Announcements     
Calling all creatives and entrepreneurs! The Hopewell Downtown Partnership will host Ignite Hopewell,an event to help spur new ideas and new businesses in a unique format, including presenters who will share their projects, ideas, and passions. There will also be a contest, in which the winner will be awarded a $2,500 grant. Register now!

 

Save the date, Virginia's Gateway Region 53rd Annual Meeting will be March 27! Please join us in celebrating another great year for the region, and in welcoming keynote speaker Jamie Womack of CareerBuilder.  

 

Congratulations to  Mid-Atlantic Broadband on celebrating its 10-year anniversary Jan. 30, 2014! 

Partner Spotlight

The Bank of Southside Virginia is a full service commercial bank offering all types of lending including government guaranteed loans. Extensive online and small business services available, with the largest branch network in the region.

     
New grocery store planned
James Peacemaker, Jr. | Hopewell News Patriot  | Full Story 

COLONIAL HEIGHTS - Some people have said Aldi is like the Ikea of grocery stores.

Well, you won't find an Allen wrench in your box of cereal, but you will find low prices.

And now the German discount grocery store chain has plans to build a store in Colonial Heights in the Southpark Mall area. 

 

The 17,018-square-foot store would go on a 3-acre site near the intersection of Temple Avenue and Charles H. Dimmock Parkway. The location would be just east of the Sonic restaurant on Temple Avenue, with an entrance to be on Dimmock Parkway. Right now, the spot is just a large gravel lot. 

Better trained workforce will live the American dream, commission says
Carlos Santos | Virginia Business  | Full Story

Revitalizing the American dream for the struggling middle class will take innovation, flexibility and a new way of thinking.  

 

One recommendation: Don't discourage students from learning a trade. Not everybody needs a college education. Another idea: Loan money to small businesses to train their workforce.

 

Haley Barbour and Evan Bayh, who co-chair a University of Virginia Miller Center commission studying how to create middle class jobs, spoke Wednesday about a faltering American economy offering few jobs, flat wages and a deflated American dream. More than 100 people turned out to hear the commission's initial findings at the Miller Center in Charlottesville.