The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C., The Buzz column
Oct 07, 2012 (Menafn - The Herald-Sun - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --Pop-up stores at Southpoint: Microsoft will be opening a holiday store at The Streets at Southpoint on Oct. 26, a company spokesman said.
The store will be one of 32 stores the company is opening in the United States and in Canada for the holidays, said Ted Ladd, director of corporate communications for Microsoft Corp.
The company hasn't announced merchandising for the stores yet, Ladd said. He added that the company has looked for high-traffic malls with a concentration of young families and tech-interested consumers for the location of the pop-ups.
"We have competitors that are in (the) same or similar locations...we don't obviously have a focus on that; we're primarily trying to serve our customer base," Ladd said.
Another pop-up that's coming to Southpoint for the holidays is the Pottery Barn concept for teenagers, said Ashley Warrick, Southpoint's marketing manager.
The store is slated to open Oct. 20 in the space that previously housed Yankee Candle, which has relocated within the mall to the Belk wing, she said.
The mall currently has Pottery Barn and Pottery Barn Kids store locations, Warrick said.
PBTeen is the teen Pottery Barn concept for Williams-Sonoma Inc., a publicly-traded company that also owns and operates West Elm, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, and Rejuvenation retail stores.
The PBteen brand began with the introduction of a PBteen catalog in 2003 and with an e-commerce website that launched that same year, according to securities filings. The brand includes home furnishings and accessories designed for teenagers.
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The Parlour's new digs: The new brick-and-mortar location for the mobile ice cream business The Parlour will be at 117 Market St., near CCB Plaza.
Vanessa Mazuz, co-owner of the business with her husband, Yoni Mazuz, said the pair signed the lease for the space Sept. 19.
The building previously housed the production kitchen for Locopops.
To help prepare for the opening of the shop, The Parlour will stop its mobile operations Oct. 14.
"We just need to focus on getting the store open," Vanessa said.
She said they've hired Durham-based firm Center Studio Architecture to design the interior, and are looking for a contractor for the renovation.
The plan is to sell ice cream in the shop as well as pastries, espresso, and specials. She said they're targeting opening in January so they can adjust to running the bus as well as the store.
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Bull City Burger and Brewery sauces: Seth Gross, owner of the downtown restaurant and brewery Bull City Burger and Brewery, started a company called GroHoFoCo to distribute the business' sauces.
According to the website http://www.grohofoco.com/, the line of sauces includes a "Kick of the Bull Spicy Beer Mustard," a "Beer and Bacon BBQ Sauce," and a "Ghost of Rogers Alley Hot Sauce."
Gross said in an email that he has the sauces available only in the restaurant. He said in an email he plans to take them soon to the market to "see how they do."
"There is a ton of interest at the restaurant, and they are selling," he said.
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