Guest Opinion: What women need (for retirement)

Retirement planning is even more crucial for women than for men. Although most women are married, 85 percent outlive their husbands and are alone during their last years.

Five of eight women rely on a husband's work records to receive their Social Security benefits. For almost three of eight, those benefits represent 90 percent of their total income. . And elderly women are twice as likely to be living in poverty as elderly men.

Capital One banks on March Madness

Thursday and Friday will be two of the least productive workdays of the year, as the NCAA tournament kicks off today, but one company is banking on that distraction. Capital One, the McLean-based banking corporation originally from Richmond, just signed a multi-year deal with the NCAA making them an “NCAA Official Corporate Champion.” The company withheld the financial specifics of their deal, but the designation is the highest marketing partnership offered by the NCAA. Only Coke and AT&T have partnerships at that level. This marks the second major college sports marketing push for Capital One, who also paid to have college football’s championship week dubbed “Capital One Bowl Week” in 2001. From the Washington Business Journal on the specifics of the deal: It includes marketing and promotional rights around the NCAA’s 88 Divisions, I, II and III men’s and women’s championship events. It also ...

Bus for party-goers may add UR loop

To the Bottom and Back, the free shuttle brainchild of Jim Porter and Sandy Appelman, is set to make its first route expansion. Porter and Appelman are in talks with the University of Richmond over possibly creating a route connecting Richmond’s downtown with the UR campus, according to a story in the student newspaper, The Collegian.

Goodbye Connecticut

The Indian has left the Diamond. Almost. The 2,400-pound sculpture that has peered over the Boulevard for more than two decades will be disassembled Saturday morning by Chesterfield-based Holiday Signs. Kyle Dillaman, an account executive with the company, said the statue breaks down into about five pieces that will be carried down individually by a crane and loaded onto a truck. From there it will be put into storage briefly until the new owners, Shockoe Bottom-based architecture firm Odell Associates, are ready to install it on the roof of their building. “We are going to take three or four guys out of our crew and some alternate help from the folks who purchased it will be there as well,” said Dillaman. Putting the statue back up will be a bit trickier than taking it down, he said. “It is a little more challenging because of the ...

Buz & Ned’s new spot

Buz & Ned’s Real BBQ is headed out west.

Guest Opinion: Move the Coliseum to the Boulevard

We’re back on the Coliseum debate merry-go-around. The Richmond Times-Dispatch posed this question March 7: "Should city renovate or build new facility?" Nope. And here’s why. The Coliseum is functionally obsolete. The dollars needed to rehab the facility still wouldn't allow it to be competitive, particularly with the John Paul Jones Arena on the UVA campus. Right now JPJ is eating the Coliseum's lunch by attracting the top tier concerts that used to come to the Coliseum. JPJ is new and has over 4,000 more seats than the Coliseum. What the Coliseum has going for it is that the land is valuable and that it sits next to the biotech park. The logical place to relocate the Coliseum to is the Boulevard, adjacent to or near the Diamond. Access would be just as easy as getting to the Diamond. There is an existing parking lot that can accommodate more than 2,000 cars and just might not require a parking deck. That, of course, would depend on scheduling, but for the most part there isn't a conflict with the Diamond from October to April. If the city can relocate its maintenance facility at a reasonable cost, there would be additional land available for parking. There is also the possibility of the Commonwealth either relocating its ABC warehouse/headquarters or providing the building to the city if the ABC stores are privatized,  thereby freeing up additional land.

Virginia foreclosure rate drops by 16 percent

Virginia’s foreclosure market was literally frozen in the month of February, according to an industry report released today.

Altria donates $1 million to VCU School of Education

The Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education has received a $1 million gift from Altria, the Richmond-based parent company of Philip Morris.

Euro market changes its name

The European Market at Meadow and Main streets is now Olio. Owner Jason Savedoff still owns the specialty food store that also has carryout and dine in eating. In addition to the name change, Olio also has a food cart located at the VCU campus.

Two new shops in Richmond coming soon

A couple of new shops are opening up soon in Richmond. Balance Bicycle at 312 Brook Road will be opening in April according to its website. The store is located near the intersection of Broad and Adams streets and will sell new bikes as well as build and repair bikes. Also cropping up is Sprout Market and Café at 1 N. Morris near VCU campus. The restaurant will serve carry out food with locally sourced ingredients. According to a message on its website, the owners previously operated All Star Market and Deli  on Lombardy Street but closed it to open Sprout. The market will also sell beer and wine. The location was previously Cuppa Tea, which closed last year but now sells tea online. BizSense wrote about them in June.

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