Jenny Kincaid Boone covers retail and real estate.

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Jenny Kincaid Boone

Retail Roundup columns

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• Woolworth's space is being renovated in downtown Roanoke

The Storefront blog

• More from Jenny's blog

If you haven't visited www.roanoke.com lately, you've probably missed some important retail scoops in the past month.

Read excerpts below from the Storefront blog at blogs.roanoke.com/rtblogs/storefront.

Log on and check out the daily updates.

Name brands vanish from shelves: (Feb. 17)

Have you had any trouble lately finding your favorite name brand products or foods while grocery shopping?

Some retailers, including Walmart, Kroger and Target, want to simplify their grocery shelves, according to a story at CNNMoney.com. They are doing away with or considering getting rid of some name-brand items to make room for generic brands.

Increasingly, consumers have an appetite for lower-cost items, and to save money, many people are turning to store brands. So, stores are ridding shelves of the more expensive brands.

The categories that are likely to lose more name brands are food staples, household items and toiletries, the story said.

Similarly, poll results published in Progressive Grocer reveal that nearly two-thirds of Americans are buying more generic brands and finding other ways to trim their food budgets. Other money-saving strategies are packing lunch and using refillable water bottles, rather than buying plastic bottles, according to the poll.

Breakfast sales going down: (Feb. 23)

Retailers and economists believe that whether or not you stop for your usual sausage biscuit and coffee on your way to work in the mornings could be a signal of a larger economic trend.

Breakfast sales at some fast food chains, including McDonald's and Burger King, are suffering, and economists attribute this to soaring unemployment rates, according to The Washington Post. If fewer people are heading out the door to work in the mornings, fewer people are stopping for breakfast.

There's also the broader trend of people trying to save money. Many may be scarfing down a bagel and coffee at home, rather that pulling up to a fast-food drive-through.

Breakfast continues to be lucrative for many restaurants, and we've talked on the blog about the increasing number of breakfast deals at eateries.

Blog readers chimed in with examples of how they're skipping breakfast out by brewing their own coffee at home or choosing more healthy morning meal options.

Shula's restaurant delayed again (Feb. 26)

A new restaurant slated for Roanoke appears to be delayed once again.

Shula's 347 Grill was aiming to open in the first quarter of this year inside the Sheraton Hotel in Roanoke, off Hershberger Road.

But the grill's not open yet, and Shula's spokesman, Bill Herman, said its debut has been pushed back until the second or third quarter of this year. In an e-mail, he blamed construction delays for the restaurant's late coming.

The Shula's eatery originally was supposed to open in 2008, but the company has pushed back its opening date.

Still, Herman wrote to me recently, via e-mail, that, "This restaurant is moving forward, and we are excited about being in Roanoke."

Shula's is a Florida-based chain that operates several different kinds of restaurants. It was founded by legendary NFL coach Don Shula.

Some store and restaurant news:

n Petco, a pet supplies retail chain, opened its doors Feb. 22 at Towers Shopping Center in Roanoke (Feb. 20).

n Recent announcements of Sears and Kmart stores closing nationwide won't affect stores in the Roanoke and New River valleys (Feb. 26).

n Bojangles' new Southwest Roanoke County restaurant opened for business (March 2).