Martin’s to run new gasoline program (Times-Dispatch) Martin’s Food Markets will introduce a new gasoline program, longer store hours and a Bonuscards loyalty-card program in the next several weeks as the chain transform the Ukrop’s stores to its own nameplate. ITT cuts workers in Roanoke County (Roanoke Times) On Wednesday, ITT Corp. terminated “less than… Read more »
Aaron Kremer
Aaron Kremer is the founder of Richmond BizSense. Email him at [email protected].
Business Licenses 4.1.10
Best name this week: MLB Landscapes.
Marketing gone wrong
This photo was sent in by a BizSense reader who was on an airplane and saw a ridiculous ad in SkyMall. A company has designed a new hearing aid to look like a Bluetooth earpiece. So now you can hear better and lose your dignity.
The Herd: New hires and departures for 3.31.10
There is a new boss at an insurance company based in Richmond, and an investment banker joins a Richmond firm. Plus one departure this week.
NewsFeeds 3.31.10
Va. Beach weighs options to save ailing golf courses (Virginian-Pilot) This city was all teed up to be a golfing destination on par with Myrtle Beach. But the increase in golf courses over the years never materialized into a rush of tourism dollars. And now the city-operated courses are struggling. UVa studies Latino, Hispanic aversion… Read more »
Expanding east on Route 60
Richmond-based gym operator American Family Fitness is expanding to Williamsburg, where the company will open a 23,000-square-foot gym in New Town (a new mixed-use development in Williamsburg that’s similar to West Broad Village.)
NewsFeeds 3.30.10
S-A-T-I-R-E: Abandoned Mall Selected As Safe Zone For Upcoming Zombie Apocalypse (Tobacco Avenue) Regional officials from the city and surrounding counties yesterday selected Cloverleaf Mall, a defunct and abandoned shopping center on the Southside, as the site that local residents are to take refuge in the likely event of a zombie attack. Dollar Tree Market… Read more »
Capital Trail moving ahead
The Jamestown Trailhead, the eastern section of the Virginia Capital Trail, was dedicated on Friday. Virginia First Lady Maureen McDonnell was there along with State Senator Thomas K. Norment Jr. (center) and Paul D. Koonce, Chief Executive Officer, Dominion Virginia Power. It’ll be interesting to see how the trail affects tourism and apartment rental/condo sales in Shockoe Bottom once it’s fully completed.
Monday Q&A: You call this a free market?
President Obama signed a new health-care reform bill that will expand access to health care just as businesses try to reduce their role in providing benefits. This week RBS talks with two principals from Dominion Benefit Solutions, a locally-based firm that helps businesses select insurance plans, about what small businesses see in their future and why health care is not really a free market. Click to read a lively and frank discussion.
BizSense book club: A must-read about the Wall Street meltdown
Anyone who cares to know how our economy practically collapsed in fall 2008 needs to read the latest page-turner from Michael Lewis. BizSense will host a happy hour discussion in two weeks for anyone who read it and wants to talk about it.