Ben Benner’s Blog

“See the bay and buy a Wii!”

So last year Gina and I saw that the Traverse City Meijer’s had several Nintendo Wii video game systems. We didn’t buy one when we saw it, stating that we were planning to be back in Traverse City the next day and if they still had some we would buy one then, because then it would be kismet.

However, we did not make it to Traverse City the next day, and therefore did not purchase the Nintendo Wii at that time.

This past Monday, we went to the Traverse City Meijer’s with the intent of purchasing groceries for the bbq tomorrow and some other foodstuffs. Before we set out on the trip north Gina and I had stated that we would need to check to see if that Meijer’s in Traverse City had a Nintendo Wii available, as there have been NONE available in Austin. (They sell like hot cakes, or are secretly diverted off to eBay.)

Well, they did have a Nintendo Wii available, two of them in fact. We purchased one, it is still in the box. Since they were having a sale we also purchased a second Wii-mote, that came with the latest Wii-Sports game disc.

I asked the clerk if they get regular shipments of them (Wii systems) delivered. She told me that they get a delivery about every 3-4 weeks, and that they usually get 20 units. However, this last time they got 50 units.

From what I have been able to get out of some (ToysRUs, GameStop, etc) clerks down in Austin, they get a shipment every 1-2 months and only a handful of units (5-10). So 20 units being shipped to a Meijer’s in a town that is a decent size, but known for being a resort town seems to be a little off.

But as I tried to say with a straight face to Gina, “It is a by-product of attempting to have an equal distribution of product across a chain of stores without taking into account the the regional demographics.”

I said that mouthful before I found out that the latest shipment had 50 units, of which they had already sold 48, err 49 with our purchase. So regardless of Traverse City’s reputation for being a resort town, that Meijer’s can sell some video game systems. The clerk informed us that one lady purchased three systems. Leaving the store and returning each time, therefore fulfilling the “limit one per purchase/visit” policy.

So I definitely think that given the trouble the tourism industry is having in northern Michigan, that Traverse City should do a promotional campaign and promote the fact that the Traverse City Meijer’s has Nintendo Wii’s available (fairly regularly) as a way to bring in more visitors to the city to have them see the Grand Traverse Bay.

Ok, time to shutdown and go to bed.

Laterz

bdbenner Wii, travel, vacation, video games meijer's, nintendo, nintendo wii, traverse city, vacation, video games, Wii

I slept until just past 1pm (mind you I woke up at about 7AM to let the dogs out), it is 10:30pm and I am drinking a PBR and playing around on the Internets (via my leeched WiFi).

Yesterday was a pretty good day, Father Camilleri came along with Gina and I to Traverse City. We stocked up on provisions for the week at Meijers after having a good lunch at BD Riley’s Mongolian Grill. I bought meat and a couple of BBQ supplies.

I am going to smoke some Pork Shoulder and Chicken on Friday. I am also going to make some coleslaw as well.

We bought some sweet corn, which looks really good. But my father-in-law cooked some last night and it didn’t turn out too great. I am thinking it was underdone, but there was a leftover piece I had at lunch today and it looked completely done, but just didn’t taste right. Suck.

We also stopped at Folgarelli’s Imported Food Market in Traverse as well. All three of us commented almost instantly that it didn’t look nearly the same as last year. We had heard some rumor that some changes had taken place recently, but no one had a definite answer as to what the change was.

Well, apparently three years ago Folgarelli’s was sold, then some time in the last few months it went bankrupt. Seven weeks ago the original owners bought it back.

The three of us all speculated about what caused the bankruptcy. Gina took me to Folgarelli’s about 4 years ago (ie original owners) and the place was very cool. It had some good looking fresh bread, a great deli counter, a small but good wine selection, some Italian foodstuffs and a small freezer (pretty sure I remember a freezer) of stuff. They were known for their sandwiches.

The following year, things had changed up a little. It appeared as if they had expanded the foodstuffs and were carrying more than just Italian foodstuffs, there was Indian, Greek, and what I think was supposed to be a Mexican or Latin food section. There were more freezers. The deli case was still great and they were making sandwiches. They also started carrying some fancy olive oils, notably this FANTASTIC olive oil from Spain. It was in a 55 gallon drum to which they had hooked a pump. They had it bottled  and ready to go. They had taken over the small building next door and expanded the wine selection.

Last year, everything was the same as the year before. We bought some more Spanish olive oil and had sandwiches, we  also bought some deli meats and cheeses.

This year however, things were different. We walked in and the olive oil was missing, there appeared to be less foodstuffs available than the year before. The deli case looked a bit barren (there were less meats available than previous years). And the Boarshead logo was missing. The same number of freezer cases appeared to be there, but there was no bread in the window (they still offer it, but they were sold out).

While waiting for my deli meat I heard one of the clerks mention that they were waiting to get their liqour license back and that is why the little wine room was closed. The wheels were already turning once we entered the store, given the change in extremely visable items not being available (ie no 55 gallon drum), and the earlier rumor about some changes occuring.

We began to speculate about what happened. The best thing I could figure out was that a change in ownership had occurred, it seemed like the only logical reason why they would be re-applying for a liqour license, given that they were not a bar so the idea that they would lose it for selling to a minor seemed HIGHLY unlikely.

I inquired with the clerk about what happened while checking out, she informed me that they original owners had bought the place out of bankruptcy 7 weeks ago. That the original owners had sold the place three years ago. That filled in the blanks on why the inventory had changed up that one year.

Well, we LOVE Folgarelli’s and want to see it thrive again.

On a side note, there have been a couple businesses close here in Central Lake and Bellaire, MI. We speculate that they closed due to BAD management. However, there is an issue that all businesses in Northern Michigan are facing. The gas prices are forcing more and more families to forego spending their vacations and weekends up here. And those that do spend their time up here are also forced to spend less money.

I remember the conversation I had with the owner of the Bed-and-Breakfast where Gina and I spent out honeymoon, The Grand Victorian. Back in 2005, he was commenting on how the price of gas was hurting the B&B busines (and tourism in general), that was back when gas was in the $2.25 a gallon range.

Well, it is late here and I need to get to bed. 1pm is going to come to quickly.

Oh yeah, I got PHP, Apache and MySQL installed. So maybe tomorrow I will finally make some progress on one of my personal projects.

Laterz

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