The Business Break-Down

The Effect of Town & Country Crossing Vacancies After Four Years

New owner Ramco-Gershenson, Inc. wants the shopping plaza to be a night time destination, not just another neighborhood strip mall.

Town & Country Crossing has struggled to find retailers after opening more than four years ago. The plaza has space for 310,000 square feet of shopping--up to 44 stores and restaurants. Only 29 shops, restaurants and a bank are currently open. In December 2011, the complex was purchased by Michigan-based Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust for a reported $37.8 million. (Read Previous Story: Town and Country Crossing Shopping Center Sold) Representatives of Ramco-Gershenson are optimistic that they can turn the center into a “lifestyle destination” for evening entertainment, as well as unique daytime shopping experiences. They plan to court national chains at a Vegas convention in June. “We’ll sit down with a universe of tenants who like to …

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Facebook Connects Businesses with Employees

More Facebook users, including those in Town and Country and Manchester, are turning to their social network to find jobs or help their companies recruit workers.

Some people may dismiss Facebook as an idle chat room for teens, but according to recent statistics, the average Facebook user is 33, with over half of all users over the age of 35. Facebook is growing up and people are now turning to the social networking site for more than just gossip and photo sharing. They’re using it for business. A recent post by Facebook user Jennifer Labit asked her 12,218 followers if they knew of a person she was looking for, a man that used to manage a now closed Starbucks. She had a name, but no contact information. She also had a job she wanted to offer him, if she could just find him. Labit is the owner of Cotton Babies, a St. Louis company that’s an industry leader in cloth diapers and green baby products. …

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The Business Break-Down

Black Friday is Sooner Than You Think

The biggest shopping day of the holiday season will start at midnight after Thanksgiving this year.

Black Friday has become the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season and according to urban myth, it’s also the day when retailers start to show a profit. Whether or not that’s true, the day after Thanksgiving has been the biggest shopping day before Christmas for the last eight years, according to ShopperTrak, a market research company. ShopperTrak’s research shows that Americans spent $10.69 billion dollars on Black Friday 2010—the largest amount spent on a day after Thanksgiving holiday shopping spree. ShopperTrak said the second biggest shopping day is known as Super Saturday, which this year falls on December 17, the last Saturday before the Christmas weekend. Retailers have already started on their holiday displays, part of …

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