The state-run business of selling liquor is showing signs of a hangover. Sales to bars and restaurants for January were down 3 percent compared with the previous year. For the fiscal year that began in July, year-to-date sales at Virginia ABC stores were still up 6.3 percent from the previous year. But the size of… Read more »
Al Harris
Phish rocks legal case against bootleggers
The jam band Phish is not only kicking off their reunion tour in Virginia this weekend, but the band is also launching a legal battle with bootleg merchandise sellers. On Thursday, A U.S. District Judge in the federal court in Richmond will consider a request from the band to block the sale of unauthorized… Read more »
The business of accessibility
Kevin Mak remembers the day a man in a wheelchair entered his restaurant with a few friends, ate some sushi and left without incident. A few weeks later, Mak, who owns Carytown Sushi, received a lawsuit in the mail. The man in the wheelchair, Craig Fabian of Midlothian, alleged that the restaurant was in violation of… Read more »
Media General cuts two North Carolina papers to two days a week
Media General is slashing certain publishing businesses as advertising revenue plummets. The company, which owns the Richmond Times-Dispatch, revealed this week they will cut publication of two North Carolina newspapers from five to only two days per week. At the end of March, the Reidsville Review and the Eden Daily News will be printed only… Read more »
Q&A: How are builders surviving the housing freeze?
BizSense has been keeping a close eye on building volume around Richmond, and if you’ve been reading you know it is down between 40 and 60 percent. Kevin Russell, vice president of Construction Management Solutions, has witnessed the slowdown firsthand. BizSense sat down with Russell at CMS’s office near the Chesterfield Airport to talk about… Read more »
Parking patrol has a closer eye on you
More little green envelopes are appearing on windshields in the City of Richmond. Between Dec. 1 and Jan. 31, Richmond parking officers issued 15 percent more citations than during the same period a year ago: 12,878 compared with 11,205. The increased ticketing has increased the revenue collected during the same period by 11 percent, from… Read more »
Qimonda fallout hits local support office
A Japanese company that provided sales and service to Qimonda’s Henrico semiconductor plant is closing its Richmond office, a sign that the fallout from the plants closure is reverberating throughout the region. Tokyo Electron LTD operated an office at 5310 S. Laburnum Ave. just a few miles from the Qimonda facility that is being shut… Read more »
The Pipeline: Commercial Real Estate Round Up for 2.27.09
Thalhimer reports Trustworth Properties LLC purchased the 10-unit apartment building at 12 E. Main St. in Richmond for $1 million from Main Street Investments LLC. AECOM Technology Corporation, a multinational environmental consulting firm, has leased 85,000 square feet at 4840 Cox Road in Henrico. Virginia Schools of Technology leased 31,500 square feet at 2000 Westmoreland… Read more »
Local career site goes pro bono
One Richmond job search site has stopped charging employers money to post jobs and browse resumes. RichmondJobSource.com was started in early 2007 by Rich Ringrose. Up until Tuesday, it cost an employer $130 to post a job, and $300 to access resumes. Job seekers were always able to search jobs and post resumes for free. Ringrose… Read more »
New businesses, where art thou?
Businesses usually sprout during recessions – when laid-off workers give entrepreneurship serious thought – but the volume of new businesses in Richmond seems to be declining. Richmond has issued 111 business licenses this year, a 29 percent drop from the first six weeks of 2008, when the city issued 157 licenses. Entrepreneurs are opening the… Read more »