[missypie]

Originally Posted by OnTrack

Can you tell us why you weren't able to make a deal with The Villages, to bring your ice cream concept here?

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Not a clue but we believe when a door closes, God opens a window. That's just who we are. Plain and simple.

[Patty55]

Originally Posted by OnTrack

Can you tell us why you weren't able to make a deal with The Villages, to bring your ice cream concept here?

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A few years back I wanted to sell Italian Ice in lsl. At the time Haagen Daz had an exclusive for ice cream, but not ice, they were okay with it. Found the powers to be very easy to deal with.

Then it hit me that DUH, this will be work, a lot of work. I really just wanted to eat a lemon ice, so I gave up on the idea.

[Happinow]

Originally Posted by missypie

We own a successful ice cream shoppe in North Carolina. We tried very hard to lobby to get into TV. We sleep eat and drink ice cream. We make the BEST! We are top rated customer service folks. You all would have loved us.

Still building our house in TV. Can't wait.

We would so love a REAL ice cream store here. Not the kind like Peachwave has. Thats not ice cream. I mean reach, creamy, rich soft ice cream. How could they not do good in TV? It's an ice cream store in Florida for Gods sake!

[Patty55]

I think it comes down to we all want these businesses but don't want the work and aggravation of doing it ourselves. Can't really blame TV for it.

[keithwand]

Who remembers Frivolous Sals or whatever she called her store in LSL. She sold women's shoes and clothing etc. and spends the summers in Harbor Springs at her FS store there.
Rather than blame herself for any shortcomings she blames TV and the outlet store mentality of the residents.. HER words not mine.
Kind of sorry we told her we moved to TV and love it here.

[Love2cruise]

Originally Posted by Happinow

........With the stores/eateries going into the new Pinellas Plaza??? Whey can't something different go into this plaza instead of the same old Peachwave, Citizens First, Subway, Village Dental, Peepers.....etc. why not bring Olive Garden to that area or a real ice cream store? We also need a pizza place at this end of town. We are board with the same old places to visit. Just because its a retirement community doesn't mean we don't like variety. On the plus side, a grocery store is welcomed!

Sorry, but can someone tell me where Pinellas plaza is going to be located. Thanks.

[JB in TV]

466A just east of the County building/Library

[jrandall]

Seasons 52 would be fabulous!

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by keithwand

Who remembers Frivolous Sals or whatever she called her store in LSL. She sold women's shoes and clothing etc. and spends the summers in Harbor Springs at her FS store there.
Rather than blame herself for any shortcomings she blames TV and the outlet store mentality of the residents.. HER words not mine.
Kind of sorry we told her we moved to TV and love it here.

Mikeod and you both touched on a VERY important subject, the willingness of the residents to support a store or restaurant that is more high end.

We are a frugal bunch of folks on "fixed incomes" and mostly savvy enough to budget for those things that are important to us. For some it is championship golf and for others happy hour, neither are cheap.

We are aware we have to outlast our finances and although we want all wonderful things it takes the real financial support of a number of people to keep those "wonderful things" alive.

A Toojays is alive and well because of the decent food and a reasonable price, the same type of restaurant brings much higher prices in a place such as Chicago, I am told by friends from Chicago.

Embers makes it by finding a lower rent place off site. Their food is excellent and they charge more for it. A very good business plan.

I have known for years to look for better prices on EVERYTHING on vacation by going "off" the strip, off the beachfront, off the high rent area. I have never been interested in shopping in the womens boutiques in the same kinds of places, I know that the overhead there is making the prices much greater than I could find them in another location. Posh location equals a higher price.

AND most seniors have figured this all out. They are savvy shoppers but still want to dine out in expensive and excellent restaurants...OCCASIONALLY....and that makes it almost impossible for those kinds of restaurants to survive. Once you get past fourteen dollars here for an entree, you have lost our collective attention and more importantly, our frequent visits.

[Uncle Tom]

Its all about demographics, these chains study the market. We eat out about 5 times a week. Its cheaper to build a Subway than it is a Ruth Chris Steak house. If you notice several major chain resturants DIE out of season. We talk to servers at Applebees, Chilis, Outback they are all complaining how slow it is. So its cheaper to keep a subway open with two employees than staffing a huge resturant and pay utilities and maintenance.

[mulligan]

And for those that want more of the upscale eateries, watch the whining about prices when the world of beer opens. They will all want $1 beers, and a $4 or $5 draft of really good beer will drive em nuts.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by mulligan

And for those that want more of the upscale eateries, watch the whining about prices when the world of beer opens. They will all want $1 beers, and a $4 or $5 draft of really good beer will drive em nuts.

You are so right. I think when the World of Beers thread first appeared on TOTV one of the early posts was "Will they have a happy hour?" This is called whining before the fact.

[billethkid]

unless all the servers who are compaining are all new in the year or so they would realize that todays (2013) slow season population WAS....the 5 years ago (2009) busy season population. And that all the slow seaosons since then have been busier than the last one!

I know several business owners here in TV and some of them used to look forward to the slow season 5,7 or 9 years ago as the time they could take their time away from the business. And now in recent years they can't get away as easily because of the ever increasing population and the bigger and bigger retail slow seasons!!!

btk

[jbdlfan]

Let's do an inventory:
Beef's (3)
China 1
Toscanni's
Subway(?)
Gators Dockside
Flippers
Luigios
Margarita Republic
.....I started to list them all but realized it was a tedious task. There are OVER 90 places to eat in The Villages that are golf cart accessible. Granted, this includes the Taco Bells, McDonalds and such, but still....geesh folks. These do not include the others that are within 15 minutes of drive time by car that will easily double that number!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You could literally eat somewhere different every day for over six months!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Spoiled??????? Just a bit???????

[janmcn]

Totally unrelated, but today's Tampa Bay Times has a front page article about Trader Joe's scouting out locations. Unfortunately, they are not looking at The Villages area, but if they open one in Tampa this will be the fifth store opening since first opening in Naples a few years ago.



Talk of a South Tampa Trader Joe's heats up again | Tampa Bay Times