Author: Lisa Martin

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Culture Living

In the bag: Pinnell Custom Leather’s timeless style

Chuck Pinnell’s personal style is evident in the leather bags and belts he crafts in his western Albemarle shop. Photo courtesy Pinnell Custom Leather

Chuck Pinnell found his calling right out of high school, when his love of art and crafting drew him to leather as a medium. After learning the trade in a harness shop in Colonial Williamsburg during the Bicentennial, he later moved to Middleburg to take over a tack repair business, mending saddles and other pieces for horse riders.

Pinnell faced a steep learning curve. Until then, he’d only joined pieces by hand. “They gave me a huge pile of horse blankets to repair and said, ‘Here is the sewing machine, and by the way it’s broken so you’ll have to fix it first,’ so I had to jump in the deep end,” recalls Pinnell, chuckling.

The tack shop’s client base was a boon for business, and Pinnell quickly found his footing, crafting pairs of chaps and half-chaps by the hundreds. Then, in the ’90s, ready-made versions changed the market. “I diversified into wallets and belts and other things,” he says, “and hired people to design and fabricate metal work as well.” After a stint in downtown Charlottesville in a space next to the C&O Restaurant, Pinnell and his wife Ginny moved the business out to quiet, pastoral western Albemarle.

“The shop was originally the Mechums River railroad depot used during the Civil War,” says Pinnell, “which was torn down in the 1930s and rebuilt out here as a peach packing facility.” Functioning as both home and workplace, the building features a beamed-ceiling showroom and a vast workshop filled with cutting tables, machines, tools, and the warm smell of leather. “We work with American alligator, lizard, snake skins, and of course cowhide,” says Pinnell. “We source from Italy, Germany, France—really, pulling resources from around the world.”

There’s no sign outside and Pinnell doesn’t advertise, but his work volume remains consistently high and current orders have a three-to-four-month lead time. He also repairs and restores leather goods. “I’ve got two guys who work here with me and two others who do the buckles and engraving work from home, and my wife does the books and the displays,” he says. Pinnell has a small studio where he photographs every project and files the images in thick binders for customers to browse for inspiration.

Each piece in the showroom invites customers to run their fingers over the supple leather, intricate patterns, and precise stitching. “Every project is unique,” says Pinnell, and his personal style is evident on the work bags, purses, belts, gun holsters, chaps, and watch bands that festoon the place. “Nowadays because of COVID-19, people are at home doing needlepoint and we are making a tremendous number of needlepoint bags and belts,” he says. “They send in their projects from around the country and we turn them into usable items.”

Pinnell’s projects take time and close attention—an ammunition bag might require 30 hours to complete, a pair of custom half-chaps with a cut-flower design and a column of fringe perhaps 40 hours. His prices reflect that labor, but customers keep returning for the care and quality of his craftsmanship. “I’d like to downsize but it’s not working,” he says with a grin.

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C-BIZ

Inside job: Charlottesville’s rosy employment outlook

Job fairs, like this one hosted by the Downtown Job Center, are a great way to see a lot of opportunities at once.

2020 will be a prosperous time for area job-seekers, says Juandiego Wade, coordinator of Albemarle County’s Career Center, thanks to a low 2.5 percent unemployment rate propelled by strong local business growth. “If you’re looking for a job and you have skills, you have buying power right now.”

But where to start? A job search can be a bewildering exercise—whether looking for a first job, a better job, or employment to make ends meet. Luckily, knowledgeable counselors in career resource centers abound in both the city and county, and they’re ready to help. “I might see someone here that just got out of prison after 12 years, or I might see a nurse who is completely stressed out from her job and needs a career change,” says Wade. “I encourage everyone to think about their transferable skills, and to learn to decode fancy job titles into what that job truly entails. People are often surprised by the range of options they have.”

The Career Center, Charlottesville’s Downtown Job Center, and Virginia Career Works all have dedicated staff who can help job seekers create and update resumes, draft cover letters, and participate in mock interviews. Wade walks candidates through several online search engines such as Monticello Avenue and Indeed to jumpstart the process, and advises them on how to self-promote. “You’ve got to develop good social skills and eye contact, and you should assess how your social media presence reflects on you, because employers will look at that.”

Local career counselors predict there will be plenty of opportunities for prospective employees, many at increased wage rates. “We are seeing a strong demand for health care workers, particularly certified nursing assistants, patient care assistants, and other critical positions,” says Tom Gillette, Virginia Career Works center manager, “as well as many openings in hotels, restaurants, and the catering business.” Prior expertise can come in handy as well. “Commercial drivers are in high demand, as are workers in skilled trades— electricians, pipe-fitters, HVAC technicians, and welders,” he says.

UVA, the area’s largest employer, increased its base hourly wage for all full-time and contract employees to $15 per hour in 2019, generating an uptick in pay rates county-wide as other employers vie for workers. Free or reduced-cost training courses such as Fast Forward at PVCC, Goodwill youth and adult programs, Job Corps, and the city’s Growing Opportunities program can set job seekers on a path to earn even higher wages.

“Over the last five years we’ve trained over 200 people into high-demand, mid-level jobs that pay a self-sufficient wage,” says Holli Lee, chief of workforce development strategies in Charlottesville’s Office of Economic Development. “Our flagship program is GO Driver, where we partner with Charlottesville Area Transit to train people to become bus drivers. We incorporate workplace readiness training into these programs as well, to teach soft skills like showing up to work on time and dealing with conflicts in a professional situation.”

The OED pushes available job notices out to anyone who has registered at the Job Center by posting on social media sites such as Facebook, and by handing out fliers in local neighborhoods. Lee says job fairs are a great way to see a lot of opportunities at once.

“We recently held a targeted hiring event for Aramark, who will be staffing six new restaurants in 5th Street Station over the next few months,” she says. “We had 100 people come through and fill out applications and do interviews, and 32 people were offered employment on the spot at wages starting at $11.40 per hour.”

In this job-rich environment, employers must up their game to compete. “We are inundated with companies offering retail and food service jobs right now and they just can’t find enough people,” says Lee. “I tell them, if you’re trying to pay someone only $9 per hour in this environment, good luck to you.” Lee notes that Tiger Fuel recently increased wages and added to their benefits package to try to stay competitive.

“My advice to employers is—adjust your old-school approach to getting new people,” says Gillette. “Be friendly (and maybe a little aggressive) in talking to potential candidates. And, once you have them, do everything you can to help them survive and succeed. For dissatisfied employees, there are plenty of other options.”

Senior-level employees are in demand as well, and networking is the key to finding those positions. Elizabeth Cromwell, CEO of Charlottesville’s Chamber of Commerce, says she’s noticed “a lot of fairly senior-level positions such as CFO and COO opening up lately, perhaps as more people are retiring or moving on into consulting gigs or more flexible options.” The Chamber enables connections through its website jobs board and social media. “Many sole proprietorships or small companies are able to leverage the networking opportunities at the Chamber to reach a larger audience.”

Carolyn Kalantari and Heather Newton, who coordinate UVA’s Dual Career program for accompanying partners of UVA new hires, recently launched Embark, a community resource that showcases highly skilled jobs and job-related events in Charlottesville. “It’s a shared platform that everybody can access, particularly those highly educated, mid-career professionals that local businesses are trying to find,” says Kalantari.

Newton notes that smaller firms, like startups moving to the next phase, are often growing quickly and need managers before they know it, and points to Embark’s collaboration with Suntribe Solar as a recent example. “We have a newsletter and Twitter feed on our website, and job boards with postings and information for both employees and employers,” says Newton. The pair encourage job seekers to think of networking in the broadest sense, where neighbors, friends, or fellow parents can provide informal connections.

Charlottesville’s OED also coordinates GO Connect, a modern networking conduit that organizes speakers and meet-ups for professionals in casual settings. “Even if you’re not looking right now, you should still be putting yourself out there,” says Lee. “The person you met a month ago might have some job leads for you.” Lee’s advice for both employers and employees: “Don’t be your own island—reach out and find what’s out there and how we can work together.”

Source: Virginia Employment Commission Charlottesville Community Profile, Dec. 2019.
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C-BIZ

Rock the house: Albemarle Countertop owner stays grounded

Photo Credit: John Robinson
Courtesy of Albemarle Countertop Company

An entrepreneur with deep roots in the local community, Albemarle Countertop Company’s founder and owner Wes Carter has set his business apart by forging connections and honing his craft.

After working for (and eventually running) his mother’s bathtub repair company at an early age, Carter became fascinated with stone and trained himself to become “a granite guy.” “I joined a brethren of stone workers called the Stone Fabricators Alliance, went to workshops across the country, and learned techniques to better cut and install countertops,” he says. “And now I teach them to the people who work for me.”

Carter opened ACC in 2003 and moved the business from Market Street to its current Hydraulic Road home in 2017, adding a new location in Crimora—Valley StoneWorks—in 2019. Surviving the lean recession years, the company continues to thrive by word of mouth because people love stone surfaces. “The lion’s share of what we do is kitchens and bathroom vanities,” says Carter, “but also quite a bit of fireplace surrounds, and sometimes even dining room tables. It’s a big deal to me that we do the best work we can, because people talk.”

While natural stone is closest to Carter’s heart, ACC sells lots of manmade, engineered stone composed of granite and quartz chips infused with resin and colored pigments. Though he could work through wholesalers such as Lowes or as a subcontractor for other remodelers, Carter prefers the direct approach. “The best model for us is to sell directly to customers because we’ve figured out how to work with people,” he says. “We have staff that can help, who are creative and patient, with an eye for design and great attention to detail.”

Leveraging that advantage, ACC is in the midst of an expansion of its Hydraulic Road shop, enlarging the showroom and adding finished vignette spaces and fullsize slabs of stone so customers can envision their project with more than just a small sample. Noting that Charlottesville land is mostly zoned for residential or commercial use, Carter laments that there are only small pockets in town where operations like his can fit in. “A maker needs an industrial space,” he says. “Where do all the businesses go that can make things instead of just having everyone buy things?”

Even as technological advances such as digital scanners and cutters have made the process of crafting countertops more efficient, Carter still relies on his connections with people, and a grassroots understanding of his own skill set, to succeed. “I think the one thing I’ve been able to innately do is to find good people to help me do all the things I can’t do, like bookkeeping, marketing, and selling,” he says. “Find great people and pay them well, and they do great things for us.”

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Magazines Weddings

I dos (not don’ts): Your guide to making the most of your hair trial

Top Knot Studio’s Erica Haskins advises: Always bring inspo to your hair trial. “With photos, we can get an idea of who you are,” she says. Photo: Amy Smith

A hair trial appointment in advance of your wedding day can ease your mind and assure that your look will be lovely and cohesive. You don’t have to know a bun from a chignon or a weave from a braid to make your trial a success—just follow these tips from the pros.

Choose a stylist who has experience. Inquire about specialists at salons and look at stylists’ websites to assess their technique. “Not every stylist can do wedding hair,” says Nicky Stewart, former stylist at Innovations for Hair on the Corner and a 25-year veteran of preparing brides to look their best. “It takes a lot of patience and creativity. It’s not just a matter of skills but also personality—you have to be able to handle the extra stress that comes with doing a wedding.”

Ask if the stylist offers a free consultation to see how you mesh and to discuss pricing before the trial. On the trial day, allow a couple of hours for the appointment and arrive with natural, un-styled hair.

Bring photos and accessories. Photos from Pinterest, Instagram, and bridal magazines will illustrate your hair vision for your stylist. “With photos, we can get an idea of who you are, your vibe, and what you’re looking for,” says Erica Haskins of Top Knot Studio. “A particular style usually will work but not always the way it looks in the picture, so I try to be really honest.”

“If a bride is undecided, we can start with a down style first and then pull it up,” says Stewart. Bring any flower, barrette, clip, or veil you wish to use to help the stylist work those accessories into the design, as well as your bridal gown—or a photo of it—to complete the picture. “Oftentimes the trial will run on the day you’re getting your dress fitted, so you can come to me first to do hair then go to your fitting.”

Know what you need. Decide in advance if the bridal party and mothers will be having their hair done as well, and whether you want your stylist on hand for hair and makeup touch-ups during the big day, both of which will increase the cost. Be flexible during the trial, but don’t hesitate to redirect if you’re not comfortable with a particular style. Once you’re satisfied, relax. “On the wedding day, my brides are calm and happy,” says Haskins. “They know they’ll look great.”

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C-BIZ

Shop ’til you drop: The enduring appeal of Barracks Road Shopping Center

Set in a field in the countryside far from the town’s population center, Barracks Road Shopping Center opened a handful of stores in 1959, anchored by a Kroger supermarket. Sixty years later, the center is the crown jewel of Charlottesville retail, hosting over 80 shops, restaurants, and experiences that attract customers from well beyond the city. Despite the robust growth of online buying, e-commerce accounts for only 11 percent of total U.S. retail spending. Turns out, people still like to shop till they drop.

In the mix

Photo: Stephen Barling

In competition with easy, cheap, ‘round-the-clock online shopping, how has Barracks Road stayed viable, and vital, in Charlottesville? It’s all in the mix, says Dierdre Johnson, VP of Asset Management for owner Federal Realty Investment Trust, as she lists key factors. “Location, an attractive mix of stores valued by the customers, best-in-class merchants in their category, and an amenitized environment,” she says. “We continually evolve with the customers.”

Catering to UVA students, tourists, and townies, Barracks Road hosts a collection of local, regional, and national merchants whose offerings span a range of appetites and budgets. “A person wanting a burger can find a drive-thru option at McDonald’s or a gourmet alternative at Zinburger,” says Johnson. “Fink’s Jewelers carries fine designer selections but Lou Lou has the latest trends for someone on a budget.” Merchant variety means efficiency for the busy shopper, and services such as a post office, Fedex, and dry cleaners allow for checking off lots of errands in one location.

Beyond variety and convenience, however, Barracks Road offers something less tangible and more affecting: an experience. “It’s a ‘lifestyle center’ type of shopping mall, similar to Short Pump Town Center in Richmond,” says Lindsey Sinozich, marketing director at Fink’s Jewelers. Outdoor seating, a fountain, and canopies welcome visitors, while recent fitness studio additions such as Zoom, Orange Theory, and Club Pilates mean that customers can do even more without driving all over town.

In stark contrast with the anonymous, sometimes uncertain online shopping environment, Barracks Road counts on the heightened experience of in-person buying to draw customers in.

“When you make a big purchase, you want to be treated like you’re making a big purchase,” says Sinozich, “so we emphasize having a knowledgeable staff and high level customer service.” Customers often “pre-shop” online and come into stores to try on clothing, shoes, and jewelry, or to get assistance in choosing something unique.

Home décor and gift shop Folly stocks items in a wide price range, including one-of-a-kind pieces like an artistic floral arrangement set in a 19th century French base and glass. “A lot of the things we have here you can’t buy online, or it would take a lot to find them online,” says co-owner Beth Ann Kallen. “For some of our more expensive items, you really want to see it in person.”

The place to be

Retail tenants are the lifeblood of any shopping center, and Barracks Road’s merchants are shrewd and experienced business owners. Lease rates for store space in the center are among the highest in Virginia, running over $30 per square foot plus a percentage of gross sales above certain levels, but shop owners say the “traffic” is worth every penny.

“We were initially in a space on West Main, but when we decided we wanted to really build our brand, we knew we needed increased visibility,” says Kallen. “The foot traffic here is huge, and parking is plentiful. We knew that the people shopping here were the customers we wanted to attract.”

Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith

The Happy Cook’s Monique Moshier, who has owned the store for 14 of its 41 years in the center, says she couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. “Barracks Road is so quintessentially Charlottesville,” she says. “This is the place to be for holiday shopping, and other times of year we have a lot of customers who need quick in and quick out. We’d never consider, say, the Downtown Mall because of the lack of parking there. People are not going to buy heavy, expensive cookware and schlep it to their cars.”

Oliva’s Robert Johnson is one of about a half-dozen independent owners in Barracks Road, and he remembers visiting the center as a boy from Nelson county. His upscale olive oil and balsamics shop is aimed at the center’s affluent, health-conscious shoppers, and Johnson says his customers are loyal.

“We draw from Lynchburg, Harrisonburg, and Culpeper, and we have lots of people coming through going to the airport, or waiting for someone with medical appointments at UVA,” he says. “Charlottesville has a very unique vibe, much more sophisticated than an average college town.”

On trend

Photo: Courtesy Barracks Road Shopping Center

Key to Barracks Road’s long-term success is the center’s efficient management by Federal Realty Investment Trust. “The only constant in retail is change,” says Johnson, “so it’s essential to adapt our offerings.” Federal keeps pace with trends, such as bringing in boutique fitness retailers and “healthy fast-casual” dining options, and adding short-term parking spaces for easy take-out dining.

“The thing I like most about Federal Realty is that they know how to run a shopping center,” says Moshier. “It’s a well-run organization, and from landscaping to snow and trash removal, it’s all done perfectly and on time. They decorate, run community events like the holiday parade, and help us with sales events.” The realty company launched a large-scale facelift for Barracks Road in 2011, just ahead of competitor Stonefield’s construction on Rt. 29, redoing its roofing, facades, columns, outdoor spaces, and more.

In the “clicks versus bricks” contest for shoppers’ dollars and hearts, Barracks Road merchants believe there will always be demand for the in-person experience. “Hopefully retail will never completely die out, because in the end, it’s something fun to do,” says Folly’s Kallen. “Let’s go shopping!”

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C-BIZ

Social experiment: TheSheLab cultivates connection

Photo: Heather Dodge Photography

Valeria McFarren and Lily West met five years ago when both moved to Charlottesville, bonding as they learned their way around town and raised young children as professional women with busy husbands. Even as they prospered, McFarren, founder and principal of communications firm Chaski Global, and West, chief operating officer of the UVA Alumni Association, realized they wanted something more. “We talked about building a community of women,” says West, “to explore how to navigate the personal and professional spheres in our lives and to honestly assess where we were in both.”

When McFarren hosted a dinner for a group of professional women in town for a Presidential Precinct event two years ago, she and West found themselves surrounded by a similar sentiment.

“These women had different backgrounds— some worked in business, some as policy advocates, some for nonprofits—but we all really yearned for deeper relationships with other women who were going through the same things,” says West. “We stayed late talking about how to balance family, how to build careers, how do our partners play into this, how does money factor in, and no one wanted to leave.”

The experience spurred the pair to action, and they convened a board of 13 founding members to launch a women’s growth network called TheSheLab in the fall of 2018. The name is inspired by the idea of a laboratory where ideas are formulating and the work is ongoing, and the group aims to serve women who are changing their communities in ways big and small.

“We’re starting here in Charlottesville, but we want to create an organization that has chapters in multiple cities and can replicate the types of relationships we’re trying to build,” West says.

Membership is free, and members receive a monthly newsletter keeping them informed about upcoming speakers and events and links to useful articles. TheSheLab hosts lunch and breakfast speakers at Common House, featuring women in diverse fields sharing their experiences and describing how they operate in their various spheres of influence. An October event panel included Christina Diiorio (of YayLunch!), Sarah Abubaker (of ReRunner), and Linnea White (of Darling Boutique and Boss Babes Cville) speaking about pursuing both personal and professional goals.

TheSheLab’s vision statement stresses “female empowerment and equality above all else,” and their approach forms a series of concentric circles. Women enrich themselves as individuals, then extend their impact to a group network, and finally head out to influence the world. “It’s about making connections to achieve balance,” says West.

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C-BIZ

Expanding technical education horizons: New director Stephanie Carter frames the future of CATEC

New CATEC director Stephanie Carter aims to help the larger community understand the value of technical learning and trade skills in the job market. / Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith

Each time Stephanie Carter searches for a skilled tradesperson to repair or rebuild something in her home, she’s reminded of why CATEC is important. “We know there’s a nationwide trend that shows trade skills on the decline,” she says, “even as there’s so much work that needs those skills.” In her new role as director of the Charlottesville Albemarle Technical Education Center, Carter aims to make technical learning barrier-free.

Jointly run by the city and county, CATEC offers a hands-on learning experience where high school students can take either morning or afternoon classes in technical tracks such as auto body repair, building trades, culinary arts, firefighting, and more, each pathway ending with a job-ready industry certification. “CATEC fills a niche for large, lab-based classes, so where it might be difficult for a high school to offer a lab where they repair cars, we’re able to offer that kind of space,” says Carter. Evening classes allow adult learners to retool or add skills as well.

After spending seven years coordinating career and technical education classes at Charlottesville High School and Buford Elementary, Carter has long understood the value of CATEC education, but knows that not everyone does. “We are constantly assessing the marketing and promotion of our programs, thinking about how we get folks to understand what it is that we do,” says Carter, who officially joined CATEC in July.

To that end, the school may offer ways for potential students to dip a toe in. “We’re working on an exploratory program so students can come and try things out, taking six weeks of engineering or agriculture, for example,” says Carter.

To further lower enrollment barriers, she plans to extend CATEC’s satellite program, established by her predecessor, which offers classes at local high schools so students can attend CATEC while not having to leave their regular school.

Eyeing today’s maker economy, which draws on both technical and traditional building skills, Carter sees a great opportunity to empower students to be able to start their own businesses.

“We could tap successful entrepreneurs in the community to come in and share their knowledge, to teach students how to leverage their trade skills into a really great career,” she says. “We may start informally this year in a club format, and I’d like to see us offer an entrepreneurship pathway, pulling in programs we already have running here.”

The combination of career education and high-schoolers is the sweet spot for Carter, who says the students are the best part of her job. “We emphasize the soft skills, like being professional, and the kids are really engaged when they’re here,” she says. “I know we can spark a fire in them and show them all of the possibilities in their career.”

Categories
Weddings

Photo opportunity: Eric Kelley is cultivating community through weddings

Photographer Eric Kelley’s side hustle, Referral.Network, helps connect couples to photographers. Photo courtesy Eric Kelley.

Eric Kelley graduated from UVA in 2006, founded his own photography business in 2008, and in 2018 was named one of the 40 best wedding photographers in the world by Harper’s Bazaar magazine. Kelley attributes his meteoric rise in part to the generous help of established photographers when he was just starting out.

“The biggest thing I’ve been trying to do since college is to cultivate community,” says Kelley. “My dad always told me, everybody should have a mentor and everybody should be a mentee to someone else.”

Toward that end, Kelley’s latest project is Referral.Network, an online community of photographers intended to create a more efficient market for their services. “I’m building a network of professionals who share their day-by-day availability,” he says. “So if I’m contacted about a job and I’m not available, I can easily find others who are, and who are in the right price range for the job, and who I can endorse and refer to the client.”

For a stressed-out bride or harried wedding planner, a reliable referral can be a godsend. “The client is happy that I could save them a bunch of time and a lot of emailing around to find a photographer for their event,” says Kelley, “and at the same time, I can quickly identify a friend or colleague who can do the job.”

Kelley is always mindful of wedding budgets, and although he charges an average of $30,000 for his own jobs these days, the professionals in his network span a range of prices. A suggested referral fee of 3-5 percent for a successful booking encourages more popular photographers to actively participate in the community.

“Very rarely does anybody have exactly the right amount of work,” he says, “and this network is meant to address that problem in a way that I don’t see happening with other apps or tools.”

With a broad social network to build from, including 26,000 followers on his personal Instagram alone, Kelley’s new service has taken off. “I did a soft launch in September [2018] and started with a network of 165 people,” he says. “At this point it’s 10 times that—1,670 people—and growing. I’m trying to build a scalable model here, and I see a lot of other businesses that could benefit from a service like this.”

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C-BIZ Uncategorized

Scoot Over: New mobility hits the road

Lime and Bird dockless electric scooters are now available in the city, and are designed to be eco-friendly, easy-to-use, and get you where you are going faster than by foot or by car in high traffic. Photo: Eze Amos

Smart-tech companies Lime and Bird introduced dockless electric scooters to Charlottesville late last year, as new “micromobility” options have swept in to urban areas nationwide. Forty-six percent of vehicle trips in the U.S. are under three miles, and scooters are fast, green alternatives to climbing into the car.

Smaller cities with university populations like Charlottesville are ideal for scooter travel because of the proximity of workplaces, residential areas, restaurants, and nightlife. A trip from the Corner to Sprint Pavilion is a 30-minute walk or 10 minutes by car, but it’s an eight-minute scooter ride, costing only a few dollars and avoiding the hassles of traffic and parking. The city introduced a pilot scooter program in December and residents have been quick adopters of the new technology.

“The scooters are getting a lot of use, much more than we expected, especially since the program launched in the middle of winter,” says Amanda Poncy, Charlottesville’s bike and pedestrian coordinator. Both Limes and Birds nationally average three to four rides per vehicle per day, but in Charlottesville that number is well above eight. Few accidents or acts of vandalism have been reported, which the city attributes to its controlled rollout of the program, announcing clear rules ahead of time and limiting the number of scooters deployed—100 each for Lime and Bird.

Eric Stumpf, who works at UVA and lives just off the Downtown Mall, began riding a Lime scooter to and from work most weekdays soon after they appeared on city streets. “It’s about $2 to $2.30 each way, and I can usually find one as soon as I leave the building,” says Stumpf. “In the mornings, they are reliably available in designated areas, like by the park.” Zipping past Main Street’s rush-hour traffic on a scooter is both time-efficient and cost-effective—an Uber would cost between $8 and $12 for the trip.

Riding is easy—download the app, find a scooter on the map, scan it with your phone, and take off. Helmets are recommended but not required, and riders must stick to roads and bike lanes, not sidewalks. Prices vary between cities, but here Lime charges $1.00 to unlock the scooter and 15 cents a minute for the trip. When deciding between a scooter and, say, an Uber, riders consider factors like weather, distance, whether they mind getting windblown, and how much they’re willing to spend. “I could take an Uber, which is more expensive, or the trolley, which is slower, but most days I enjoy the fresh air and the fun of the acceleration on the scooter,” says Stumpf.

Despite market optimism about the concept, the per-unit economics of dockless electric scooters are difficult. The vehicles cost $400 to $500 each and are expected to last only three to four months on the streets due to heavy use or losses from vandalism and theft. Bird and Lime pay subcontractors between $5 and $6.50 per scooter to retrieve them and charge their batteries during low-use hours (often overnight) and to relocate them to more visible areas of town, and to perform routine maintenance and repairs as needed.

Add in overhead costs such as credit card fees, marketing, insurance, and required payments to municipalities—both Lime and Bird pay Charlottesville a $500 application fee and $1 per day per scooter simply for the right to operate in the city—and scooter expenses often outstrip revenue on a per mile or per ride basis until the vehicle’s cost is fully depreciated.

Scooter companies expect some of these costs to go down with innovations such as swappable batteries and solar charging stations as well as better-built scooters, and industry competitors and collaborators seem undaunted. Uber plans to launch its own scooter line, powered by the 75 million Uber accounts already on smartphones, to offer scooters as another option in a menu of transportation choices. Autonomous vehicle startups are designing ways for scooters to move to charging stations at night by themselves, and Google is integrating Lime scooter locations into its maps app.

Stumpf, who has commuted by bicycle in New York City, is quite comfortable riding a scooter among lots of other vehicles. “There are two things you have to worry about,” he says. “One, doors from parked cards opening suddenly, and two, people crossing the streets not on crosswalks.” He says that when afternoon traffic is at a standstill and he’s moving in the bike lane, “if someone is crossing in the middle, darting between cars, you won’t see them until they pop out in front of you.”

Does the city need to up the number of available scooters? “No,” says Stumpf, “I’d say they should impose stricter penalties on those who abuse the rules,” such as leaving the scooters mid-sidewalk or on wheelchair access ramps. “Occasionally you’ll show up to the location on the map to find that the scooter is inside someone’s apartment,” he said. “That, to me, should be a one strike and you’re out situation.”

The last six months have been a learning process, says Jason Ness, the city’s business development manager, who has worked with UVA’s scooter program to coordinate “no go” zones where scooters are not allowed, such as the Lawn and the Downtown Mall. “Our job is to balance the needs of the private entities with those of residents and city government.”

“The fee money collected by the city is earmarked for additional pedestrian and bike infrastructure for things like signs to let people know where they can and can’t ride, and designated parking corrals to keep scooters in safe areas,” says Poncy.

Charlottesville’s scooter trial run ends in July when the program will be evaluated and city officials will decide whether to increase, decrease, or eliminate the vehicles. “We’ve been doing an online survey of both riders and non-riders to get feedback on the program and have gotten about 2,200 responses so far,” she says. “As you would expect, the people who ride really like it, and those who don’t ride are very skeptical. We honestly don’t know what’s going to happen.”

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C-BIZ

Small batch sustainability: Local makers think macro while staying micro

Nathan West co-founded Mad Hatter hot sauce “right on the cusp of the local food movement.” Photo: Amy and Jackson Smith

Producers of handmade or uniquely sourced goods often start with an idea, a shoestring budget, and word-of-mouth buzz to launch their dream. Whether scaling up or staying small, here are three who have made it work.

Stephanie Williams started La Vache Microcreamery, her gourmet caramel enterprise, after the ‘08 downturn temporarily dried up her architecture business. Amping up a family favorite recipe with high-end ingredients like brown rice syrup and grass-fed cream, plus flavor varieties like citrus, lavender, and salt, Williams first offered her candies at City Market. “They went like hotcakes,” she says, and her patrons spread the word.

Williams can make a batch of 208 caramels, including hand-wrapping, in about 90 minutes in her certified home kitchen, and distribution is all by mail. Marketing is not her strong suit, she says, but the confection sells itself. One order of wedding-favor caramels (graced with custom-printed labels) generates dozens of new customers, and her product is now in gift shops and gourmet stores across six states. With a strong word-of-mouth network, “I’m as busy as I want to be,” she says.

Mad Hatter hot sauce’s inventors made the original concoction of spicy peppers and extra-virgin olive oil in a Vitamix and gave away the chunky “supercondiment” to friends in 8-ounce Mason jars. After securing FDA approval, their first buyer was Market Street Market in 2013. It was “right on the cusp of the local food movement,” says co-founder Nathan West. “We call it farm to bottle.” With help from UVA’s iLab incubator, which gave the fledgling company space to work, grant money, and marketing strategies, Mad Hatter vaulted into Whole Foods Market as part of its local products promotion.

In the early, lean years, the company produced batches of sauce at local restaurants during off-hours, and still barters around town for cold storage for hundreds of pounds of Red Savina peppers, grown locally at Bellair Farm. “Now we have a ‘just-in-time’ manufacturing facility in Free Union to produce orders as they come in,” says West. Next up, Mad Hatter is ready to bring its brand, which “represents a healthy lifestyle with an edge,” nationwide.

NorthShea co-founder Charity Malia Dinko moved to the U.S. from Ghana nine years ago, and recalls that even her McDonald’s job wages gave her a leg up. “I was better off than the people I left behind,” she says, “so I started the business to help the mothers and children.” Dinko began importing the shea butter that Ghanaian women painstakingly extract from the kernel of the shea nut, and created scented varieties to sell as body butter in the U.S., providing better wages to the workers back home.

Now selling its products online and in local boutiques, NorthShea’s next challenge is to provide equipment to ease the labor-intensive processing in Ghana, and to market the raw shea butter to artisans in the U.S., making a small but powerful difference in Dinko’s native land.