Sunday, December 14, 2008
Chocolate shop to open
Jenny Kincaid Boone
Jenny reports on the latest news on the Roanoke Valley retail industry.
Recent stories
A local chocolatemaker is moving her homegrown enterprise to its own sweet spot.
Bayla Sussman plans to open Baylee's Best Chocolates at West Village, a retail center in Southwest Roanoke County. The 765-square-foot retail space, near the Daily Grind, is in renovation mode.
Within the next week, its glass cases will be packed with truffles, pretzel pops, s'mores candies and other chocolate creations.
Sussman, an Illinois native, got her start in the candy business after she moved to the Roanoke Valley in 1996. She enjoyed baking, and while experimenting with chocolate, she made truffles for a friend who was hosting an open house at her Roanoke shop.
The candies were a hit, and Sussman's business blossomed.
She turned the kitchen of her Southwest Roanoke County home into a candymaking workshop, where she began concocting a variety of sweet treats.
Sussman also began building a base of requests from local retailers who place orders for her candy.
All along, Sussman figured that she'd let the business take itself where it wanted to go. But as requests for her chocolate treats grew, her desire to move the enterprise out of her kitchen led her to West Village.
"It's gotten to be so much at home, you never get away from it," Sussman said.
Also, she wanted to be able to hire employees to help her fill a growing bulk of orders.
Inside the cozy shop, where Sussman and her husband, Michael Bonney, are investing about $100,000 in renovations and equipment, there is a front retail area. A large window in the middle of the space reveals the kitchen where Sussman will do her work. The back area houses a cold room for refrigeration.
At her new shop, Sussman plans to sell her pretzel pops, s'mores, truffles in a variety of flavors including chai tea and thai lime, and chocolate bars layered with marshmallow. She's experimenting with other chocolate candies to sell.
Some items will be prepackaged while others will not.
Despite a slowdown for much of the retail industry because of the poor economy, Sussman said the chocolate business has staying power. It's the kind of treat "that does well," even when people are watching their budgets, she said.
"If it's a bad day, people can still afford a couple of bucks to get something that's really good," Sussman said.
Beltone to expand into former Domino's space
Beltone Audiology & Hearing Aid Center in Roanoke is growing.
The business that evaluates customers for hearing aids and sells and services the devices is expanding into a space that formerly housed a Domino's Pizza. The structure, which the company already owns, is adjacent to its current headquarters on Elm Avenue in Southeast Roanoke. Also under construction is a connector between the two buildings that will house administrative offices.
The renovations should be complete by May, said Carl McCurdy, who co-owns the business with his son, Kevin. They estimate that the project is costing several hundred thousand dollars.
Once the expansion is complete, Beltone's office will measure about 7,000 square feet, which is nearly triple its current size, said Carl McCurdy.
The growth is much needed, given the swelling population of baby boomers nationally. This generation commonly is in need of hearing aids, he said.
The Roanoke Beltone headquarters covers a 52-county area, which includes seven offices throughout central and Southwest Virginia.
Restaurant delivery service launches
Ordering takeout food from some Southwest Roanoke and Roanoke County restaurants has become a little easier. Dine on Time, a new restaurant delivery service that primarily takes orders online, launched earlier this month.
Father-and-son team Jeff and Mark Spar are heading up the operation. They started it soon after a longtime restaurant delivery company, Gourmet to Go, shuttered its business last month, according to the Spars. The owners of Gourmet to Go could not be reached for comment about why they closed the business. The business' main phone number has been disconnected.
Mark Spar, who formerly worked for Gourmet to Go, said he wanted to restart a similar delivery service.
Here's how it works: Consumers contact Dine on Time to order food from certain area restaurants. Employees for Dine on Time pick up the order at the eatery and deliver it to customers' homes.
The Spars are charging a $3.99 delivery fee for most of the restaurants that they serve, including Fork in the Alley and Ragazzi's. The delivery fee is $2.49 for orders at Frank's on Brambleton and at Frank's Pizza & Subs at the Hunting Hills Plaza.
The Spars hope to expand Dine on Time's network of restaurants by early next year. By Tuesday, the company's Web site will include menus from its participating restaurants.
Customers can place orders online, at www.dineontime.net. Telephone orders also are accepted.
News from the Storefront blog at blogs.roanoke.com/storefront/
- Comment on what you think of Ukrop's financial troubles in Roanoke.
- Want your gift to reach its destination by Christmas? Find out the deadlines for shipping holiday packages.
- Fink's Jewelers is selling jewelry online.
