Does Carytown have a vacancy problem?

An unofficial count of the store fronts in Carytown: 142 occupied buildings, 22 vacant buildings. That makes for a total of 164 buildings, 22 of which are vacant. According to my trusty calculator, which I can’t seem to do without, that’s roughly a 13% vacancy rate.

Roll the cameras: Fox 35 killing cats

When local TV station WRLH Fox 35 hired an exterminator to kill feral cats in a back lot of its building, the local SPCA got wind and unleashed a save-the-kittens firestorm. Now the station is dealing with a far larger problem than a few alley cats: a PR snafu that has it looking like a cold-blooded cat killer.

Crime against businesses on the rise

A recent survey found that 74% of retailers believed that shoplifting incidents have increased in occurrence since 2006. Moreover, 85% of retailers said they thought they’d been victims of criminal enterprises in the past 12 months.

Big Biz

CT Scans ... are they over used?

Just like a kid with a new remote control car, doctors like to use their new toys. But sometimes when doctors own their practices, and when their new equipment costs hundreds of thousands of dollars,...
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Small Biz

Local scrap-booking company to appear in Martha Stewart Living

Do a Google search for Tabitha Geary and 37,900 hits come back. After clicking through eight pages worth of links and being confronted time and time again by the same face, it seems that there is no...
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Biz Blog

Which Richmond Starbucks might go?

Yesterday Starbucks said it is going to close 600 stores around the country. There are at least 10 in Richmond. Click here for a map. The company said it will close relatively new stores that have...
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Newsfeeds

7.03.08

Is Circuit City Headed for a Blowout? (Business Week)
Blockbuster's decision not to buy the retailer sent the stock tumbling. A Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing may be in the offing

Other Circuit City buyers expected (Times-Dispatch)
Investor Mark J. Wattles, president of Wattles Management LLC, said last week that he expected an announcement from a buyer by the end of this month.

Faces of Coal (Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine)
Mountain removal mining has been called the systematic genocide of Appalachia—with a barrage of alarming statistics to its credit. Almost 500 named mountains have been completely destroyed. Over 1,500 miles of streams have been buried with the resulting waste.
BizSense's take: Definitely a left-of-center tinge to the story, but an important read to learn about the true costs of the coal business.

Jobless rate rises in Virginia, area (Times-Dispatch)
Hard-hit Petersburg sees its rate increase by a full point to 7%

Va. law aims to help people on the verge of losing homes (Virginia-Pilot)
A change in state law Tuesday requires that lenders and mortgage-servicing companies send delinquent borrowers with high-interest loans the names of housing counselors who can provide foreclosure-prevention guidance.

Owners Wouldn't Quit for More Money (WSJ)
ven as they eye the U.S. economy worriedly and face tough challenges themselves, a majority of small-business owners said they're content to stick to what they're doing -- even if offered more money to work for someone else.

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Local Business Events

Greater Richmond Technology Council

Speaker: Jeffrey Lacker, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
7/9, noon
Jefferson Hotel
$75

Venture Forum's Luncheon

7/17 @11:30
Virginia Historical Society
$40