Tag Archives: Tampa Bay Times

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Stores like Bass Pro Shops and Restoration Hardware add restaurants and bars

By Justine Griffin for the Tampa Bay Times

bass pro

How about a glass of wine to celebrate the $11,230 purchase of a Parisian burnham leather recliner from Restoration Hardware?

 At the new Restoration Hardware store opening in International Plaza this fall, shoppers won’t have to go farther than the three-story retailer’s rooftop garden bar for some wine and hors d’oeuvres. Tampa is among the first cities in the country to get a Restoration Hardware gallery store concept, which is currently under construction next to the Capital Grille at Bay Street. When it opens in November, Restoration Hardware will be one of several retail chains in the Tampa Bay area that let customers eat and drink where they shop — a trend that has been revived by names like Nordstrom, Bass Pro Shops, IKEA and others in recent years in an effort to give shoppers more reasons to come to brick and mortar stores.
The basic proxy is that the longer you keep people in the store, the more stuff they’re going to buy,” said Steve Kirn, executive director of the David F. Miller Retailing Education and Research Center at the University of Florida. “They want you to linger longer and take in the sights, tastes and smells you’re not going to get from an LED screen if you’re shopping online.”
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Publix among companies challenged to retain millennial workers

By Justine Griffin for the Tampa Bay Times

publix

For years, Publix Super Markets captured accolade after accolade for being one of the best places to work in the United States.

After all, the Lakeland-based grocery chain makes a contribution to each employee’s retirement account in the form of Publix stock every year. With more than 177,000 employees in six states, nearly 10,000 have worked for the company for 20 years or more, which is significant for a company of its size. Publix keeps a running, competitive list of the top 200 employees with at least 40 years logged with the company.

But like many other companies, Publix is struggling to come up with new ways to keep the millennial generation engaged — and employed for the longer term.

“Millennials lived through the economic crisis in 2007 and beyond. They saw their parents and other family members get laid off, so their perception of loyalty is very different,” said Moez Limayem, dean of the University of South Florida’s Muma College of Business. “They expect companies to keep them engaged, and if they’re not getting that, they’ll leave.”

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Teen apparel companies struggle to compete with low prices, fickle tastes

By Justine Griffin for the Tampa Bay Times

forever 21

Selling clothes and accessories to teenagers changes as quickly as a Snapchat message disappears.

Brand names come and go as the next hip chain emerges. Other retailers fall when they fail to keep up with the fast-paced nature of what’s trending with today’s selfie-taking youth.

H&M, a Swedish international apparel brand known for its discount prices on trendy clothing for young men and women, is one of the most popular brands to open in recent years, with stores in nearly every major mall in the Tampa Bay region.

A new wave of fresh teen-centric brands is lining up to take over the spaces of those that sputtered out before them.

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A good cup of joe wasn’t always easy to find in the Tampa Bay area.

By Justine Griffin for the Tampa Bay Times

buddy

A good cup of joe wasn’t always easy to find in the Tampa Bay area.

Take it from Billy Hutchings, a self-proclaimed coffee connoisseur. He has traveled all over the country for work and always stops to sample the local espresso.

“If you see a roaster in-house, that’s a telltale sign the coffee is going to be better than Starbucks,” Hutchings said Thursday from a couch inside Buddy Brew Coffee on Kennedy Boulevard in Tampa. “It’s all about the appreciation of the craft. The people here are taking the time to make this special cup for us.”

Similar to the craft beer movement that has exploded in Tampa Bay, locally roasted coffee is on the up-and-up. The people here demand a better cup of coffee, and they’re willing to go out of their way to find it.

“Coffee has its own culture now. Starbucks was so 2005. This next generation — the millennials — want their own identity when it comes to coffee,” said Brian Connors of Connors Davis Hospitality, a global food and beverage consulting firm in Fort Lauderdale. “Similar to wine, coffee nerds appreciate the taste. And they want their money to go back into a community they feel a part of.”

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Coffee company awarded spot at Tampa airport has history of financial troubles

coffee

By Justine Griffin for the Tampa Bay Times

Today, Herb Colvin runs a coffee stand inside a Hills­borough County Public Schools building, sells organic teas and coffees at farmers markets and other locales, and has a record of financial problems, including federal and state tax liens, evictions, a foreclosure and a bankruptcy.

By 2017, Colvin will have a $1.3 million stake in the restaurant operations of the $953 million renovation of Tampa International Airport. His Bay Coffee & Tea Company is the minority partner in one of the 11 concessionaire groups that won highly sought-after spots to sell food and goods at the airport.

A Dun & Bradstreet credit evaluation of Bay Coffee puts it in a ”higher risk” category for making late payments and suggests a credit limit of $20,000. The report was provided to the Tampa Bay Times by an airport consultant who works with another Tampa concessionaire, George Tinsley Sr. Tinsley lost a bid for a spot in TIA’s concessions lineup and has filed a protest regarding the win by Colvin and his partner.

Colvin and his partner scored a 91.3 out of 100 for their proposal, the highest bid in their group by 6.4 points based on the overall concept, layout, experience, business plan and the potential to generate revenue for the airport. But an airport spokeswoman acknowledged that officials there did not conduct any analysis of Colvin’s finances.

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