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Just in case your still feeling a little bit skeptical, V-Bux has online testimonials from many of its members, and a photo gallery, filled with photos that other members have sent in of their new products, just to prove it’s not a scam or a hoax once you meet the criteria V-Bux really will send you the gift that you chose. It’s called the proof gallery you can find that by clicking on the link in the upper right hand corner of the V-Bux home page. All new members are encouraged to upload the photos of their new V-Bux merchandise, so that others can see that this is not a scam, it’s a pretty sweet deal indeed.
More info about free pic gallery
More info about free pic gallery
When the weather starts getting cooler, business for most shoe repair shops typically picks up.
At Smalley’s Shoe Boot Repair in Cleveland, Tenn., the increase in business usually coincides with hunting season and hunters knocking the dust off their boots.
2008 was different, with the busy season coming in a little later, said owner Tim Smalley. But once business did start picking up, people were coming in by the truckloads, he said.
“I think it’s busier than it was this time last year,” Mr. Smalley said. “The economy does help a lot with our business.”
From Smalley’s in Cleveland to Tim’s Shoe, Boot and Leather Repair in Dalton, Ga., shoe repair shops in the area are benefiting from an economy keeping people in their old shoes. Instead of buying new shoes, many people are taking their stilettos, loafers and cowboy boots in to get new soles and heels. Most shop owners said business had increased by about 20 percent over last year.
Completely resoling a pair of men’s dress shoes can run from about $45 to $55. To get the heel replaced on a pair of woman’s pumps costs between $5 and $15, depending on the type of heel.
“If somebody pays $200 to $300 for a pair of shoes, it makes sense to get them repaired,” said Tim Whitener, owner of Tim’s shoe repair in Dalton.
Reginald Cousin of Kenton Shoe Shop in downtown Chattanooga first saw his business begin to pick up last year. As the effects of the downturn in the economy have been felt, he has seen business continue to increase, he said.
“A lot of people are out of work, and they can’t afford to buy new shoes,” Mr. Cousin said.
Some people just get comfortable, and don’t want to change, such as Sewanee, Tenn., resident Jack Matens, who has been taking shoes to Kenton Shoe Shop for about 20 years.
“Once I break a pair of shoes in, I don’t want to get another,” Mr. Matens said.
At Shoe Findz Repairz on East Brainerd Road, owner Mary Mills also has seen steady business over the past two weeks that she has been open. Ms. Mills’ shop occupies the former location of Vanderstoop Shoe Shop after owner Bob Vanderstoop retired.
Mr. Smalley opened his shop on Keith Street in Cleveland about 20 years ago. In his experience, cycles like this one happen every so often in the industry.
“If it gets really, really bad, people will do what they used to do back in the old days — put a piece of cardboard in their shoes and keep on going.
See more: free pic gallery
At Smalley’s Shoe Boot Repair in Cleveland, Tenn., the increase in business usually coincides with hunting season and hunters knocking the dust off their boots.
2008 was different, with the busy season coming in a little later, said owner Tim Smalley. But once business did start picking up, people were coming in by the truckloads, he said.
“I think it’s busier than it was this time last year,” Mr. Smalley said. “The economy does help a lot with our business.”
From Smalley’s in Cleveland to Tim’s Shoe, Boot and Leather Repair in Dalton, Ga., shoe repair shops in the area are benefiting from an economy keeping people in their old shoes. Instead of buying new shoes, many people are taking their stilettos, loafers and cowboy boots in to get new soles and heels. Most shop owners said business had increased by about 20 percent over last year.
Completely resoling a pair of men’s dress shoes can run from about $45 to $55. To get the heel replaced on a pair of woman’s pumps costs between $5 and $15, depending on the type of heel.
“If somebody pays $200 to $300 for a pair of shoes, it makes sense to get them repaired,” said Tim Whitener, owner of Tim’s shoe repair in Dalton.
Reginald Cousin of Kenton Shoe Shop in downtown Chattanooga first saw his business begin to pick up last year. As the effects of the downturn in the economy have been felt, he has seen business continue to increase, he said.
“A lot of people are out of work, and they can’t afford to buy new shoes,” Mr. Cousin said.
Some people just get comfortable, and don’t want to change, such as Sewanee, Tenn., resident Jack Matens, who has been taking shoes to Kenton Shoe Shop for about 20 years.
“Once I break a pair of shoes in, I don’t want to get another,” Mr. Matens said.
At Shoe Findz Repairz on East Brainerd Road, owner Mary Mills also has seen steady business over the past two weeks that she has been open. Ms. Mills’ shop occupies the former location of Vanderstoop Shoe Shop after owner Bob Vanderstoop retired.
Mr. Smalley opened his shop on Keith Street in Cleveland about 20 years ago. In his experience, cycles like this one happen every so often in the industry.
“If it gets really, really bad, people will do what they used to do back in the old days — put a piece of cardboard in their shoes and keep on going.
See more: free pic gallery
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The large genus of about 200–220 species of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae (the mallow family, along with members like cocoa, cotton, okra, baobab and durian) native to warm, temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. The genus includes both annual and perennial herbaceous plants, and woody shrubs and small trees.
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The Washington Post has certainly taken a timeworn media tack in its coverage of the latest instance of Israel stubbornly insisting on continuing to exist. That being: keep nearly all mentions of the prolonged and incessant attacks of Israel by the Palestinians off the front page and to an absolute minimum, then deliver maximum coverage of the Israelis response. A response that Israel on Christmas Day openly announced was to come were the rocket bombardments from the Gaza Strip not halted. This called shot gave the Post two (additional) days to provide a description of the nearly daily asaults Israel has faced from Gaza since they ceded the territory to the Palestinians in September 2005 (and that have been stepped up even further in the last month plus). To provide some sort of context for why the Israelis were planning what they have now begun.
But rarely if ever does the Post find these Palestinian attacks worthy of any coverage at all, let alone the stuff of front page placement. It didnt this time either. No mention of Israels warning or why they had issued it made the Posts front page at all on either day.
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But rarely if ever does the Post find these Palestinian attacks worthy of any coverage at all, let alone the stuff of front page placement. It didnt this time either. No mention of Israels warning or why they had issued it made the Posts front page at all on either day.
See more: free pic gallery
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Roger Layne was in Washington, D.C., in September, being honored for heading one of the nation’s fastest-growing companies when his five-year-old business began to falter.
By the end of the year, Mr. Layne’s East Tech Co. was forced to scrap plans for an expansion and lay off 10 employees, who joined 2 million other Americans who lost their jobs this year. Although Mr. Layne predicts that sales at his specialty equipment-making company will improve in 2009, many business owners are not so optimistic.
“It all started because of the consumer panic and when people aren’t buying, the first thing to be hit are manufacturers because they have products they can’t sell,” Mr. Layne said. “This really hit our area in the past couple of months, and most people I talk to in manufacturing are hurting and cutting back.”
Local business owners participating in a year-end business forum at the Chattanooga Times Free Press predict the economic downturn is likely to worsen this winter. Many don’t expect to see a significant turnaround until 2010.
Bolstered by more than $6 billion of planned investments in Southeast Tennessee in the next three years, the Chattanooga region is positioned to do better than most U.S. markets. But most area employers say they still expect local consumers to remain cautious about opening their pocketbooks for big-ticket items, luxuries and extras next year.
“Hopefully in 2010 we can go back to buying what we want, but next year is going to be the year of asking, ‘Do I really need this,’” said Rob Hatchett, regional vice president for Crye-Leike Realtors in Chattanooga.
Already, the year-old recession has cut taxable sales in Tennessee by the biggest amount in a half century and reduced overall employment in the six-county Chattanooga region by 2,100, or 0.8 percent of the work force, according to the latest figures from the state’s labor and revenue departments.
William Fox, director of economic forecasting at the University of Tennessee’s Center for Business and Economic Research, predicts that the current recession is likely to end up being the longest and most severe for Tennessee in the past 25 years.
Economists expect unemployment to continue to rise through next fall, although Dr. Fox expects Tennessee’s jobless rate will stay well below the 12.4 percent peak reached in December 1982. Last month, the jobless rate in the Chattanooga metro area rose to 6.2 percent, the highest rate since July 1992.
“We don’t think we’ve reached bottom yet and the short-term news is not very favorable,” Dr. Fox said. “This is already a more severe downturn than what we saw in the 2001-2002 recession or the downturn in the early 1990s.”
signs of recovery
In Southeast Tennessee, construction of the $1 billion Volkswagen auto assembly plant at Enterprise South industrial park, the $2.5 billion second reactor at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant near Spring City, and the $280 million expansion by Alstom Power Co. on Riverfront Parkway will create thousands of construction jobs in the next couple of years and thousands of full-time positions once the new plants begin operation.
Bradley County also is vying for a $1 billion manufacturing industry that could create as many as 600 jobs. Local officials said they cannot identify the company until executives make a final decision. But MM-Cleveland LLC, a real estate partnership formed to help facilitate the project, is negotiating to buy 550 acres near the Hiwassee River.
Similarly, along the Tennessee River in Marion County, Chicago Bridge Iron is making plans for a $110 million fabrication plant in New Hope, Tenn., although the company has not yet made an announcement of its specific plans.
Such expansions will help propel regional growth in coming years, although their impact in the next year may be as much psychological as physical.
Volkswagen, one of the nation’s biggest industrial prizes claimed in 2008, plans to begin production of a new sedan model by 2011. The Center for Business and Economic Research projects Volkswagen eventually will create 11,477 direct and indirect jobs.
“Volkswagen is expected to be and has already been very positive, at least in the mood of the community,” said Sheila Boyington, owner of Thinking Media, a Chattanooga-based training company.
Bob Best, chief operating officer for Unum, said Volkswagen and its global suppliers will bring new cultural and growth challenges to the region.
“A lot of people think this is like the end of the rainbow,” he said. “There will be some growing pains, although I think it will be great to have a major global company operating here.”
rebalancing growth
Before most of the new VW and supplier jobs are added, however, local business leaders said the continued weakness in consumer confidence and real estate sales will limit economic activity.
“I think the economy will need most, if not all, of 2009 to digest the remainder of the residential and commercial mortgages that are based on pre-recession values,” said Chad Wolford, a vice president for Wolford Development Inc.
Linda Andreae, senior vice president for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, said that, while coming out of the economic downturn, borrowers and lenders are likely to be less leveraged and more conservative.
“What I hope this recession will do is to rebalance (us) and get back to our core values,” she said.
“We really need to return back to more responsibility,” she said.
Frank Schriner, city president for First Tennessee Bank, said consumer confidence must be restored and a bottom reached for falling home prices before a recovery begins.
“Confidence is definitely one of the things that is missing in this market,” he said.
But Mr. Schriner and other business leaders agreed that Chattanooga’s business climate should aid in the regional recovery.
“The doors have opened so that people find this as a very business-friendly place,” said Michael Mallen, owner of Perimeter Properties LLC.
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By the end of the year, Mr. Layne’s East Tech Co. was forced to scrap plans for an expansion and lay off 10 employees, who joined 2 million other Americans who lost their jobs this year. Although Mr. Layne predicts that sales at his specialty equipment-making company will improve in 2009, many business owners are not so optimistic.
“It all started because of the consumer panic and when people aren’t buying, the first thing to be hit are manufacturers because they have products they can’t sell,” Mr. Layne said. “This really hit our area in the past couple of months, and most people I talk to in manufacturing are hurting and cutting back.”
Local business owners participating in a year-end business forum at the Chattanooga Times Free Press predict the economic downturn is likely to worsen this winter. Many don’t expect to see a significant turnaround until 2010.
Bolstered by more than $6 billion of planned investments in Southeast Tennessee in the next three years, the Chattanooga region is positioned to do better than most U.S. markets. But most area employers say they still expect local consumers to remain cautious about opening their pocketbooks for big-ticket items, luxuries and extras next year.
“Hopefully in 2010 we can go back to buying what we want, but next year is going to be the year of asking, ‘Do I really need this,’” said Rob Hatchett, regional vice president for Crye-Leike Realtors in Chattanooga.
Already, the year-old recession has cut taxable sales in Tennessee by the biggest amount in a half century and reduced overall employment in the six-county Chattanooga region by 2,100, or 0.8 percent of the work force, according to the latest figures from the state’s labor and revenue departments.
William Fox, director of economic forecasting at the University of Tennessee’s Center for Business and Economic Research, predicts that the current recession is likely to end up being the longest and most severe for Tennessee in the past 25 years.
Economists expect unemployment to continue to rise through next fall, although Dr. Fox expects Tennessee’s jobless rate will stay well below the 12.4 percent peak reached in December 1982. Last month, the jobless rate in the Chattanooga metro area rose to 6.2 percent, the highest rate since July 1992.
“We don’t think we’ve reached bottom yet and the short-term news is not very favorable,” Dr. Fox said. “This is already a more severe downturn than what we saw in the 2001-2002 recession or the downturn in the early 1990s.”
signs of recovery
In Southeast Tennessee, construction of the $1 billion Volkswagen auto assembly plant at Enterprise South industrial park, the $2.5 billion second reactor at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant near Spring City, and the $280 million expansion by Alstom Power Co. on Riverfront Parkway will create thousands of construction jobs in the next couple of years and thousands of full-time positions once the new plants begin operation.
Bradley County also is vying for a $1 billion manufacturing industry that could create as many as 600 jobs. Local officials said they cannot identify the company until executives make a final decision. But MM-Cleveland LLC, a real estate partnership formed to help facilitate the project, is negotiating to buy 550 acres near the Hiwassee River.
Similarly, along the Tennessee River in Marion County, Chicago Bridge Iron is making plans for a $110 million fabrication plant in New Hope, Tenn., although the company has not yet made an announcement of its specific plans.
Such expansions will help propel regional growth in coming years, although their impact in the next year may be as much psychological as physical.
Volkswagen, one of the nation’s biggest industrial prizes claimed in 2008, plans to begin production of a new sedan model by 2011. The Center for Business and Economic Research projects Volkswagen eventually will create 11,477 direct and indirect jobs.
“Volkswagen is expected to be and has already been very positive, at least in the mood of the community,” said Sheila Boyington, owner of Thinking Media, a Chattanooga-based training company.
Bob Best, chief operating officer for Unum, said Volkswagen and its global suppliers will bring new cultural and growth challenges to the region.
“A lot of people think this is like the end of the rainbow,” he said. “There will be some growing pains, although I think it will be great to have a major global company operating here.”
rebalancing growth
Before most of the new VW and supplier jobs are added, however, local business leaders said the continued weakness in consumer confidence and real estate sales will limit economic activity.
“I think the economy will need most, if not all, of 2009 to digest the remainder of the residential and commercial mortgages that are based on pre-recession values,” said Chad Wolford, a vice president for Wolford Development Inc.
Linda Andreae, senior vice president for BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, said that, while coming out of the economic downturn, borrowers and lenders are likely to be less leveraged and more conservative.
“What I hope this recession will do is to rebalance (us) and get back to our core values,” she said.
“We really need to return back to more responsibility,” she said.
Frank Schriner, city president for First Tennessee Bank, said consumer confidence must be restored and a bottom reached for falling home prices before a recovery begins.
“Confidence is definitely one of the things that is missing in this market,” he said.
But Mr. Schriner and other business leaders agreed that Chattanooga’s business climate should aid in the regional recovery.
“The doors have opened so that people find this as a very business-friendly place,” said Michael Mallen, owner of Perimeter Properties LLC.
More info about free pic gallery
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More info about free pic gallery
More info about free pic gallery
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