Joan's randomness: July 2009 Archives

Biz reporter Sean Adkins recently blogged about and wrote a story about York County's "big box" dilemma, in which we have an awful lot of large-scale retail space sitting empty.

Some examples, and I'm sure you can come up with more:

- The old Circuit City in Springettsbury Township
- The former Giant next to the mall in West Manchester Township
- The previous Linens N Things in The Crossroads in Manchester Township

After many jokes with Hubby - who suggests we put a "zombie laser tag" game where the Giant used to be - I have come up with what I think is a decent idea for the space.

Why not turn it into a farmers' market? Many of you know that my family, for years, had baked-goods and candy stands in the Market & Penn Farmers Market.

And while I love the market - and its historic old building - there are a lot of "downs." Some people, whether fairly or unfairly, don't want to visit the city to shop. It's always been terribly hard to park in the market's lot when it's busy. And the building, while a treasure of history, has needed a new roof since before I was born - and it's not exactly a wonder of modern air-conditioning, either. (Try selling chocolates there in the summer - ugh!)

And don't get me started on the city's rules for selling home-cooked food. I fully support the concept of a clean place for food preparation, but from personal experience, there are some technicalities - like, say, needing two completely separate kitchens in your home - that used to be in place that made it nearly impossible for a small business to succeed. I'm not up to date on the current rules, so I can only hope some of this has changed.

Anyway, off that soapbox. Back to the old Giant building.

Assuming it wasn't totally gutted, it would have setups for deli and produce departments, as well as for a seafood vendor. A small luncheonette/restaurant could use the former "cafe" area. Other vendors could fill the center, with neat aisles.

Add in the good lighting, the modern ventilation system, and nice restrooms, and it definitely seems like somewhere I'd spend my time. It's on the bus route, too - so anyone who, say, is used to shopping in the city because they don't have a car, could get here by way of bus! (And if you do drive - there's certainly plenty of parking!)

As an aside, this is an idea that was tried - with mixed success - a bit north of here. For a time, there was a former big-box store in the Colonial Park area near Harrisburg that had been made into a market, and we were vendors there, too. The down-side, besides the somewhat lengthy commute, was the higher stand rent. Hey, that air-conditioning system came at a price!

So do you think a farmers' market could work in the old Giant building? I'm really interested in what you have to say.

The Concilio relatives have gone, I'm back at work, and we're almost ready to resume our normally scheduled programming here on the blog.

But first, you have to put up a quick wrapup of the weekend's festivities; a bunch of us went to the Phillies game on Sunday, in which we beat the Pirates 5-1.

My uncle Lenny was really in the spirit before we left:

And we had great seats:

If you happen to like baseball, check out the YDR's MLB section and The Southpaw, written by one of my friends and employees, Pat Abdalla, about all things Major League Baseball.

If you're NOT a baseball fan, thanks for sticking with me. And speaking of "sticky" things, don't forget to vote in my poll about grilled/toasted cheese! Grilled is winning by a landslide, but there's still plenty of time to cast your vote.

I'm out of town today at the Phillies game (part of the big family reunion extravaganza) but I wanted to show off something really cool that my sister Linda made yesterday for the big reunion get-together: Concilio brownies!

You're jealous, aren't you? You've never had family-personalized brownies! Hahaha. It does make me think, though - what's the best "family gathering" food you've ever had? Leave me a comment!

I pick on Hubby all the time on the blog - you know, referencing his purchase of "special" meat for lunch and his unusual marshmallow-grilling technique.

But Chris is a great guy, and if I'm going to tell all of York County about him, I think it's only fair that I share this GOOD story that sums up why I'm so lucky to have him.

Last Wednesday was a busy day - Sarah had tennis lessons in the morning, we needed to buy some books from a woman in Dover Township in the morning, we in turn had people coming over to buy some books from us in the afternoon and evening, and we wanted to go to the Women of Today fun fest in Dover.

Sarah, a day or so before, ended up with a killer ding on her nose. I say bug bite, because it's either that or a world-record-sized pimple, which I doubt, but either way, it was a mess. She had scratched at it in her sleep, it looked kind of infected, and it was just huge. So, being a good mom, I took a tissue and tried to get off the ickiness. Yes, I know that's gross. But bear with me.

She cried. She said it hurt, and since I hadn't TOLD her what I was going to do, I wasn't surprised. I offered to get a Bandaid, but she was a little dubious about letting me near her again. So, I said, that's OK, "Daddy can put it on for you!" So he did, and that was fine, but then she started to wonder about how it looked, you know, with a big ol' Bandaid on her face.

Hubby is a genius. And a very loving person. "Hey, Sarah!" he said. "Do you think I should put a Bandaid on my nose too?" She looked at him kind of funny. "I have special nose Bandaids upstairs!" he added. Well, of course, this made her giggle, and she says, yeah, go get one!

So he did, and came back with his "nose Bandaid" on. I didn't think much of it - until later, when I realized that he'd worn it to sell books to people at our house, worn it to the Women of Today carnival, and worn it to Palasta for dinner.

There they are: Sarah with a Bandaid, and Chris with his "nose Bandaid" - one of the Breathe-Right strips he wears at night sometimes to help him not snore.

They named themselves the "Bandaid twins." They were even glad to pose for a picture.

Now isn't that a good dad? LOVE YOU, HUBBY!