Norfolk Stores and Retail and Resturants

[cpeakesqr]

Try the Vintage Tavern http://vintagetavernvirginia.com/ in north Suffolk.

Best of all... you can eat bison!

[scm]

Try the Vintage Tavern http://vintagetavernvirginia.com/ in north Suffolk.

If I worked for Zagat or any other so-called survey group, it would be tops on my list.

Same guys are opening a steakhouse in N. Suffolk, right by the TCC Portsmouth campus at Harbourview Blvd. and College.

Would be tough for any one person to put any restaurant at the top of a Zagat survey -- they are a compliation of hundreds of individual submissions. That's why I find them so reliable -- not one person's bias.

Edited June 21, 2007 by scm

[Former Resident of HR]

Looks like Bottom Dollar is wiping out the west side Food Lions in Norfolk...

http://www.dailypress.com/business/local/d...ness-localheads

I'm more interested in the Bloom stores, but looks like that is a VB/Chesapeake thing only.

OK, update: I had to go past the Colley Village Food Lion and saw all this orange everywhere in the parking lot, so I stopped in. It's under renovation now, looks like they took out the bakery and deli, widened the aisles and have all these "closeout prices" on tons of stuff (I'm assuming things that won't be carried at the Bottom Dollar).

Actually, it doesn't look that bad. I am sure that it will appeal to the Park Place and starving student crowd. I never liked Food Lion anyway, but from what the posters and stuff say, it looks a little better than the sterile white/blue design of Food Lion.

Edited June 29, 2007 by JPN0731

[vdogg]

Looks like Bottom Dollar is wiping out the west side Food Lions in Norfolk...

http://www.dailypress.com/business/local/d...ness-localheads

I'm more interested in the Bloom stores, but looks like that is a VB/Chesapeake thing only.

That's unfortunate, they shouldn't be selling Norfolk short like that. I always liked farm fresh more anyway. I think their upscale GW market will do fine downtown.

Line forms for iphones at MacArthur apple store

[urbanvb]

I too think it will be interesting to see the Bloom stores. Kinda off topic but for VB I would expect definitely the Laskin store (It's already the nicest FL I have ever been in) and maybe Sandbridge. The rest are in pretty typical middle income neighborhoods.

[vdogg]

Walmart to bring neighborhood concept to Norfolk

Picture a Wal-Mart Supercenter with nothing but groceries. Now imagine it smaller, with a more traditional supermarket design. Add a few extra shelves of organic produce and other specialty foods. That's the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, a concept that the discount giant pits directly against its regional grocery rivals. The first Neighborhood Market in Virginia will move into the former Winn-Dixie store at East Little Creek and Meadow Creek roads.

As much as I despise Walmart, I could actually see this concept working. Especially since they're leasing empty space instead of building a traditional sprawlmart.

[Former Resident of HR]

Walmart to bring neighborhood concept to Norfolk

As much as I despise Walmart, I could actually see this concept working. Especially since they're leasing empty space instead of building a traditional sprawlmart.

Uhm... they jury is still out on this for me. What I see happening in the near future is more and more "bottom dollar" (read: dumpy, sparce) and "Harris Teeter" (read: overpriced) groceries pushing out the middle market stores. However warm and fuzzy HT makes me feel, I still feel ripped off on my way out he door. And no matter how much I save at WalMart, the awful service and overall scuzziness usually makes me feel cheated out of my money as well.

[johnk812]

What Hampton Roads lacks is a true urban shopping district/destination like Georgetown in WDC, South Street in Philly, Newbury Street in Boston, or closer to home, Carytown in Richmond. These are areas of several city blocks devoted to retail, and seeminly to retail that you probably won't find at every other mall in town. One might wrongly suggest that Ghent in ours. It doesn't even come close. Ghent is suburban if you ask me. Having diner at Bardo recently I noticed across the street a strip mall. That automatically disqualifies 21st St. On Colley with schools and churches breaking up any shot at momentum it unforunately just feels like another boring suburban space. We have all the retail we need in this area, just no proper venue to make an urban experience happen.

I'm from Portsmouth but I'm not particularly proud to say that High Street seems to be the best, if not only, physical space in this area for such a destination to take form. There are a few blocks where you actually have storefronts on both sides of the street, something that I don't see too often around here, and a crutial component of all the wonderful spaces previously mentioned. There are a few breaks in the action however, a Childrens Museum, a Sports Hall of Fame, etc. These aren't the sort of things you'd expect to find on M Street in Georgetown, but like I say, I think this is the best we have right now. I'm not oblivious to Granby either. Between TCC, the mall, the Federal Bldg, and condos gallore, there just isn't much room left for much else. Where is urban planning for such things!?

I don't mean for this to be a private rant, so I encourage any thoughts. If I were an investor I'd spend my money on High Street. But I'm just a dreamer and observer and love cities and wish somewhere in Hampton Roads we can start being one.

[Padman]

I agree that physically, High Street has a lot of potential. Hopefully, as the Portsmouth downtown residential area grows over time, more retail activity on High Street will happen. I don't think that all the elements are in place to make it work well yet. The water crossings, small residential core, lack of major business and educational institutions nearby don't help. So a lot of it's future success may have to be generated internally (more residents).

Ghent and 21st Street/Colley are maybe a little too removed from ODU and downtown, but it's easy to get there by car. I think that's why it still retains some suburban characteristics. It's been vastly improved. During the 1950s they removed all of the trees along 21st Street to make it more modern..or something. Nevertheless, with maybe some more good restaurants, better and fewer national chains and more funky local stores and some night-life, the 21st Street area could be a lot better than it is. It needs more soul. The Naro is great but some additional cultural spots are needed.

[Case]

Espeto Na Brasa: Brazilian Steakhouse on Granby

This may just become my new favorite restaurant.... I am not a steak or heavy meat eater and I had at least 8 different varieties of meat (steaks,lamb,chicken,sausage) and they all were good..

It is expensive but well worth it.... Service was good...Setup is nice.. (we prefed the upstairs...allows for people watching)

Definitely a good addition to the Granby Dining scene.

[Sky06]

Espeto Na Brasa: Brazilian Steakhouse on Granby

This may just become my new favorite restaurant.... I am not a steak or heavy meat eater and I had at least 8 different varieties of meat (steaks,lamb,chicken,sausage) and they all were good..

It is expensive but well worth it.... Service was good...Setup is nice.. (we prefed the upstairs...allows for people watching)

Definitely a good addition to the Granby Dining scene.

Thx. I definitely plan to check it out.

By the way, next week is restaurant week.

Edited July 19, 2007 by Sky06

[vdogg]

Looks like there's a new lounge/resturant coming soon right next to Sevens downtown called Posh (or posche, or both, the second word is unintelligible). Anyone have any ideas of what type of place it is? It looks pretty neat.

[ace707]

I drove up and down Granby for the 1st time in over a month (i was on vacation in San Diego, LA, and Las Vegas for the most part of July) and noticed a new a seeminly poplular establishment north of Brambleton Ave. I may be late on it but since I never previously seen or heard about it, I decided to mention it here. The spot is named if i'm not mistaken, "inky fusion". I am likely wrong with the first part of that name but I know "fusion" is part of the name. Anyways the spot seems to take a head start on that section of Granby St.'s anticipated revival once Granby Tower finishes. At around 8:30 in the evening Saturday, the place was packed and had a crowd of 100 to 150 people outside. It was a HUGE crowd of generally young adults but not too upscale type crowd. Not sure what's the establishment's selling point or niche is but I just wanted to bring it up here.

[rusthebuss]

I drove up and down Granby for the 1st time in over a month (i was on vacation in San Diego, LA, and Las Vegas for the most part of July) and noticed a new a seeminly poplular establishment north of Brambleton Ave. I may be late on it but since I never previously seen or heard about it, I decided to mention it here. The spot is named if i'm not mistaken, "inky fusion". I am likely wrong with the first part of that name but I know "fusion" is part of the name. Anyways the spot seems to take a head start on that section of Granby St.'s anticipated revival once Granby Tower finishes. At around 8:30 in the evening Saturday, the place was packed and had a crowd of 100 to 150 people outside. It was a HUGE crowd of generally young adults but not too upscale type crowd. Not sure what's the establishment's selling point or niche is but I just wanted to bring it up here.

I think you are referring to the tattoo parlor

[urbanvb]

100 people waiting to get a tatoo?

[ace707]

I think you are referring to the tattoo parlor

If so then I'm surprised to even see that many people at such an establishment. Otherwise, I think it's good though because it adds diversity to the crowd downtown and from what I saw, this crowd doesn't seem to have trouble on their agenda.

[ace707]

100 people waiting to get a tatoo?

That's why I'm a bit surprised. There were so many people inside and outside that I didn't think of it as just another tattoo parlor. The blue horseshoe tattoo 2 blocks from me never has a crowd inside much less a crowd/line outside for tattoo's. Maybe "inky fusion" offers more than just tattoo's?

[vdogg]

That's why I'm a bit surprised. There were so many people inside and outside that I didn't think of it as just another tattoo parlor. The blue horseshoe tattoo 2 blocks from me never has a crowd inside much less a crowd/line outside for tattoo's. Maybe "inky fusion" offers more than just tattoo's?

Are you sure the crowd was for this establishment, and not just overflow from somewhere else?

[rusthebuss]

100 people waiting to get a tatoo?

They were having a opening party there. I heard FM99 was there for a couple of days.

[ace707]

Are you sure the crowd was for this establishment, and not just overflow from somewhere else?

Oh yeah, they were all directly in front of the business. If you were walking on the sidewalk and didn't want to cut through the crowd, you had to walk on the street to bypass the crowd.

[vdogg]

Looks like there's a new lounge/resturant coming soon right next to Sevens downtown called Posh (or posche, or both, the second word is unintelligible). Anyone have any ideas of what type of place it is? It looks pretty neat.

I think it's "Posh Dolche". Even in the picture it's kind of hard to read. I don't know if it's a nightclub, resturant, or all of the above but i'm definitely looking forward to its opening. It's right next to Havana's

[vdogg]

Finally some more info. This was approved May 24th in a planning commission hearing although the name on the sign and in the documents are spelled differently.

[burt]

Finally some more info. This was approved May 24th in a planning commission hearing although the name on the sign and in the documents are spelled differently.

Dolce in Italian means "sweet". Maybe the sign painter added an "h" by mistake, or perhaps the word means something else. It's a pretty narrow space with only a 20-foot street frontage.

[okinawatyphoon]

Has anyone seen the progress on the Barnes & Noble in MacArthur Center? All I've seen is a "Coming Soon" on the website.

Also, my memory is slipping. Is it supposed to have direct access to the outside, or are the only entrances from inside the mall/garage?

[rusthebuss]

Has anyone seen the progress on the Barnes & Noble in MacArthur Center? All I've seen is a "Coming Soon" on the website.

Also, my memory is slipping. Is it supposed to have direct access to the outside, or are the only entrances from inside the mall/garage?

They put it inside the mall now. They scrapped the addition plan. It took 2 floors inside the mall where the waldenbooks and the record store use to be.