Tag: barracks road shopping center

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News

In brief: Masked up, KKK attacks, and more

Masked up

On May 26, Governor Ralph Northam declared that all Virginians 10 years and older must wear masks while in public indoor spaces, including retail stores, buses, and restaurants (when you’re not eating, of course).

Some have wondered how business owners would enforce such a rule with recalcitrant customers, and Tobey’s Pawn Shop owner Tobey Bouch, along with Charlottesville radio host Rob Schilling, filed a lawsuit over the mandate on June 1, claiming that masks are illegal in Virginia. But most local business owners say the directive has not been a problem.

At Corner sportswear staple Mincer’s, more than 90 percent of shoppers are wearing face coverings, says company V.P. Calvin Mincer.

“I would say a couple I’ve seen come in just with no mask. But we don’t really want to fight with them about it, so we just assume they might have some sort of medical condition.”

A few doors down at Bodo’s, the bagel chain has set up a table in its patio area for customers to order and pick up food without having to go inside. And though masks are not required outside, most customers have been wearing them, an employee says.

In Barracks Road Shopping Center, The Happy Cook has also not had any problems enforcing the rule.

“I was uncertain if there would be any sort of pushback…but honestly almost everybody who comes in has had a mask with them and already on,” says owner Monique Moshier. “We do have a thing posted on the window for people to give us a call if they don’t have one with them and we give them a mask…[But] we’ve only had to use those a couple of times, and it’s mostly just been that somebody ran out of their car without grabbing their mask.”

As for the many other businesses around Charlottesville, the Downtown Business Association’s Susan Payne says that, while it is not able to force businesses to follow the mandate, she has yet to see an establishment that’s not complying.

Charlottesville radio host Rob Schilling filed a lawsuit over Governor Northam’s mask mandate, claiming face coverings are illegal in Virginia.

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Quote of the Week

“Put your bodies on the line. Our bodies are on the line every day. America has been one long lynching for black people.”

—UVA Politics professor Larycia Hawkins, speaking at the June 7 Black Lives Matter march

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Richardson review

City Council gathered (virtually) on June 8 for a closed meeting, to discuss City Manager Tarron Richardson’s job performance and the legal state of the Confederate statues. Richardson has had a contentious relationship with council, which he’s accused of “meddling” in his operations. Even by the glacial standards of municipal government, this meeting was a doozy—it lasted five hours, according to The Daily Progress.

KKK attack

In a disturbing echo of Heather Heyer’s murder, Harry H. Rogers, a Ku Klux Klan leader, drove his car through a crowd of protesters in Richmond on June 7, injuring one person. Rogers was arrested and faces multiple charges. More than a dozen such vehicle attacks, a terrorist tactic increasingly used by white supremacists, have been committed against Black Lives Matter protesters over the past two weeks, including several in which police were at the wheel.   

Bug off

As if this spring didn’t feel apocalyptic enough, here come billions of bugs. After nearly two decades of life underground, hordes of buzzing, whining cicadas are beginning to tunnel out into the fresh air. The 17-year cicadas will be especially plentiful in western Virginia, where less development has left their tree habitats intact.

Eviction halt

As unemployment climbs past 10 percent, Virginia has halted all eviction proceedings through June 28, a move that many activists had called for in recent months. Governor Ralph Northam’s administration says it is working on a relief program for families facing housing insecurity from the pandemic and its associated economic downturn.

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Coronavirus News

We are open: Local retailers adapt to stay afloat

Owner Amanda Stevens says Shenanigans has seen a rise in sales of puzzles, arts and crafts, games, and outdoor toys in recent weeks. PC: Eric Kelley

In recent weeks, multiple local retailers, from Oyster House Antiques to Angelo Jewelers, have been forced to shut their doors due to Virginia’s stay-at-home order. But others are adopting contactless business models, and customers are still streaming in.

Shenanigans Toys & Games, on West Main Street, has made the transition to online shopping. Customers can peruse items on the store’s website, then place their orders online, over the phone, or through social media. To encourage people to shop locally, the store offers free delivery for Charlottesville and Albemarle County residents, and contactless curbside pick-up for all customers, says owner Amanda Stevens.

“There’s an expense to offering free delivery, and that’s something that I’m taking on in an effort to keep my customers with me [and] get by,” says Stevens. The store’s seen a rise in sales of puzzles, arts and crafts, games, and outdoor toys. Stevens also hasn’t had to lay off any employees—instead, she’s hired several more to help with deliveries. 

“I’m blown away by the community support,” she says. “I’m so thankful to be a small business in Charlottesville, where people care about trying to make sure that we’re here when this is all said and done.”

Longtime sportswear staple Mincer’s, at The Shops at Stonefield and on the Corner, has also gone online, and offers free shipping for customers who spend $10 or more. For those who live within a couple hundred miles of the store, purchases generally arrive in a day, says owner Mark Mincer.

Unfortunately, the store laid off some of its staff, because business has had “a huge drop off from what we normally do,” says Mincer. The handful of people currently on staff make sure to stay in separate rooms, as they work on shipping orders, among other daily tasks. Like Shenanigans, Mincer’s has seen a big uptick in jigsaw puzzle orders, and is now sold out until next month. 

“It’s not going great. It’s not going terribly. But it’s going,” says Mincer. “I think things are going to get better at some point…we are trying to get one of those PPP loans from the government to try to help pay the hourly employees, especially the one who are not able to work.”

“There’s [also] been some talk about possibly delaying the collection of sales tax, payroll tax, or income tax,” he adds. “If any of those due dates are postponed…it’ll definitely help.”

While relying mainly on website and phone orders, The Happy Cook, in Barracks Road Shopping Center, is allowing customers to make in-store purchases, but in a limited capacity.

“We are allowing ourselves to be open for intentional shopping. If people call in advance and know exactly what they’re looking for, they [can] come in, make sure that is what they want, pay, and leave, so that we aren’t having interaction with them,” says owner Monique Moshier.  “We’re normally seeing…in total for a day, maybe 10 people [do this].”

For customers who don’t need to come into the store, The Happy Cook offers curbside pick-up, and free delivery for those within a 15 miles radius. It also posts no-cost daily cooking tutorials on Facebook, and streams one to two hour-long cooking classes per week with a professional chef ($20 per Zoom account). 

“From a business perspective, it’s just challenging all around…the revenue is sustainably diminished from a regular day. Every transaction probably takes three to four times more work than it used to,” says Moshier. “But it really has been so encouraging to feel like the Charlottesville community is recognizing that, and is really trying to get behind [local businesses]…customers are going out of their way to be like ‘Hey, I don’t necessarily need this today, but I’m not affected by this financially, so I am buying these things because I want to support you.’”

In order for area retailers to survive this difficult time, residents need to shop local as much as possible, not just now but long after the epidemic is over, says Elizabeth Cromwell, CEO of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce, which has been working to provide the business community with information on loans, grants, and other forms of relief.

“Everybody should look at a local organization first and see if they can fulfill your request,” says Cromwell. “And as major organizations like UVA, the city, and the county reopen in the coming months, we are certainly going to be advocating that [everyone] make a very specific effort to buy local wherever possible.”

Even when you aren’t able to get what you need from an area business, “leave a review for somewhere you have shopped with on Google, Yelp, or any social media platform,” adds Stevens. “Those reviews go such a long way.”

Correction 4/16: The original version of this story inaccurately stated that business at Shenanigans Toys & Games has been “booming.” While the store has seen a rise in sales for certain items, sales are down overall, and it is struggling with the added expenses of free delivery. 

To see who’s open and what they’re offering, check out these lists from the Charlottesville Chamber of Commerce.

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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!”

Categories
Living

Aromas Café to close at Barracks Road Shopping Center

Aromas Café owner Hassan Kaisoum will close the doors to his Barracks Road Shopping Center restaurant on October 14. Photo by Nick Strocchia

When Hassan Kaisoum was 11 years old, he lost both of his parents. Nearly homeless and roaming the streets of Morocco, someone handed him an eggplant, which he put on the stove and promptly burned. But he was hungry, so he sprinkled some vinegar on the scorched eggplant and ate it anyway—it tasted good, he says, because nothing tastes worse than hunger.

For the past 19 years, Kaisoum has been cooking more flavorful eggplant dishes (and baklava…and tagines…and schwarma…and other Mediterranean cuisine) at his restaurant, Aromas Café, which opened in 1998 in the Forest Street building at Fontaine Research Park on Fontaine Avenue and moved to the Barracks Road Shopping Center in 2007.

But Saturday, October 14, will be Aromas Café’s last day of service at Barracks Road.

Kaisoum says that when he was offered a spot in the shopping center in 2007, it seemed like the center wanted to bring in more small, locally owned businesses.

But currently, Barracks Road Shopping Center is home to a slew of chain restaurants: Burger King, McDonald’s, Zinburger, Zoe’s Kitchen, Brixx Wood Fired Pizza, b.good, Tara Thai, Panera Bread, Peter Chang’s China Grill. When Aromas closes, Hot Cakes will be the only locally owned non-chain restaurant in the shopping center.

The shopping center is owned by Federal Realty Investment Trust, a publicly traded company with a market value of more than $9 billion that owns 96 properties in what it calls “strategically metropolitan markets” in the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic, California and Florida. The company acquired Barracks Road Shopping Center in 1985.

C-VILLE reached out to the shopping center for a comment on the departure of their longtime tenant, but at time of publication, they hadn’t returned a phone call or an email.

Kaisoum says that he wasn’t chased out of the space; he’s leaving of his own will and has sold the remainder of his lease to the next restaurant that’ll occupy the space. He’s leaving Barracks Road, he says, to return to his roots.

Kaisoum’s favorite part of owning a restaurant is the relationship it allows him to have with the community—he knows many of his customers well and has seen them through soccer games (Aromas sponsors an adult amateur soccer team), graduations and weddings, births, deaths and much more. Many of his customers followed him from his Fontaine Avenue café to the location at Barracks Road, and he says they’re likely to follow him to the next spot, too.

For loyal Aromas customers who’ve carried the restaurant for just shy of two decades, Kaisoum has a message: “Thanks from my heart for your support. I’ll be here for you for another 10 years…just be patient for a few more weeks” to find out where that’ll be.

Enraptured by food

Rapture’s new chef, Jeremy Coleman, is the kind of person who lines a closet in his house with plastic and uses it to cure his own meats. “You know those black binder clips? I used those to clip the meat to coat hangers,” he says about making his own bacon.

Coleman, who arrived in town just a few months ago, has cooked for more than 20 years at various restaurants in Richmond, Williamsburg and in Pennsylvania. He took over Rapture’s Downtown Mall kitchen from Chris Humphreys, who is now chef and co-owner of Fellini’s at 200 Market St.

Coleman says he’s a seasonally minded chef who uses local ingredients (such as pork from Autumn Olive Farms) and locally made components (like MarieBette Cafe & Bakery’s challah rolls) whenever possible. He aims to think up a new dish every day and welcomes input from his kitchen staff. He also offers unexpected dishes—like a butternut squash “guacamole” made with roasted and smashed butternut squash instead of avocados.

Inspired by Mad Hatter, the Charlottesville-made condiment with locally grown habanero peppers, plus olive oil and pineapple that strikes “the happy medium between a generic chili seasoning and the vinegar-based extra hot sauce,” Coleman will cook a dinner on Monday, October 23, that will showcase Mad Hatter not as a condiment but as a sauce. The five courses, each of which will be paired with a Devils Backbone beer, include a tako poke made with octopus, pickled pumpkin, onion, scallions, sesame seeds and Mad Hatter sauce; a raviolo made with Mad Hatter pasta, braised Autumn Olive Farms pork and egg yolk; and ice cream with a Mad Hatter-dark chocolate magic shell and a coconut-white chocolate ganache.

In addition to creating a new menu each season, Coleman plans to cook more one-off dinners, one focused on sausage and another, likely next summer, focused on tomatoes. He wants to remind diners that Rapture is, and has been, more than a late night DJ and dance spot—it’s a restaurant focused on great food.

Open again

Parallel 38 is now open in its new location at 817 W. Main St. (best known as the former location of L’Etoile). We’ll have more details on the menu soon, but for now, we can assure you the labneh is on it.

Categories
News

Feelin’ the squeeze: Hundreds appeal new commercial tax assessments

Bob Archer says he’ll pretty much have to eat the $12,000 increase in property taxes because he can’t pass that on to his customers. Photo by John Robinson

No one likes paying taxes. And Charlottesville property owners who saw their commercial assessments go up 65 percent, 90 percent or 100 percent really don’t like it—and they’re letting the city know with a record number of appeals.

“Totally outrageous,” says Downtown Business Association of Charlottesville president Joan Fenton, who owns a “little bitty” parcel on Third Street where “there’s nothing you can do with it.” That .032-acre parcel went up 30 percent, the average commercial increase, compared with the 4 percent residential real estate bump.

A Water Street property Fenton owns went up 50 percent. “I appealed both,” she says.

Bob Archer has owned Bob’s Wheel Alignment on Market Street for 36 years, and says, “I’ve never seen a jump like this.” His assessment went up 65 percent—nearly $1 million. “That’s quite a jump,” he says. “I can’t raise my prices. I’ll have to absorb it.” Archer, too, is one of the appealers.

Keith Woodard owns a number of rental properties, including the cache of affordable housing he bought from Dogwood Properties in 2007, and says he’s submitted several appeals. “It’s upward pressure on rents for those with low incomes,” he says.

Management Services Corporation, which dominates the student housing rental market, saw staggering increases of 147 percent and 190 percent on two Corner area parcels, and its Preston Square Apartments jumped 83 percent and Cambridge Square Apartments soared 70 percent, according to vice chair Rick Jones. “Our increased tax is just under $400,000,” he says.

His point to the city: “Hey, if you have people’s assessments going up 68 percent, 90 percent, 100 percent—you’ve kind of messed up.”

Jones contends Management Services’ older rental properties are being assessed at the same capitalization rate as newer rentals like The Flats, which sold for $77.5 million in November and which doesn’t have the same maintenance expenses as the 50-year-old buildings he manages.

The cap rate is a ratio of sales price and net operating income. The city, says Jones, uses a cap rate of 6.25 percent, but for older properties, 8 percent might be more appropriate.

No one budgets for increases like that, says Jones, and with rentals, “You’re locked into a lease for a year.”

Jeff Davis is the city assessor taking the heat for the skyrocketing assessments. He worked for Albemarle County for around 30 years before moving to the city in December 2015. Davis brought in his former boss, Bruce Woodzell, former president of the International Association of Assessing Officers and a man who’s gotten his own share of flak in the county, to help with the commercial assessments and the 400 appeals.

And although Jones isn’t happy with the assessments, he is pleased to see Woodzell, a nationally known figure in the real estate valuation world, working for the city.

Davis explains the jump: “We had an overwhelming amount of sales evidence showing we were low on our assessments.”

He also says cap rates are low around Charlottesville, but says the city uses different rates for different types of properties. “We do give consideration, we do recognize older properties have greater expenses,” he says. “We do allow more for older properties.”

Says Davis, “This is not one size fits all.” At the same time, land values in Charlottesville are soaring. “It’s very expensive,” he says.

And while a lot of people are upset about the amount of the assessment increase, he says, “We have not heard people say, ‘My property is not worth that.’”

For those contesting their assessments, the first stop is Davis’ office. “If the appraiser is not able to satisfy them, they file an appeal form,” he says. His office will either affirm, reduce or, in some cases, increase the assessment, he says. If that still doesn’t placate the property owner, the next steps are the Board of Equalization and circuit court.

Management Services’ Jones sees a disturbing correlation between the spike in assessments and the city’s nearly $6 million surplus last year and $4.3 million surplus in 2015.

Not related, says Mayor Mike Signer. Last year’s surplus was 2 percent of the budget. “It was a reasonable surplus,” he says, and the city is required to spend it and close out the books for that fiscal year. “You don’t, like, stash the cash,” he says. Instead, the city put it into the capital budget, the Robert E. Lee statue fund and public safety employees’ salary increases.

Signer is aware of the sting of the increased tax bills, and he proposed lowering the property tax rate from 95 cents per $100 of value to 93 cents—a proposal that drew no support from his four fellow councilors.

“I’m principally interested in the effects of the cost of doing business for small businesses and medium-sized businesses,” he says. “The question is what you do as a policy when you have historic jumps.”

A 2-cent reduction in the tax rate would give back $1.4 million out of this year’s budget and means it would go up 5 percent rather than 6 percent, says Signer. “I think you could get that without too much pain,” he says, and give a “modest but significant amount back.”

For Jones, it’s all too much. “I wish there had been an assessor who said, ‘Wow, there’s a problem here, let’s raise rates gradually.’”

Rent forecast: Going up

The Flats

  • 2016 assessment: $38,509,000
  • 2017 increase: $73,864,600 or 92%

Preston Square Apartments

  • 2016 assessment: $2,784,300
  • 2017 increase: $5,157,400 or 85%

Bob’s Wheel Alignment

  • 2016 assessment: $1,440,200
  • 2017 increase: $2,381,634 or 65%

Barracks Road Shopping Center

  • 2016 assessment: $123,353,400
  • 2017 increase: $166,813,200 or 35%
Categories
News

Talking shop: Filling Stonefield vacancies is a priority

The new owner of The Shops at Stonefield, O’Connor Capital Partners, has developed shopping centers throughout the country, but Stonefield, its 19th retail property, is its first in Virginia. Staff photo

It was difficult to snag a parking space on a recent middle-of-the-day trip to The Shops at Stonefield—the upscale shopping center that houses Trader Joe’s and Regal Cinema and was recently acquired by a national development firm. Though the place was crowded with shoppers before New Year’s Eve, the new owners say filling the center’s vacancies will be an immediate challenge.

Currently, nine spaces—a total of 28,000 square feet—are vacant, according to O’Connor Capital Partners, which is based in Manhattan and has developed many retail centers, residential and office buildings, but never in Virginia. It purchased the shopping center from EDENS, a development firm headquartered in several major cities across the country.

“The plan is to bring in more key tenants that aren’t already represented in the market and that have made The Shops at Stonefield the preeminent retail destination in the region,” O’Connor Capital spokesperson Mitch Breindel said in a press release.

Keith Rosenfeld co-owns HotCakes, a full-service catering business with an eatery in the Barracks Road Shopping Center since 1992. In the age of the Internet and online stores such as Amazon that can deliver goods to your front door, he says it’s becoming increasingly difficult for retail storefronts to be profitable while competition increases.

“The pieces of the pie just keep getting sliced thinner and thinner for each individual store because there are so many new ones, yet rent and other expenses keep going up,” Rosenfeld says.

Though the new owners have expressed some concern about the number of vacancies at The Shops at Stonefield, he says shopping centers are built today in anticipation of making sales over the next 20 to 30 years, and “Charlottesville may well grow into it.”

And development itself is competitive. “If a developer does not ‘buy the dirt today,’ he risks losing it forever,” Rosenfeld says. “A competing firm may swoop in, buy and develop the site, and box that developer out of the market. It’s the landrush aspect of development.”

Is there room for more retail in Charlottesville? “Nobody knows, but everybody’s got an opinion,” he says. “There’s no question in my mind that we are over-restauranted. I would also argue that we’re over-supermarketed.”

High-end retailers, such as the Jared jewelry store opening at Stonefield, might be in the best position for the future, he says, because people generally don’t order wedding rings and other expensive jewelry online.

Developers will likely also continue renting to restaurants because they draw customers into shopping centers and provide a lifestyle element. Rosenfeld notes the number of eateries currently open at Stonefield—14 out of the 41 spaces listed on the shopping center’s website—make up about one-third of its total retail. The question he asks, though, is how many of those restaurants will survive the intense hyperlocal competition for diners.

The owner of Whimsies, a children’s clothing and toy store that recently relocated from Barracks Road to Stonefield, says she was wary of moving at first and had heard about insufficient parking and low customer turnouts at the latter shopping center. But now, patrons who are waiting to eat dinner or for a movie to start often enter her store to kill time.

“We recognize a lot of traffic from those things,” owner Jessie Wright says. “We’re very excited to be at Stonefield. It was a scary thing to do after 30 years of being in one spot. …We are happy with the decision and it has really helped us.”

Categories
News

Hungry bears on the move

No, not the bathroom for female bears. Warnings of bear sightings are posted at Mint Springs. Staff photo

A black bear near the Barracks Road Shopping Center created a frenzy June 21 as excited grocery shoppers caught a glimpse of the furry mammal behind Harris Teeter. The bear ventured toward a construction site off Arlington Boulevard and ran into the woods when police arrived.

Bear sightings this time of year are not unusual, says Bob Crickenberger, Albemarle director of parks & recreation, who has gotten about a half dozen reports of bears on hiking trails in 2016. “Their food supply is limited so they move in search of food, which means trash cans are an easy target,” he says. So are dumpsters, which the parks lock to discourage foraging.

Mint Springs Valley Park in Crozet gets the most sightings of county parks, followed by the more remote Patricia Ann Byrom Forest Preserve. As a safety precaution, bathroom doors at Mint Springs recently were posted with bear warnings.

Encounters with black bears are generally harmless, unless pets are not kept on leash. Crickenberger recalls one instance of a dog injured when it charged a bear, and he reminds residents that county regs require dogs to be on a leash.

And if you see cubs, he suggests, “I would back pedal.”