Local Business

The North Carolina Mountain State Fair is back y’all, and you know what that means.  DEEP FRIED EVERYTHING!!!

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Diamond Brand has been awarded a spot in the Top 100 Specialty Retailers 2014 list by Outdoor USA Magazine. As Western North Carolina’s first outdoor gear shop, Diamond Brand opened in 1964, specializing in gear for the Boy Scouts and the US military. Over the decades, Diamond Brand has grown to fit the ever-widening picture of the outdoor lifestyle. Diamond Brand features a diverse selection of suppliers like Patagonia and The North Face, as well as specialty items for paddlesports, hiking, camping, running and just kicking around town.

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I'll be honest, I've never worked in the service industry waiting tables. It's a job I know I would not be good at for various reasons, and if you do have this job, I admire your self control not to dump a pitcher of water on someones head on a daily basis. I do not have that control. I have, however, worked in medical offices having people demand and yell at me, rush, talk down, push me around and complain about me. In my case, the office manager would always get on my case about how the customer is always right no matter how they treated the staff.

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Waking Life, the popular 5 year old West Asheville Coffee shop has teamed up with a local videographer to give you a visual taste of what goes into each individual cup of coffee brewed at the shop. Waking Life is a Microcafe who is currently bottles their own flash chilled coffee, available at several locations in Asheville, in addition to serving customers in their West Asheville Store. The workers of Waking Life take their coffee very seriously - check out these tidbits from their manifesto:

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Asheville Humane Society (AHS) today announced that the organization broke all previous records for saving the greatest number of Buncombe County animals – 5,599 -- at the close of its fiscal year in June.

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A staff writer and local photographer were able to get a behind the scenes look at what kind of fashion Asheville Outlets will be bringing to the area upon opening in 2015. Asheville Outlets, formerly the Biltmore Square Mall, is currently undergoing renovation and is slowly morphing into a destination shopping point. This will be the first outlet mall located in Asheville and are poised to provide a number of affordably priced stores, ranging from local vendors to national chains. With 325,000 square feet of shopping, there will be 75 stores offering a variety of product and affordability.

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Stray Boots and Asheville Local Expert Bring you a Mobile Scavenger Hunt Adventure

Local expert and tour guide from Asheville Food Tours, Chris Ortwein, has worked with Stray Boots to bring a mobile adventure to Asheville: Downtown Asheville (https://www.strayboots.com/locations/asheville/asheville-downtown/). While exploring downtown, urban explorers are introduced to some of the coolest locations and stop into some of the quirky spots and local merchants that give Asheville its unique charm.  

Part scavenger hunt, part tour, the Stray Boots app guides players around Asheville to solve a series of challenges and trivia questions while earning points, taking fun photos, and learning about the culinary history and culture Downtown Asheville has to offer. Start with champagne and literary history at the Grove Arcade before indulging your sweet tooth at one of Asheville’s tastiest artisan chocolates shops. 

Through their iPhone and Android app, Stray Boots offers over 80 self-guided tours, in over 25 cities in 3 different countries (US, UK and Israel). The tours play out like a scavenger hunt; customers liken it to doing your own private Amazing Race. Until recently, all tours were created by the Stray Boots team, but they have now launched a tool for local experts to create their own tours, privately or publicly. One of their first locally generated tours is in Asheville, where local Chris Ortwein will receive 50% of the revenue from any of his tours sold.  

To participate in the fun:

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Many changes are coming about in Asheville, especially on Brevard road. Construction is well underway on the former Biltmore Square Mall as the Winter Construction company out of Atlanta has torn the roof off of the building and started demolishing the existing structures. The construction is making way for 75 new retail stores spanning 325,000 square feet of space. While all of this is happening, the anchor stores remain open and are reported to remain as a part of the mall during its transformation. Dillards Outlet, The Dollar Tree, Belk's, and Cinebarre are continuing to serve the Asheville community. 

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As it is Wednesday, all I can think about is an overly excited camel belting out “hump daaaayyeee” across a rather boring office and how many others like myself are eagerly anticipating the weekend.  But who said Wednesday can’t be great.  Here are a few things making my Wednesday much more interesting than yours.

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Asheville will have one less license plate agency location as of Friday, June 27th when the contract ends.

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