The universe of what we buy in the grocery store often comes from but a few large food manufacturers. The share of pork, beef or chicken comes from but a few major distributors. But back in the 1950s, regional brands were still a powerful part of the landscape, not onlyMORE HERE
Driving along a favorite country road in Virginia last week, I saw an old Gulf pump, and an lighted OPEN sign that called me in. Someone had reopened the old Cumnor Store in the tiny King and Queen County, Virginia town of Cumnor. Life returns to paradise, I thought. CumnorMORE HERE
Only a few decades ago, one of the dominant features of the refrigerated meat section of the grocery store was hanging sandwich meat. If sausage and bacon were in pull-out packages on a shelf, the sandwich meat was often hanging on hooks; you could see what the meat looked like.MORE HERE
In retail, national retailers always resist local planners in order to push a uniform brand identity. But the subtleties of each retail location should be recognized. While a retail brand needs to use uniform colors, the way the brand appears on each sign is a bit of local connection. IfMORE HERE
In the early 1970s, Levi’s were the brand that everyone wanted, far above competitors like Lee and Wrangler. As Levi’s were the original brand of jeans, any store that carried the line had guaranteed sales and cachet. At that time, the so called “designer” jean brands like Sasson, Calvin KleinMORE HERE
The design does not look appreciably different from its existing restaurants, and instead focuses on energy management. It continues the company’s longstanding tradition of trying to source food locally. MORE HERE
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia – Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Company (OTCPK: BHRB) announced July 6, 2022 that it has purchased the 5680 King Centre Drive office building in Alexandria. It will use the building to consolidate staff scattered among branches. The Bank’s main headquarters, however, will remain at its historic location at 100 SouthMORE HERE
NEW YORK – A new set of Topps Allen & Ginter trading cards is out. The success of the series reveals one of the more unlikely reinventions of brands, namely Allen and Ginter. The name is a forgotten tobacco brand heretofore only known to other card collectors and historians. ItMORE HERE
It is hard to get to know something that changes its name frequently. And in the business of trust, the bank brand name change is the most difficult. Banks brands thrive on old-fashioned notions of fairness and consistency. When the consistency part is inconsistent, you lose, well, consistency and youMORE HERE
The inventiveness of the 20th century left us with many viable, yet sometimes overlooked, genius brands. One such brand is the Heatilator, a fireplace heating system that gets more efficiency and safety out of the fireplace. Heatilator was the idea of making a cast iron wood stove look like aMORE HERE