Category Archives: Business Beat

In Case You Didn’t Know

Posted on May 30, 2012 | 2 comments

Would a liquor sign send an unnecessary message?


Let’s be clear. The Liquor sign in the photo is a fake. Can you tell? :) Although I think the sign looks great, the QFC on Kitsap Way has not filled in the big gap on its storefront between the Deli and Seafood signs. I did it for them using Microsoft PhotoDraw just in time for the June 1st end to Washington’s 80-year monopoly on retail liquor sales. Beginning on Friday, QFC and many other retailers in the state will begin selling liquor as a result of the 59 percent yes vote on Initiative 1183 last November.

In QFC’s case a row of shelves in the wine shop will be cleared out and stocked with some of the more popular brands of spirits like Smirnoff vodka, Jack Daniel’s whiskey, and Tanqueray gin. By one count, liquor will be available at more than 50 stores in Kitsap County. Previously we had six state stores. Because consumers can expect to find the hard stuff for sale in so many places, QFC will probably cool it on adding a liquor sign. They did include a liquor insert in this week’s grocery circular. Prices shown are for cardholders of course.

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Posted in Business Beat

Dancing Man in Port Orchard

Posted on May 11, 2012 | 2 comments

Where’s your smart phone?


Readers of the Mud Bay blog know I can’t resist stopping to take a picture whenever I see a dancing man in Kitsap County. Clearly I haven’t found all of them. I spotted a new one today during a rare weekday trip to Port Orchard. The dancing man outside Talk’s Cheap on Bay Street (see photo) might have been jumping for joy for months about the store being an authorized Verizon retailer. I wouldn’t know. I only pass through the county seat on Sundays on my way to Annapolis, where I park and ride my bike along Beach Drive.

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Posted in Business Beat, Other Local Places

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Name This Bucks Contest

Posted on April 23, 2012 | 9 comments

Windows were installed last week.


Two previous posts, Tallbucks and V-Bucks, show pictures of the Starbucks that’s being built at the corner of Kitsap Way and National Avenue in Bremerton. The post titles are interim names I gave the building at the time the photos were taken. A reader has suggested that the Mud Bay Blog sponsor a contest for a final name for the building as it nears completion (see photo).
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Turning Aluminum into Green

Posted on April 18, 2012 | 2 comments

Ignoring transportation costs, my recycling program is almost flawless. It’s a multistep process, but in the end it should make everything disappear.
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Posted in Business Beat, Economy

West Hills Inflatable

Posted on April 11, 2012 | 2 comments

As cute as the car?


Even when I’m clueless about the specific product being advertised, I always stop to take pictures of giant rooftop inflatables. Case in point: the hamster (or Hamstar as Kia spells it) shown in the photo. With a quick online search though, I learned more about a car, and the campaign to sell it, that’s tied to a hip rodent.
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Posted in Business Beat, Cars

V-Bucks

Posted on April 4, 2012 | 2 comments

Reminds me of the trunk of a 1959 Chevrolet


Tallbucks, posted last month, showed a picture of the new Starbucks that’s under construction in the Walgreens parking lot at the intersection of Kitsap Way and National Avenue in Bremerton. A better title would have been V-Bucks (see construction photo taken last weekend).

At least we now know what the architect had in mind for the metal posts that extend up from the masonry pillars on the building’s north and south sides—they support huge beams that in turn support the building’s V-shaped roof. In addition to attracting attention, the roof might be a great place to store extra cartons of venti cups.

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Tallbucks

Posted on March 3, 2012 | 5 comments

Are they building a venti?


Do we really need another coffee place on Kitsap Way in Bremerton? That was my first thought when I read that a Starbucks will be located in the Walgreens parking lot at the intersection of Kitsap Way and National Avenue. As the new building began to take shape this week (see photo), another question arose: does it need to be so tall?
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Market Price

Posted on March 1, 2012 | 2 comments

This sign can be simplified.


The Mud Bay blog should know better than to make predictions or write about a trend. In Springing Ahead I observed that the slow torture of steadily climbing gas prices started early this year. Forget slow torture. This year it’s more like waterboarding. The price for a gallon of regular hit 4 bucks today at my local Shell station (see photo)—up 46 cents per gallon since February 11th.

The oil companies ignored my earlier suggestion about just making one big price increase in mid-April. That’s OK as I’m offering a new suggestion to save them some work. Instead of posting a new price every couple of days why not just put “Market Price” on the sign? That’s what some seafood restaurants do when they don’t want to reprint the menu every time the price for lobster or fresh fish changes. I mean, at this point do you really care what the sign says? The tank of gas you buy today is going on a credit card. By the time you get your next statement, today’s price could well be a bargain.

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Posted in Business Beat, Economy

Cheeseburger Deal

Posted on February 24, 2012 | 4 comments

Almost a free lunch


The coupon (see illustration) came in the mail this week with a pile of advertising circulars. “This can’t be right,” I thought, “Surely it’s the drink that’s free and not the sandwich.” I stand corrected. After all, who am I to questions “Jack”? In fast food circles many consider him to be a marketing and culinary genius.
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Posted in Business Beat

Dancing Man in Silverdale

Posted on February 20, 2012 | 3 comments

Just in time for President’s Day


First Silverdale took much of Bremerton’s retail business away. Now they are copying our advertising ideas. Today I noticed a new dancing man (see photo) boogying for business in front of Mattress Depot on Silverdale Way across from Arby’s. Judging by the dancing man’s enthusiastic moves and the like-new condition of his svelte balloon body, I don’t think he’s been on the job for long.

Silverdale is by far the biggest retail center in Kitsap County. And it’s growing. But a business needs to do more than just open its doors there to make money. With at least three other mattress stores in Silverdale—one of which advertises itself with a giant cow—Mattress Depot has plenty of competition. Plus it’s in a retail sector where success is based almost entirely on marketing. The dancing man is going to attract the attention of some passing motorists. Whether they will return later for a mattress upgrade is another question.

For the record I bought my last new mattress at Arnold’s Home Furnishings in Bremerton. A dancing man was not involved. You would probably see the pope in a tank top before you saw a dancing man at Arnold’s.

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Posted in Business Beat, Other Local Places

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