Colorado Springs Retail Briefs: December 28, 2007

Although many retailers have come and gone from the downtown storefronts of Colorado Springs, it's not stopping dedicated store owners from opening shop.

Harold Osborne plans to open a skateboard shop called The Frontside Grind at 101 N. Tejon St., Suite 102 after the first of the year.

"I chose downtown because of the location," he said. "This April they are breaking ground on a skateboard park in Memorial Park."

Osborne moved here in August from the Washington, D.C., metro area. He said the shop will be a "good, classic, old-school skate shop" and will also feature the "latest and the greatest" to catch the eye of the nearby high school students.

Also on Tejon, Island Pacific, a T-shirt shop, has opened in the location that Sole Mates recently vacated.

And Medina Imports Inc. recently opened at 117 N. Tejon St. The shop offers imported gifts and home decor designed by Mediterranean craftsmen and women, including carpets, textiles, ceramics, furniture, art and antique architecture.

LuLu, an upscale women and children's clothing store, opened at 214 1/2 N. Tejon St. in the space occupied by Whickerbill Gifts for 49 years.

A restaurant is even making downtown its second location.

Heart of Jerusalem Cafe 2 is open at 15 E. Bijou St., the former Jamba Juice space. Specialties of the Middle Eastern Cuisine include house of falafel and shawerma sandwiches with crisspura fries. The original cafe is at 906 Manitou Ave., Suite 100.

Favorite holiday ads

Target, Wal-Mart and Macy's top the list of creative holiday TV ads this year.

According to a survey conducted for the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association by BIGresearch, consumers' top 10 favorite holiday TV ads include Best Buy, Sears, Kohl's, Kmart, J.C. Penney, Publix and Meijer.

Best Buy overtook Target for the No. 1 spot in the sought-after 18-24 year-old category. Staples made the top 10 list for men, Big Lots made the top 10 list for women and Zales' ads were in the top 10 for young adults (18-24).

In addition to adding a bit of holiday cheer to TV programming, some consumers admit that holiday ads send them to certain stores and Web sites. According to the survey, 17.1 percent of consumers said that their favorite holiday advertisement persuaded them to shop with a specific retailer. An additional 31.5 percent of consumers said they already planned to shop there.

Overwhelmingly, young adults were much more likely than other shoppers to say that holiday TV ads sent them to specific stores (27.3 percent vs. 17.1 percent).

New Year's tech tips

Now that you have those electronic items from your holiday wish lists, Circuit City's firedog services unit is offering the following tech tips to help consumers prepare for a happy and productive New Year:

If you have a new MP3 player, digital camera, camcorder or P.C. with the new Windows Vista operating system, take some time to learn about its features and capabilities. Consider getting professional training (lots of training is available online, so you don't have to bother your brother-in-law anymore.)

Got a new HDTV for Christmas? Are you sure that you're actually watching high-definition programming? Check your signal source, whether it's an antenna, cable or satellite service, to confirm that you're getting the picture quality you deserve. HDTV comes with great surround sound, too; make sure your sound system is capable of reproducing it.

Consolidate your remote controls.

Back up your home computer files. Think about whether to copy your essential files onto CDs, an external hard drive, or even subscribe to a secure remote backup service.

Get rid of spyware, viruses and unwanted software that rob your computer of power and speed.

Make sure your virus protection software is up to date and find out whether you need to download any security patches or updates for your operating system.

Secure your wireless home network. Make sure you're using up-to- date encryption tools to keep nosy neighbors and passersby from tapping into your computer or Internet connection.

Get those holiday cookie crumbs out of your keyboard. Use a soft brush or compressed air.

Circuit City's Web site now features a section devoted to helping consumers with some of the most popular self-improvement New Year's resolutions. The site can be accessed at www.circuitcity.com and offers tips about products and services through the end of January.

Copyright 2007 Dolan Media Newswires
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.