Second Life
(Photo by Brook Marsh)
Craft supplies have given way to a massive used books and music store as a former A.C. Moore space on Hull Street Road has been transformed into a 2nd & Charles location.
The 20,062-square-foot space opened in February. It’s the chain’s second outlet in Virginia, according to CBRE-Richmond.
There are 27 stores across the nation. It’s a sister company of Books-A-Million and specializes in buying and selling used books, comics, videogames, CDs, DVDs and electronics including gaming systems, e-readers and iPads and iPods. You can get cash or a store credit for your sales.
Smallcakes Cupcakery and Creamery Gets Busy in Richmond
(Photo courtesy of Smallcakes)
The bakery, with 250 outlets in 19 states and in the United Arab Emirates, is adding one in Midlothian at 11512 Busy St., off Midlothian Turnpike and North Courthouse Road.
The shop will occupy a 1,323-square-foot space and have a rotating cupcake lineup. Jeff Martin founded the bakery with a store that he opened in 2008. Smallcakes now also offers
ice cream, including at the Midlothian location.
Work is continuing on the site, according to the franchise holder, Mariya Shopova.
Cupcake flavors include red velvet, caramel crunch, lemon drop, chocolate cream and hot fudge sundae, to go with traditional vanilla and chocolate cakes topped with a signature pink buttercream icing.
“Everything is going to be baked fresh every day, on the site,” says Shopova.
Ice cream varieties include 24 Karrot (cream cheese ice cream with pieces of carrot cake and a coconut and cinnamon topping), salted caramel crunch and Chocoholic (“fudgy” chocolate ice cream with cake pieces and a chocolate buttercream topping).
Visit smallcakescupcakery.com.
Stonehenge Village Opening Soon
(Photo courtesy of Wegmans)
The long-anticipated Stonehenge Village shopping complex is set to open in the next few weeks in Midlothian.
Anchors for the about 37-acre center include Wegmans Food Market’s first store in the Richmond area. The 115,000-square-foot Wegmans is scheduled to open May 22, according to Valerie Fox, media relations coordinator for the 87-store chain that is based in Rochester, New York, and operates from Massachusetts to Virginia. It will employ 550, as will the 120,000-square-foot Wegmans set to open Aug. 7 at West Broad Marketplace in Short Pump on West Broad Street near North Gayton Road.
The family-owned Wegmans celebrates its centennial this year.
Other stores set for Stonehenge Village include La-Z-Boy, Party City and Petco. Other retailers set for the complex include Blaze Pizza, Escape Nails and Day Spa, European Wax Center, Hair Cuttery, Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa, Taziki’s Mediterranean Cafe, Visionworks and Wild Birds Unlimited.
Blaze Pizza is a rapidly expanding national chain (103 locations and 87 in the works) that features custom-made individual pizzas with artisanal ingredients baked in an ultra-hot oven.
This will be the second Taziki’s in the Richmond area. The chain previously opened a location in Innsbrook. This also will be the second Escape Nails and Spa, which also has a spa in Short Pump.
Overall, there are about 27 acres in the complex, which was set to open in 2009-2010, but the project was delayed by the Great Recession. “All our deals went south, and we had to start over,” says Connie Nielsen, a senior vice president with Cushman & Wakefield/Thalhimer.
