As with any community, change is always in the air.   I’ve noticed changes occur most frequently in the restaurant business… so this post should bear no surprises when you see that it mostly has to do with places to eat…

Noticed the other day that the two empty store fronts next to Target was being combined into one space.  They had formerly been home to a mattress store and a discount shoe store.  I did a general Twitter call out to see if anyone knew what was going in and a friend said she thought it was a buffalo wing place.  Seems my friend might be right.    I just did a search of the Buffalo Wild Wings site and while Brunswick didn’t show up on their ‘Coming Soon’ section, I did find two job openings for a Buffalo Wild Wings ‘opening soon in Brunswick’ on Indeed.com, a job search site.  We’re always excited when there’s a new place to eat around here!

More on the food front, Pranzos has taken up the spot in the small retail center along Frederica by the Shops at Sea Island, behind Oglethorpe Bank at 44 Midway. It had been home to Frankie G’s, which started out with some promise for me but ended up being fairly inconsistent in their quality.  Some other restaurant went in and I can’t even recall the name – all I know is that it didn’t last very long.  So now, Pranzos has taken over that location.   I’m assuming they are expanding and haven’t closed their downtown Brunswick location which I really like.  But the one on the Island is much closer to home!

They’ve torn down the facade of the old Gisco Seafood building which was most recently the home of Southern Soul Barbecue which burned down at the end of March (See post).  Not sure what they’re doing with the place but I find it sad that the bit of character that old building brought to the ‘new’ traffic circle is gone.  I’m sure whatever the owners build on that spot will never have the campy charm that the old seafood shack turned into a bbq joint did.

Down in the Village, I’ve noticed the empty space where Subway used to be now has a sign saying that ‘John’s Pizza’ was coming.  Don’t know when… and don’t know who this John is.  Subway, by the way, moved into their new digs on Mallery sometime earlier this year or at the end of last year… under Rafter’s.  The space had been empty ever since.  I’m particularly intrigued as it’s in the building next to the one my office is in… so any decent lunch place in walking distance is always welcome!

So aside from my on-going gripes about the new entrance to the Island with the psuedo-traffic circle – which I’ve decided is more of a jug-handle turn (anyone from New Jersey out there?) than a circle… and the fact that no one seems to pay any attention to the yield sign as they merge from King’s Way… that’s all for now!

Something as simple as a dry erase board can bode things are picking up… Like many offices, we have a dry erase board in our office upon which we note pending sales. A few weeks ago, there was one pending transaction on our meager little board.  Today, there are about seven or eight possibly more – with one them, I’m happy to say, being one of mine!

While seven or eight transactions may not seem like a lot, it’s a far cry from none or one!  When times are tough, we need to see the positive in even the most trivial of things… in both our business and our lives. Personally, my family has been dealing with a medical situation involving our mother and now it’s little signs of improvement she makes each day that gives us hope.

So I will take the small but growing number of sales on our dry erase in the same spirit understanding that even the little things count!

Do people even like receiving Christmas cards? At 44 cents a pop for a stamp, are they even worth sending in this digital age when I can wish one and all a Merry Christmas or a Happy Hannukah with one status update on Facebook?

Now, for business purposes, I send out one of those magnetic calendars  to the folks in my farming area, the ones whom I regularly send real estate updates throughout the year.  I considered passing on the calendars this year but I ran into several people who specifically asked me if they were going to get my calendars this year and how much they liked them.  How could I say no?

But in regards to the standard personal Christmas cards we send to friends and family: I have to ask myself how I feel about the Christmas cards I receive.  I mean, do we even like getting them? Each year,  we dutifully line our fireplace mantle and shelves with them… and every year, we collect them all and pitch them in the garbage once the holidays have passed.

Then, we started receiving the photo cards, you know the ones… line up the kiddies in matching sweaters and take a picture and send them to everyone you know. Now, I used to like these as they were the only time in the year I would see pictures of my friends’ progeny.  Once again, social media has made that obsolete.  I now routinely see pictures of my friend’s kids in real time.  No longer the kids lined up against a phoney baloney Olin Mills backdrop with a forced smile.  These photos on Facebook are varied and ‘real’ – like Camille at an annual corn maze/fall festival,  Alex playing Xbox in the basement, Grant as a triumphant blur on a soccer field, etc.

Yet, each year, after Christmas, Hubby and I ride up to Target and pick up wrapping paper, Christmas cards and other assorted holiday junk for next year at 50% off. Well, last year, I couldn’t find the cards I’d stashed away the year before… so we didn’t send any out.  Well, this year, we found them PLUS the ones we bought last year so I’m up to my eyeballs in two season’s worth of Christmas cards. Therefore, it seems only fitting I write some greeting inside, sign them, stamp them and send them out.

But it still begs the question: why?

• Facebook,  Twitter, LinkedIn: Free.
• US Postal Service: 44 cents a pop.
• Saving money to put towards a new pair of  boots: Priceless.

Perhaps the fiscal soundness of the digital thing will make the decision for me.

p.s. Since I began this post a few days ago, I’ve noticed something.  By this point in the season, I would normally have received a lot Christmas cards by now… to date, I’ve received 2.  So perhaps I am not alone in my contemplation of withholding business from the US Postal Service… and relying solely on social media to pass on my Christmas Greetings.

Just found out that the construction going on the wedge of land between Demere and Hamilton right near the on-going construction of the new ‘traffic circle’ at the entrance to the Island is going to be a gas station.

First of all, I put ‘traffic circle’ in quotes because it is using the term loosely to call that ridiculous piece of engineering a traffic circle.  Traffic circles are about the continuous flow of traffic and the elimination of traffic signals to artificially stop and start traffic movement.  This one still has a light… and don’t get me started on the problems with the design.

But back to this gas station.  What a nice way for visitors to this Island to be greeted.  Why, everyone knows the best face a resort community can put forward is by presenting their newly arrived guests with a gas station/convenience store.   They already put one that the entrance to the Causeway years ago… on the opposite side of the street from the Welcome Center, there sits a big El Cheapo gas station. (El Cheapo is the actual name – classy eh? – and not a commentary on them, by the way.)

Years ago, the local arts association told me they owned land inside that wedge and were planning to build a new facility there.  When I saw the construction under way, I thought their plans were finally moving forward.  Perhaps it’s not their land at all that I’m seeing.  I had heard something about Sea Island Co. unloading more land they owned around the Island due to their recent financial difficulties… wouldn’t put it past them to sell this piece off too.  Whatever the case may be… it’s just seems crazy to me to put in another gas station right at this particular spot.

Maybe now the kids from the private school across the street will have someplace where they can conveniently pick up their smokes on their way to class…