We’ve added some extra thoughts and cleaned the article up. It’s now complete.
I just heard you say “RoadThoughts LIVE!? What the heck is that?”
SouthsideCentral’s got business out of town today. You’re coming along with me for the road trip. It’s RandomThoughts!, only more Random than ever. Here’s how it will work. I’ll be adding observations, thoughts, photos and who knows what throughout the day. I’ve got no idea what will come up or when it will come up, all you need to do is check in every so often and refresh the page for the latest content. It’s different. It’s RoadThoughts LIVE!… and it starts now!
9:00 AM – Road trips get much less fun when you think about gas prices. Walmart’s got their prepaid debit card deal where you can save 15 cents per gallon at the Murphy gas station if you use one of their cards. The promotion’s good at the Reidsville location (where NC gas taxes are way higher than VA’s) and not in Danville or South Boston. Nearest Virginia location that this deal is good for? Bedford. Wah wah.
10:30 AM – It’s always a tradition to say “What happened to Carolina Circle Mall?” Remember the Ice Chalet?
Hey, what better place to change your rear tires than the Walmart parking lot?
Sheesh. We’re heading to Beef Burger on Lee St. but I have a soft spot for thrift stores. Let’s check out the Salvation Army one on the way there.
Salvation Army. Where ugly furniture goes.
This is one bizarre thrift store. They’ve got bags of oyster crackers and cases of pureed apple baby food. Lots of them. I can’t explain it. Anyway, on to Beef Burger
It’s the Daily Special (that never changes no matter what day it is). It’s a Super Burger with fries and drink for $4.99. Get yours “double-dipped” in Beef Burger’s special sauce.
Folks, do not let Beef Burger’s looks or location stop you from eating there. Ralph Havis has been taking orders at the counter forever and I’ve never seen him not there.
2:20 PM – Begging for money at almost every intersection in Greensboro. I wonder how good it works. After typing that in, I’m hit up for money by two people in the parking lot. Ugh.
Target has fresh meat and it looks good?!
We’re at the multiple shopping center off of Wendover Ave near I-40. Just like Danville, Walmart has 94000 customers inside, and Target has 20. On the other side of the road, the Super K-Mart has 3 customers, if that. Again, just like Danville.
Happy Trails! to the Sports Authority store . I love the sign that says come shop at the Sports Authority store at Concord Mills. I’ve sure people drive straight there for that. We’re exploring more stores I’ve never been in out here today…
Hamrick’s? Overpriced “discount clothing”. Ollie’s? Just like Danville, it’s Big Lots Deluxe.
I lasted an entire 13 seconds at the “Christmas Tree Shops”. There are no Christmas Trees there, by the way.
And with the business done, time to relax. Bog Garden time.
Mama’s got one baby duckling with her.
This is at the far end of the Bog Garden circle. Totally amazing.
All righty, let’s close this day out by stopping by Reidsville for their monthly Cruise-In.
First stop, Cafe 99! And it’s packed… seriously packed. I don’t care. It’s worth the wait.
Reidsville’s Cafe 99’s renowned chicken salad croissant.
Over 2000 people here tonight. That’s an amazing turnout.
One of over 200 classic cars at Friday’s Reidsville Cruise-In.
Reidsville “Gets It”. They combine a Cruise-In with a “Reidsville Pops” concert with the awesome “Eric & The Chill Tones” and you get a night of free entertainment that can’t be beat.
Eric & The Chill Tones completely fill Reidsville’s Market Square. Danville’s “Fridays at the Crossing” could learn a lot from Reidsville.
Oh yeah…
It wouldn’t be a SouthsideCentral day if we didn’t catch a typo.
And that’s my RoadThoughts for this trip… More coming up on SouthsideCentral!
Carolina Circle didn’t even last 30 years did it?
Right around 20, I believe.
26 years I think
I really wish the powers that be would expand the food offerings at our Target. This would seem to me to be a good market for that because it’s not like there are a wealth of grocery options. The expanded Targets that have a bit of meat and a little produce have just enough to make them a credible store. Ideally I think they’d need to build a new entrance and take over the accessories store space (and build back) to do this, and I wouldn’t think that would be a huge problem. The accessories place could move to the other side of the hair salon and everybody would be happy.
2 things:
1. As to Target, I know from some time in commercial real estate….in a lot of Targets, they are built in large shopping complexes (like the one in Danville). A lot of the leases/agreements to build…have requirements that they can’t sale dairy or meat or veggies or some combination of the three. Why? Because a lot of those shopping complexes want to attract a full-service up scale grocer. Grocers won’t locate in the same area as Target if those Targets already have a full complement of groceries. I know that you’ll find a Target in Fredericksburg, VA and in Baltimore County, MD that are like the one in Danville…..they have groceries but not meat or produce. Now, if such a provision exists in the lease or agreement to build at the Danville Target, it would be confusing….as I don’t see anywhere around there that’s a large enough new parcel to build a full service grocery store.
2. Southside Central….your blog is really a refreshing blast. You’re one of the few who tell it like it is……and you’re willing to take the heat.
I certainly agree that it makes no sense for that language to be in the Target lease, at least now that things are developed to the extent they are. It could be a part of the standard lease the developer uses, though. Even in that case I would think it would be easy enough to make removing that restriction from the negotiation to gain the extra space.
According to the city’s GIS web site, Target owns their building. I would imagine they could do what they want.
They may still be restricted by covenants or other obligations. That said, I see no reason why they couldn’t be overcome.
My guess is that Target is rolling out expanded grocery on a profitability basis and either Danville isn’t profitable enough to expand or is down the list enough that it hasn’t happened yet.