Wal-Mart doesn’t want to be singles bar
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I remember back in my school days (which are not so far back I had to walk three miles in the snow), we wouldn’t go back to school until after Labor Day. Now Bobby Ray students are going back in July. What’s that all about?
But since this isn’t the Education Pulse, I suppose I should concentrate my efforts on either business or foolishness. I’ll get to the foolishness in a moment but first I want to talk about a story which was reported earlier this month by the Canadian Press, which is Canada’s version of the Associated Press.
Yankees who depict Southerners as barefoot and toothless might find humor in this report, but I don’t find it amusing. The story indicated that Toyota was building a second plant in Ontario despite the fact Mississippi and Alabama tried to lure the automaker by offering massive tax breaks and incentives.
Ontario offered virtually no incentives, but still landed the plant because Toyota said their workforce was much more intelligent. A Toyota spokesman said rather bluntly that the workforce in the South was viewed as untrained and illiterate. Furthermore, the spokesman said trainers in Alabama had to use pictures instead of instructions to teach some workers the proper procedures.
Like I said, it’s not a particularly glowing report for all the hard-working families who are proud to call the South their home. But on to more amusing subjects, such as Wal-Mart.
The most popular retail store in the world has ordered one of its stores in Roanoke, Va., to put a stop to its Singles Shopping program. The newly adopted program had encouraged single men and women to shop at Wal-Mart on Friday night and place a red bow on their carts as an invitation to other singles.
In other words, they wanted Wal-Mart to become a singles bar without the alcohol and cigarette smoke. And I’m sure the intent was to create a heterosexual dating scene for men to meet women.
But if the Singles Shopping program was allowed to continue, I’m sure it would have only been a matter of time before purple ribbons appeared on carts to encourage men to meet men. And since Wal-Mart wants to corner the market on every possible avenue of income, it would have been a natural progression for the retail giant to begin opening gay and lesbian nightclubs.
Now I’m really getting carried away. The Singles Shopping program was innocent enough and even included “flirt pointers” at various sections of the store. Store officials figured if people had to resort to tying ribbons around their carts and coming to Wal-Mart, they could use a few pointers.
I’m not exactly sure what the flirt pointer cards said. I’m assuming they were more in-depth than, “You have beautiful eyes,” or “Hey baby, what’s your sign?”
Wal-Mart declined to comment on why the program was cancelled here. It is apparently a popular Wal-Mart program in Germany.
Jobs, jobs and more jobs have arrived
This last month has been like a dream come true. Well, not the kind of dream where you fly off to Hawaii for a two-week vacation, but the kind of dream where I finally get to write about good job-related news.
It seems like for years and years, I’ve been writing about jobs leaving town. And that’s something I simply don’t enjoy. It makes me grumpy and Cupcake doesn’t like it when I’m grumpy.
Last week, I had the privilege of writing about the successful job fair conducted by Superior Walls. This week, I get to tell you about an upcoming job fair for Morrison Tool and Fab.
The job fair takes place this coming Saturday, Aug. 6 and there are immediate openings for 60 to 70 people, according to Morrison Tool and Fab owner Ron Wilson. Available jobs include: welders, forklift drivers and assembly operators.
“These jobs are involved with our expansion, but these are jobs that are open now,” said Ron. “We don’t have to wait for the building to be complete.”
Groundbreaking took place last week for a 102,000-square-foot expansion that is expected to add some 100 jobs to the Morrison Tool and Fab workforce. When expansion is complete, the company plans to have around 250 employees.
The job fair will take place this Saturday from 8 to 11 a.m. at the spec building, which is located at 211 Progress Blvd. in the industrial park in Morrison. Ron said these are full-time jobs with benefits that will top out at $12 or $13 an hour.
“It’s not a job granny can do,” said Ron. “It’s work and that’s why there will be some testing going on for the people who get through the interview process.”
Barnes Home Repair ready to renovate
Three years ago, Jerry Barnes decided to leave Calsonic to turn his side job into his main job. That’s when he started Barnes Cleaning and Home Repair.
After three years of focusing on rental properties and foreclosures, Jerry has recently expanded his business to include home renovations. He specializes in interior and exterior painting, home repair and pressure washing. He can renovate a bathroom, install appliances and do minor plumbing and electrical work.
“We’ve been doing a lot of work for realtors and now we want to expand to include individual homeowners,” said Jerry. “We’ve been staying pretty covered up, and almost all of our business has come from word of mouth.”
Jerry’s wife, Christy, has joined him in the business. Some of you may remember Christy for the years she spent working for the Southern Standard. Jerry has already done all types of work. He says he’s repaired homes, “that cost anywhere from $1,000 to $500,000. The best part is meeting all the different types of people,” he added.
Jerry says he doesn’t regret giving up his factory job. He says he’s more than happy to work hard all day renovating houses.
“At the end of the day, I can stand back and see that I’ve done something,” said Jerry. “In a factory you just do the same thing every day.”
If you want to give Jerry a call for an estimate on your renovation work, his phone number is 409-0192.
McDonald’s gets tasty new look
Faithful McDonald’s patrons have no doubt realized the New Smithville Highway restaurant has closed its lobby while large-scale renovation work takes place. If you’re wondering what is being renovated, the answer is everything except the playground.
“We have gutted the whole inside,” said store owner Tim Funderburk. “This new store was built in 1996 and it had gotten kind of old and tired. We have put in higher quality furniture to make it more adult-minded.”
Tim says McDonald’s is in a sort of transition phase, and not with just its decor. The world’s most popular restaurant chain is trying to tweak its menu to offer more choices, and more healthy choices.
For example, Tim says the local McDonald’s has a new line of chicken sandwiches that includes three new crispy chicken sandwiches and three new grilled chicken sandwiches.
“We’re trying to put in products our customers have said they wanted,” said Tim. “And our new chicken sandwiches are out of this world.”
The McDonald’s lobby was scheduled to be reopened this weekend, but Tim says the renovation is far from complete. But he says it’s to the point where workers can work around all the customers.
Amplified Audio starts rockin’ new building
For 20 years, Amplified Audio has been located behind Gateway Tire on Pike Hill Road. When their new 8,000-square-foot building is complete, Amplified Audio will be located in front of Gateway Tire on New Smithville Highway.
Construction has recently started on the new showroom and owner J.C. Ware says he’d like to be in his new store by Christmas. It’s a two-story building that will more than triple their available space.
“We’re trying to make a nice store to keep people from running to Nashville so much,” said J.C., who owns Amplified Audio with his wife, Shirley. Their son, Kenneth Ware, is also an integral part of the business. “We have everything you need when it comes to car and home stereos. But the big thing people are going to now is the home theaters. We’re putting home theaters in new homes and we’ve even installed some in house boats. Some people spend a lot of money on them.”
I never realized Amplified Audio is like a mini Circuit City. And if they don’t have what you want in stock, they can order it. LCD and plasma TVs are two of the hottest selling items right now.
“People go to Nashville to shop at Best Buy or Circuit City, but they don’t realize that nine times out of 10 I can beat their price,” said Kenneth. “I’m more than happy to get on the Internet and show people what they would pay at those other places. We sell it just as cheap.”
Kenneth said he’s been working with local contractors to perform state-of-the-art wiring while the home is being built. He says the latest thing is to wire homes so the TV, computer and telephone can all be connected, which is technology that’s not too far in the future.
J.C. said that in addition to 20 years as the owner of Amplified Audio, he also spent 12 years in his current building as a Harley-Davidson dealer. With over three decades in one spot, J.C. says he’s anxious for a change.
“Back then, Harleys aren’t like they are now,” said J.C. “It used to be hard to sell a Harley.”
The phone number for Amplified Audio is 668-9108.
That’s all folks
If you want your business news reported in this column, just give me a call. I like to talk and am friendly for the most part. I especially enjoy reporting about any new business where I get something free.
My phone number is 473-2191. Or you can reach me by e-mail at editor@southernstandard.com.