Baby come back.....

Sorry I have been on an unanounced hiatus for a while now, but it's hard to stay angry and topical when you have an 11 month old around the house.  But that Ol' man Venom won't stay quiet forever.

Case in point, today's article in the RT re: Ukrop's not seeing the growth they expected here.

Well, to be honest, no duh. When you have citizens walking around saying that "they would not shop there because they got OUR tax money." Or the ever present "they built it atop the stream, that can't be safe - so I'm not going to shop there."

Well Roanoke, it's your chance on the world stage - many retailers are watching what happens with Ukrop's to see if they would stand a chance at doing decent business here. 

As I recently told a Corporate visitor to Roanoke, never expect that anything that you do elsewhere will work here in Roanoke. Roanoke is it's own world - business wise. Which is not to say that you cannot do business in Roanoke. I explained the difference to him.

Ukrop's offers great deals on Local produce, great meat (which is raised for them alone, along with their chickens which are also sold to another local "fresh" supermarket, who charges you much more for the same product) and excellent product selection. I will tell you quite honestly, I split my shopping between Ukrops (for my produce and baked goods, baby food, chicken and occasional meat), Sam's Club (for things related to the baby, dry goods in bulk, cheapest milk, and other fun things, and Walmart for all the little items (stuff we need to get us from week to week without our monthly trip to Sam's). 

Ukrop's is taking it's time to get it's feet off the ground - but it's going, I am seeing more of my customers shopping over there lately. I feel the real blame lies on Painter Properties for not having an actual development plan, just speculative building. Much like Keagy Village, Ivy Market suffered from a group that knew enough to build in a location, but not enough to know that you have to have interest (in writing, legal yet non-binding and great for showing off who might be looking at your location to prospective parties) before you can build.

But that's typical of Roanoke. Look at the Colonial Green subdivision. Or Towers Mall itself. The stories I could tell you... 

Walgreens will open, the people will come. Ukrop's will gain business because customers only have to walk across a short parking lot to buy beer and wine - since that is one of the many excuses I hear NOT to shop there. 

"I'm not shopping where I can't buy beer."

"The store is too big."

"I cannot find anything."

Close-minded thinking, making excuses NOT to try something new, or even find the good in it. 

13 years to tear down a stadium, you are not going to show growth as quickly as you might think.