling Charlottesville Venues and Restaurants on Craigslist”

As one of our commenters pointed out, Saxx has also listed itself for sale on Craigslist.

The post on Craigslist reads:

Thinking of owning a lounge/club? Well look at the beautiful Saxx Jazz & Blues Lounge located in the heart of the prestigious downtown Belmont.  The lounge is equipped with bar, performance stage, 6ft tv movie screen  with projector, in house hi-tech sound system and more.  With standing occupancy of 225 and seating of 165, this establishment  is great for suttle sophisticated nightlife. Book your favorite band or schedule private events such as wedding receptions, business meetings,  birthday parties etc… You’ll be delighted with one of the most elegant and luxurious atmospheres that Charlottesville has to offer!

Ok, this is funny now. What is the next Charlottesville business for sale on Craigslist?!

Popularity: 33% [?]

NBC29 brought up an interesting fear about vacancies on the downtown mall.  Taking the recent Order from Horder closing into consideration, the reporters discovered the fear of shop owners and tourists.  I.e…

“When you’re not used to seeing them, the public comes down and says ‘oh my gosh, look at the empty storefronts.’ So it’s like a shock,” said Morgan Perkins owner of the Art Gallery.

Maybe this is a shock, I don’t know.  Off the top of my head, I can think of the following vacancies:

• A&N (near Ventana)
• that Real Estate Office
• Order from Horder
• That block of buildings next to Wachovia
• Hardware Store (is it completely leased?)
• Merrill Lynch Building (near the transit center)
• Landmark Hotel/Boxerjam (soon to be not vacant)

I am not sure that a fear strikes all of you when you look at stores, but there do seem to be a lot of vacancies.  Did I miss any? Is it just not a great time for the economy?  Where are all the national chains?!  Where’s the Apple Store?

[via NBC 29]

Popularity: 27% [?]

Holy crap, Batman. We just got tipped off by some birdies that Dominion Virginia Power has requested a rate increase in electricity prices of nearly 20%!

Dominion Power’s President, David A. Heacock explained “the market prices of fuel used to run our power stations – coal, natural gas, fuel oil and uranium – have risen by more than 200 percent in some cases since fuel rates were last fully aligned with market conditions in 2004.”

Unfortunately, we live in a world where most of our energy consumption is linked to fossil fuels and other non-renewable sources. If you want to change things, you aren’t going to get it by sitting around waiting for energy companies to make that change for you. You have to conserve and take other initiatives to reduce your energy bill.

While we’ve already seen an increase in food prices, this will put a lot more pressure on local businesses that consume power. Expect businesses to pass on increased energy costs to you later this year.

Dominion explained:

The SCC must approve the fuel rate increase and deferral of additional fuel costs before they can take effect. The proposed fuel rate adjustment would increase the average monthly bill of a typical residential customer who uses 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month by $16.61, or 18.3 percent, to $107.20. Without the deferral proposed by Dominion, the requested increase would have been 22.2 percent for the same typical residential customer.

These rate increases would be effective July 1, but still need to be approved in upcoming weeks. Does anyone have any information on how likely this is to be approved?

If you want to read more about the details of the price increase, go here. We also have some informative charts you can read after the break. So much for those presents from Uncle Sam!

»Read More

Popularity: 24% [?]

Charlottesville has its own little internet star! As Thor, stated in his, “Future Internet Stars in Charlottesville”, we have a new Cville site. VibeAgent is not just for us locals, but for EVERYONE (Cville impaired and all). I recently used the site to book a room and had nothing but success! The site did just as promised and got me a great deal on a hotel room, and had a review on the hotel. Man, I love it when I can go local! Try it. I promise it won’t bite.

VibeAgent

Popularity: 28% [?]

A reliable birdie sends this in:

I heard La Taza has been sold 

Any truth to this rumor?

Popularity: 22% [?]