Contractors Awaiting Payment For Work At West Broad Village

Work continues at the mixed-use complex of West Broad Village in Short Pump, but several contractors have filed liens to make sure they get paid. Since October, seven companies have filed nine mechanic’s liens totaling more than $3.7 million against property owned by Unicorp National Development, the Florida-based developer of West Broad Village. Read more

Twin Hickory Mother Arrested For DUI With Child In Car

Yet another local parent is in trouble with the law for driving intoxicated while having a child in the vehicle. Henrico Police arrested 45-year-old Maureen Witmer, of the 5200 block of Cobblers Stone Court in Twin Hickory, early Monday morning. Witmer was pulled over at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday at 11000 Nuckols Road, near Fords Country Lane, and arrested approximately four hours later. Read more

New Flyover Ramp Is Complete, But Not Yet Ready For Traffic

If you’ve driven past the new Interstate 295 to Interstate 64 flyover ramp and thought it looked as if it had been completed, but for some reason not yet open, you’d be right. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has a  small punchlist of things to go over with the project developer, English Construction, before the new structure is open to traffic. Read more

Both Good And Bad News For Troubled Circuit City

Monday proved to be a day of mixed news for Circuit City. The troubled electronics retailer, with corporate headquarters in Short Pump, was granted a $1.1 billion loan in order to continue operating, the same day it was reported that sales at its stores dropped more than 50% in the 6 week period since it filed for bankruptcy. Read more

Short Pump’s Chinese Restaurant Secret: Far East Bistro

I have been to the Far East Bistro Chinese Restaurant in the Town Center West shopping center at least 5 times now and without fail, they have always provided and served excellent Chinese food and service. The one thing that puzzles me is that it does not seem that Short Pump knows about this restaurant because it never seems to have many patrons. Read more

Genworth To Lay Off 1,000 Employees

Genworth will be laying off 1,000 employees, or about 1/7th of the company’s global workforce. The local office is east of the Short Pump area, near Broad and Glenside, but many Short Pump residents are known to work at the facility. A company spokesman said he does not yet know if any of the 1,750 Richmond workers will be let go. But if the cuts were even across all the offices, it would amount to around 250 workers. Read more

Samauri Sushi: A Kid-Friendly Sushi Joint

I know, the phrase “kid-friendly sushi joint” just seems so much like an oxymoron, but if you have kids, this is worth the trip! After watching Anthony Bourdain’s most recent “No Reservations: Tokyo” I had a hankerin’ for sushi. Since we didn’t have a babysitter, we thought we’d go to Sakura, as their close proximity to a Babies-R-Us means a slightly more understanding than average staff. Read more

Short Pump Soccer Choices: YMCA Vs. Richmond Strikers

Well, it is that time of year again where registration opens for the Spring soccer leagues. I have enrolled both my daughter and son in the YMCA Shady Grove leagues for the past three years.

But, I always wonder whether I should try the Richmond Strikers soccer league, which I understand is taken a bit more seriously than the YMCA. Read more

Short Pump Best Buy Vs. Short Pump Circuit City

This is my big dilemma of the Christmas season. My kids are getting to the ages where all they want are electronics for Christmas. Things like video games, iPods, music, movies and computer accessories. Plus, my husband also enjoys the electronics and multimedia world. Read more

Attention Short Pump Shoppers: The Gift Card Blacklist

Well, in the past decade the trend for buying gift cards as Christmas presents has been a steep one to the upside. It has just become more common and accepted to give gift cards and, let’s be honest, what better way to make someone’s day. They get to choose exactly what they want.

Buying gift cards has never been easier. You can purchase them easily online and now. There are gift card collection kiosks in a lot of major stores such as drug stores and grocery stores. I usually buy cards from over 10 different stores, at Ukrop’s of all places!

Well, given our bad economy and the meltdown happening with the large retailers in America, buying a gift card is risky this season. This is because many retailers will be going out of business after the Christmas shopping season. Now, you will be very surprised to know that even if bankruptcy is in the plans for many of these businesses, they are still selling gift cards.

What you need to know is that once a retailer goes into bankruptcy, your gift cards may be worthless. While it is technically an obligation owed by the store to the gift card holder, it is an unsecured obligation which means that it is the lower priority in bankruptcy. In other words, it is likely worthless!

I found this list on the Internet that predicts some of the stores that could have issues with gift cards. Now, I do not follow the corporate business wolrd close enough to know how accurate this list is, but I thought it was worth including here to help any fellow Short Pump shoppers as they make their gift buying decisions.

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