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Dipping into their options: How officials lured hummus maker to Va.

Last week, local and state economic developers announced that Sabra Dipping Co. would open a $59 million hummus plant in Chesterfield in 2010. The deal required six months of work by state and local economic development groups and the right mix of incentives. But it was Sabra Dipping that made the first move. Sabra requested… Read more »

LandAmerica files for bankruptcy & sells underwriting units

Title insurer LandAmerica has filed for bankruptcy. Three of its underwriting units will be sold, the company said. The stock is trading at $.20 a share, down 80% from the close yesterday. Fidelity National Financial said it would buy LandAmerica’s underwriting units Lawyers Title Insurance Corp and United Capital Title Insurance Co for $139.4 million…. Read more »

RBS on CBS

RBS went on CBS news last night. Katie Couric is great. Just kidding, it was the local CBS 6 station. We were last on the station over the summer when we talked about a study comparing salaries of various college graduates. This time they came to our humble offices and asked me about how the… Read more »

Highwoods pitches plan to Shockoe Bottom

Planners of a proposed downtown ballpark development made a pitch to and fielded questions from residents and business owners Monday night at the Shockoe Bottom Neighborhood Association’s monthly meeting. “The area you are looking at for redevelopment is mostly parking lots. There really hasn’t been any significant development here since [tropical storm] Gaston,” said Highwoods… Read more »

The $135 stimulus check you already got

Richmond commuters got an unexpected holiday bonus: $135 in average fuel savings since July. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, vehicles in the Richmond metro area are driven an average of 29 miles on any given weekday, or 145 miles in a workweek. If local gas prices had remained at their July peak of… Read more »

Award show season; for Richmond businesses

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is accepting nominations for the Muse Award, which goes out annually to a creative business in Richmond. The deadline is March 12. According to the VMFA, the award honors Virginia companies whose unique and creative approaches to business challenge traditional thinking.

The Times-Dispatch’s Trifecta of Confusion

The whole user generation thing isn’t a great business plan for a newspaper company when users can slam your new product on the day of its launch. Yesterday Media General split the Times-Dispatch.com from InRich.com, and dozens of comment on the Times-Dispatch’s ridicules the layout and usability. Before Thursday, if you typed in www.timesdispatch.com, you… Read more »

Fasten your safety belt for more bumps, economist says

Economist Chris Varvares looked into a crystal ball yesterday and saw a stormy few quarters in our future. Varvares, who is president of Macroeconomic Advisors, told business leaders at a lunch event held by the Richmond Association of Business Economics that we are in a recession that will continue for at least the next two… Read more »

What do do with Circuit City’s 155 closed stores?

What’s going to happen to the 155 closed Circuit City stores? Best Buy already has better locations, as the business media are always pointing out. They were built for a specific user that sells electronics, and that makes them much harder to re-lease than a typical building. Big boxes, as they’re called, can also be… Read more »