by The Editors on September 17, 2008
BHY S&B Holdings LLC, the new owners of the bankrupt Steve & Barry’s chain of cheap sports clothing stores, has decided to close 103 of their 276 stores including the store in Carlsbad’s Plaza Camino Real (not that anyone will notice another empty retail space).
BHY S&B Holdings LLC, a newly formed investment consortium affiliated with Bay Harbour Management and York Capital Management, purchased the assets of Steve & Barry’s for $163 million. . . following the retailer’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection July 9.
Wish we could say we’ll miss that store, but truth is aside from an occasional trip to AT&T we never visit Plaza Camino Real because we’re scared.
[Link: Los Angeles Business]
by The Editors on September 17, 2008
Residents of Carlsbadistan’s exclusive Bressi Ranch are getting a brand new 44,000 square foot Stater Bros Market. And groundbreaking ceremonies went on today at 9:30 AM (sadly, we missed this photo op).
The NEW Stater Bros. Supermarket will be located at Bressi Village Shopping Center at the intersection of Gateway Road and El Fuerte St. in southeast Carlsbad. A Grand Opening Celebration for the new Bressi Ranch Stater Bros. Supermarket is scheduled for February 2009.
We won’t want to miss that celebration. If the market keeps going the way it’s headed today we’re all going to need some free food come February.
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on August 18, 2008
The Carlsbad-based Barbeques Galore, Inc., the world’s largest specialty retailer of barbecues and accessories, filed for Chapter 11 protection in US Bankruptcy court on August 15, 2008. The company operated 65 stores in the US and was in debt to the tune of $50 million, according to a story on Bloomberg.com.
Jeffrey Sears, chief executive officer of Barbeques Galore, said in a sworn statement that “the general collapse of the market from home sales” and the company’s inability to borrow from its bank lender or from Ironbridge forced it to seek bankruptcy protection.
Yep, take it off the grill. It’s definitely done.
[Link: Bloomberg.com]
by The Editors on August 16, 2008
When the doors of the new Carlsbad Apple Store at The Forum opened for customers the first time this morning at 10 AM Elizabeth Jean DeBoer, of the Oceanside Mac User Group was the first person in the store.
“I’ve been here since 4:20 AM,” she said from her comfortable chair before the doors opened. “I’m going to upgrade my iPhone to 3G and I waited until this store opened because I didn’t want to go to Fashion Valley.”
DeBoer entered the store through a gauntlet of more than 40 enthusiastically screaming, clapping, carousing Apple retail employees all outfitted in their matching orange and turquoise T-shirts with the words “I know people” screened on the front of them.
It was a bit of a madhouse actually as each person was welcomed into the store as if they were a high school football player entering the field of a state championship. It was just a continuation of the welcome everyone in line got at 9:50 when all the employees charged out of the front doors of the store and ran down the line of some 200 customers high-fiving them all and yelling the whole way.
The commotion was distracting regular mall shoppers as they tried to find parking. One attractive woman in big glasses leaned out her window or her black Porsche Cayenne to ask was was going on. When someone told her they were waiting for free T-shirts she couldn’t believe it. “All these people are standing in line for a free T-shirt,” she replied with a look of shock. “I thought all the iPods were 10 percent off or something.”
The Carlsbad store is the newest member of the Apple family of more than 200 retail stores worldwide. And while the Carlsbad store’s General Manager Audrey Todd wouldn’t say exactly how many employees her store has (or how many of them are from Carlsbad) she was happy to say that “Apple is always hiring.”
Stores hours are 8 AM to to 9 PM (Sundays 9 AM to 6 PM) and like all Apple retail store it features The Genius Bar, One To One weekly training, Personal Shopping, Workshops and Youth Programs.
For all the details, and more photos follow the jump (click them to view full size).
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on August 13, 2008
Last night the Carlsbad City Council approved a plan from Strategic Property Services Advisers for a PF Chang’s Chinese Bistro and a two-story, 44,000 square foot “complex of boutique clothing shops” (including H&M) across the street from the Carlsbad Premium Outlet stores on Paseo del Norte, according to a Barbara Henry story in the North County Times.
“That area has been waiting for a good (project) … and it seems that they have found something,” Councilman Mark Packard said before the council’s 4-0 vote, with Councilwoman Julie Nygaard absent.
If we’re going to have another mall in Carlsbad, it might as well be there.
[Link: North County Times]
by The Editors on August 12, 2008
For more than a week we’ve been getting news tips telling us that the Apple store at the Carlsbad Forum was opening on August 16, 2008. Being good journalists, however, we wanted to check with the Apple PR before we said anything. Let’s put it this way: we did get one out-of-office reply.
Now, it’s official. On August 16, 2008 at 10 AM the doors of the Carlsbad Apple store will open. Here’s what they said in their official email (which we did not get).
Come to the new Apple Store, Carlsbad, and bring your curiosity. It’s the place to test-drive any Mac or iPod, experience iPhone, and catch free workshops to learn all the latest tips and tricks. When you get there, find our Concierge in the orange shirt. The Concierge is your guide to everything from checking in for an appointment to instant checkout. And if you’re one of the first 1000 visitors, you’ll get a free Apple T-shirt.*
Today, we cruised by the store and peeked in through the doors on the front of the big black box. Inside we could see a completely kitted-out Apple store loaded with product and employees getting ready to start selling. If you’re like us, then we’ll probably see you in line early Saturday morning waiting for the free shirt.
[Link: Apple Store Carlsbad]
by The Editors on July 12, 2008
Apparently the new Carlsbad Apple Store at The Forum is no longer a surprise. One thing we can say is that the iPhone lines at this location were considerably shorter than they were at UTC yesterday on iPhone Friday.
For how that went, check out this post from a blogger who lives in Carlsbadistan.
by The Editors on July 9, 2008
Steve & Barry’s LLC, the 276-store Port Washington, NY-based clothing chain with a retail outlet in Carlsbad’s Westfield Plaza Camino Real, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today according to a story on NBCSanDiego.com.
“The generally poor environment for apparel retailers has reduced funding to our suppliers, landlords and to our company,” Steve Shore and Barry Prevor, co-founders and co-CEOs, said in a statement. “It has become increasingly difficult for us to continue operating normally under these circumstances.”
Good-bye big box chain store, have a nice day.
[Link: NBCSanDiego.com]
by The Editors on July 2, 2008
A Carlsbadistan reader did exactly what we should have been doing all along. He walked right in the back door of the new Apple Store at The Forum Shopping Center, snapped a few pictures, and did a little reporting.
The only slight delay in construction is they are waiting for tile and panels. That was the information the construction supervisor gave me. He asked me who I was I said I was from the Cupertino office, what he made of that was strictly his interpretation.
We wish those panels and tile would hurry on up.
by The Editors on March 28, 2008
If all retail outlets marketed their products the way wine shops do, there would be coffee sampling at Starbucks, shot putting at Dini’s, and burrito testing at Cessy’s.
Carlsbad’s Wine Spot is no different. Take this weekend for example: from March 28-30, 2008 The Wine Spot is having an event they’re calling an “April Fools blind tasting.”
We are doing a blind taste test in honor of April Fools Day, so come in this weekend and test your knowledge of wines. We will give prizes for the most knowledgable palate or person with the best guesses. No foolin’
What this means is that they will be selling wine by the glass to customers without telling them what they’re drinking. How great is that? Give them money and they’ll serve whatever they want. If this sounds appealing, drop by The Wine Spot at 2801 Roosevelt St. any time this weekend and drink like a fool.
RSS Feed-Posts