| Competitors force Blue Ridge Outdoors to take hike
Campers buying tents in the 1970s likely had a different shopping experience than those looking for them today. Before the Internet and massive discount retailers, locally owned outdoors stores had the edge as prime places to buy hiking, camping and other outdoor supplies. Today, bargains on outdoor gear abound online, from Internet retailers' Web sites to online auction business eBay. And a local outdoors retailer says it has fallen under the pressure of competing with this low-price-hunting game. Blue Ridge Outdoors, founded in 1977, closed its Roanoke and Blacksburg stores this week. The stores at Valley View Mall in Roanoke and on North Main Street in downtown Blacksburg sold apparel, shoes and equipment for hikers, boaters and other outdoor enthusiasts.
Marketsquare has new owners
Real estate developer Midland Atlantic has acquired Maysville Marketsquare, the 126,000-square-foot retail center located at 381 Market Square Drive.Purchased from Kimco Realty Corporation, the center is anchored by Kroger and also currently houses JC Pennye, Fashion Bug, Hallmark, RadioShack and GNC.Kimco Realty Corporation sold the property for $8.7 million, or approximately $69 per square foot.Midland Atlantic is planning capital improvements including building enhancements, parking lot improvements and landscaping.Maysville Marketsquare, built in 1993, currently has five spaces available for lease, ranging from 1,000 to 6,000 square feet."Kroger is a solid anchor to draw other permanent retailers to complement the strong lineup of existing national and regional tenants," said Dave Wik, director of acquisitions for Midland Atlantic, in a press release.
Emirates Group, Microsoft to set up Innovation Lab in Dubai
(MENAFN) Microsoft Corp. and Emirates Group said that they would set up an Innovation Lab in Dubai to develop products and services for the travel industry using Microsoft's technologies and tapping Emirates' expertise and experience in developing IT solutions for the aviation and travel industry, Gulf News reported.
Microsoft will work with Emirates experts in the Dubai Innovation Lab, which will be among the first of its kind for both companies in this field. The lab will enable Emirates' IT division, Mercator, to incubate and develop creative solutions for airline and travel customers around the world, including Emirates. Mercator's IT solutions are used by more than 50 airlines globally.
The lab will take Microsoft technologies and apply them to the development of new ways of doing things across all parts of the travel and aviation industry - from reservations and check-in to cargo and ground handling systems.
Letters, 1/24: Praise for auditor’s work
Having lived in Lincoln for most of my 70 years, I really appreciate the great job that our state auditor, Mike Foley, and his staff have done. So far, he and his staff have uncovered more irregularities than any other auditor in my memory. The latest, involving Wyuka Cemetery, obviously involved a significant effort on the part of his office. It appears that the problems were deep, which made them harder to find. I feel that this great opportunity for Foley was caused by our passage of term limits. I was less than favorably impressed by his service in the Legislature; however, that changed as soon as he was elected state auditor. Bruce Abernethy, Lincoln .
January 2008 - Posts
SAN DIEGO—A Univision satellite truck was waiting for me as I pulled up to a real-estate and loan office a dozen miles from the Mexican border. A sparse crowd—about 20 people—was schmoozing inside while the correspondent filmed a stand-up in Spanish next Read More... .
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You can smell the money as the frenzy over casino gambling builds in anticipation of Governor Deval Patrick's pivotal and likely endorsement shortly after Labor Day. As he does his final research, required reading for the governor - for the House speaker, for all of us - should be the new issue of Boston magazine, which is just hitting the streets. Irony drips off the page ... The attraction is obvious for the tiny tribe, all 1,460 members. But for the rest of us, the question is this: Does Massachusetts, which already extracts $700 a year from every man, woman, and child in the Commonwealth through our very efficient lottery, double what any other state does, really need even more gambling? Should the Commonwealth be in the business of encouraging its citizens to gamble ever more to support basic services? How much is enough? Globe. ____________________ Wampanoag head sees casino funds fulfilling basic needsHendrick promises to not be like MarshallThe new chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag expressed hope yesterday that revenue from a proposed casino in Middleborough would eventually raise the quality of life for all members of the Cape Cod-based tribe. "I hope we, as a council and a tribe, will put the funds into health and education, human services, and housing," Shawn W.
Hobbit movie a step closer
Because of the Writers Guild of America strike, no writer has been hired to adapt Tolkien's children's classic, though that process will be fast-tracked once the strike is resolved. Del Toro and Jackson will oversee The Hobbit's writing. The release of the first film is slated for 2010 and the second for 2011. The Hobbit, which Tolkien initially wrote for his children, was published in the UK in 1937 to wide acclaim. It centred on Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit who joins a group of dwarves and the wizard Gandalf on a quest to find the treasure of a dragon named Smaug. Tolkien went on to write "The Lord of the Rings" 17 years later Share this article What is this? .
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