One of our readers, Heart Above the 45th, asks:
Thinking of getting a piercing… Any recommendations in town? Price averages?
Let’s also debate the best place to get pierced. Please keep the poll choices clean.
[pic from Sukanto_Debnath/flickr]
We just got two interesting sad telling depressing rumors about Charlottesville food businesses that appear to be dying.
First rumor about the potential closing of a town staple Crozet Pizza comes from a trusted Villain:
A friend just told me that Crozet Pizza may be closing down. I don’t know anything more than that, but it thought it was a worthy note.
We wonder about this one, especially considering all the growth that is happening in Crozet.
The second rumor comes from a very reliable birdie that has always been right. This time it appears Java Java is up on the auction block:
Java-Java is for sale. The economy has sent many a latte drinker to traditional coffee and since the mall has much more reasonable priced coffee (fair trade/organic small cup for .95 less than a block away…) they have suffered. First they kicked the milkman out and began making Sams club runs and some other stuff.
Not sure of the price, but since The Bean (at 225 sq feet) sold for 50K cash recently, some money might change hands…that is if he is still not upside down on his upfit.
Sad times indeed. Do we have any more info?
This is Part 1 of a Series Titled “Advertising Online” which I’m writing to help local advertisers, brands and agencies understand how and why internet advertising represents a much stronger medium to market your brand. Part 2 will talk about accountability and Part 3 will discuss demographics and engagement.
You Have Limited Advertising Budgets
You probably have to make the decision between print, radio, television, direct mail and internet every week. If it weren’t for your pocketbook, you’d advertise everywhere. Most advertisers decide to buy ads based on their familiarity with a product.
Have you stopped to think about the reasons for making that same weekly purchase? Have you evaluated your budgets and the effective reach of your advertising dollars? Can you even do that (more on accountability in Part 2)? We are facing uncertain economic times; consumer spending will decrease, and your need to advertise effectively and efficiently has never been more important. You need to figure out the best place to spend your money and the internet represents the best medium.
Large Marketers Have Already Figured It Out
We obviously have some bias about online advertising at Spicy Bear Media, but the truth is the only advertising mediums that are growing today are the outdoor and interactive channels (interactive means email, search, online display, social networking, etc.). Outdoor is pretty worthless in small markets like Charlottesville. We always ask ourselves “if large brands and national mediums are seeing advertising dollars move online, why hasn’t this hit the local market?” The time will come when this trend dramatically affects local markets. Don’t you want to be ahead of the curve? According to ZenithOptimedia:
Newspapers, magazines, television and radio are all losing share to the internet, but newspapers are clearly suffering the most. Newspapers have been steadily declining in share since 2006, when they claimed 28.4 percent of global ad spend. By 2010 that number is expected to reach 23.7 percent.
The graph below is something we use in all of our presentations because it’s particularly telling about the future of advertising. It’s from a study by Forrester Research in which they interviewed 235 major marketers and asked them about effectiveness of various channels.
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.
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?!
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:
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]
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!
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.
