By Paul FallonStaff writer

Shoppers can find just aboutanything to fit their tastes at theCapitol Flea Market, includingproduce, antiques and even livemusic.

The indoor portion ofthe flea market is open yearround, said Jaime Fuentes,owner of the establishment.About 100 vendors sell theirwares inside.

“And we have an open-airmarket that is seasonal,”Fuentes said. “It opens in thespring and runs through No-vember.”

An additional 100 to 150vendors set up outside thebuilding for the open-air mar-ket.

“We have a very eclecticblend of items for sale at theflea market,” Fuentes said.

A plethora of antiques areavailable in various shops at themarket. Collectibles such asbaseball cards and even toolscan also be had. Produce isalso available as is incense,

candles and other homemadewares.

“The whole family, includingDad, can come and find some-thing at the market,” Fuentessaid.

NASCAR items can also be

found as can sporting goodsmerchandise, he said.

But, families and patrons donot come to the flea marketjust for the shopping experi-ence, he said. Live music is alsoa big draw.

“We have about eight or 10guys that come out and dosome picking and grinning,”he said.

The informal jam session isopen to other musicians,Fuentes said. The musicianstypically play country and blue-grass music. The music nor-mally starts between 10:30 and11 a.m. on Saturdays.

A restaurant is also open in-side the facility, Fuentes said.This is just one of the manythings that helps attract cus-tomers, he said.

“People don’t normally cometo the market just to spend 20minutes shopping,” Fuentessaid. “They come for the wholeafternoon.”

“People can come and listento music and get something toeat while they’re shopping,” headded.

The flea market sits on 29acres of property near CapitalHigh School at 24 Meadow-brook Plaza. It was opened in1989.

2J Sunday Gazette-Mail, February 27, 2011

CYANMAGENTAYELLOWBLACK

CYANMAGENTAYELLOWBLACK2J 2J

TheVisitSpecialty Shoppes of

HurricaHurricane, WVne, WVAtelier Inge Antiques 2710 Main St. 304-542-1212Closets & More 2725 Main St. 304-562-4444Dale Morton Studio 2732 Second St. 304-562-7508E - Counting 2727 Main StFaith Mission US Rt. 60 304-562-1700Ferguson Tea Room 2739 Main St. 304-562-4130Flowers by Design 2759 5th St. 304-989-3376Graphic Solutions 2745 Main St. 304-562-6522Hurricane Floral 2757 Main St. 304-562-6481Main Street Studio 2801 Main St. 304-610-5833Paws N Shop 2806 Putnam Ave. 304-562-0300Plantation Corner 2922 Putnam Ave. 304-562-1001Room with a View 2727 Main St. 304-562-4444Pop Shop 2759 Main St 304-356-0270Stone Art Studio 207 Midland Trail 304-562-3712Strike Three 2729 Main St. 304-444-6816Quilts by Phyllis 2943 Putnam Ave. 304-562-7404

For additional info call 304-562-5896www.hurricanewv.comFor additional info call 304-562-5896

www.hurricanewv.com

Visit theSpecialty Shoppes of

Hurricane, WV

ConvenientlyLocated Off

Exit 34 of I-64

Corridor G shops going strongBy George HohmannStaff writer

The biggest news to occur inrecent months in the big-boxshopping centers along CorridorG came on Nov. 12 when BestBuy opened at The Shops atTrace Fork.

Best Buy remodeled and ex-panded the space formerly oc-cupied by Circuit City. The36,000-square-foot store featuresa layout geared toward show-ing customers how increasing-ly interconnected home elec-tronics have become in recentyears.

Although Best Buy has re-furbished some other stores toincorporate the “connected”store approach, this is the firststore to be built using the newmodel.

Ryan Loveless is the store’sinteractive technology specialist.Asked what that means, hesaid some co-workers call him“the human search engine.”

“My main responsibility istraining associates on thenewest technology, making surethe displays are working, andhosting workshops for cus-tomers on Saturdays,” he said.The fact the Trace Fork BestBuy is a connected store “goesalong with my role,” he said.“We have experience stationswhere customers can come inand play with products like aniPad or an Xbox before theybuy it. The connectivity concepthas gone well.”

Loveless hosts workshops at11 a.m. and 2 p.m. every Sat-urday.

“It’s an opportunity for cus-tomers to come in and learnnew technology and learn whatthey can do with the technolo-gy they already own,” he said.Topics range from tablets to In-ternet-connected televisions tosmart phones. “We really wantto reach out to customers andlet them learn about new stuff,”he said. “Our goal is to keeppeople up to date.

“Sometimes I can do per-sonalized workshops,” he said.People interested in that can e-mail Loveless atRyan.Loveless@BestBuy.com.

Loveless said the store’s open-ing was well received by cus-tomers and employees alike.

“There were people coming upto the store before we opened,

wanting to come in,” he said.Before the Trace Fork store

opened, Best Buy’s closest outletwas nearly an hour’s drive fromCharleston, at the HuntingtonMall. Loveless said that since theopening, many customers havesaid how glad they are that theyno longer have to drive to Hunt-ington.

As for the employees, “Theywere excited to get to work af-ter putting the store together.”

The Trace Fork store is BestBuy’s fifth in West Virginia. Oth-ers are in Morgantown, Martins-burg, Wheeling and Barboursville.The Trace Fork store employsabout 130 workers and has aGeek Squad, a Best Buy sub-sidiary that offers computer-re-lated services and accessoriesfor residential and commercialcustomers.

Other recent openings at TheShops at Trace Fork: Portrait In-novations opened on Oct. 26 andThe Creperi Cafe opened in Au-gust in the space formerly oc-cupied by Quizno’s.

THF Realty of St. Louis, Mo.,owns The Shops at Trace Forkand Dudley Farms Plaza. LocalTHF spokesman Andy Boyd saidTrace Fork is 100 percent leased.

Efforts to get the state to builda road connecting the Shops atTrace Fork to Jefferson Roadhave advanced, although the statedoes not have any constructionmoney available.

It has been estimated that thecost will be $11 million.

State highways spokesman

Brent Walker said in Decemberthat all of the formal reviewshave happened, the alignmentstudy is finished and the designsare complete. “I would say thatfrom the preliminary standpointwe have inched our way closer,but the biggest hurdle, of course,is a funding source (for actualconstruction), and we’re just notthere,” he said.

South Charleston Mayor FrankMullens said in December he wasboth surprised and disappointedto learn the state didn’t have anymoney for construction. Earlierthis month South Charleston’scity council voted for an ordi-nance that would allow the saleof city-owned land the stateneeds for the right-of-way.

South of The Shops at TraceFork, at Dudley Farms Plaza, thebig news is Shoe Carnival.

“We are taking a portion ofthe former Goody’s box,” saidMike Smith, Shoe Carnival’s vicepresident of real estate. Themove, expected to occur in latesummer, will be in time for backto school. It will result in the ex-pansion of the store from 12,000to 16,000 square feet.

“We’re excited about the op-portunity to broaden our selec-tion,” Smith said. “Our hope isthat with the expansion we’llgrow the business and if we do,we will add a proportionalamount of employees.”

Shoe Carnival is one of theoriginal tenants in Dudley FarmsPlaza, having opened in 1998. Thecompany also has locations in

West Virginia at Clarksburg,Parkersburg, Beckley and Bar-boursville. Shoe Carnival has atotal of 315 stores in the Mid-west, South and Southeast. Thecompany is headquartered inEvansville, Ind.

The former Goody’s locationhas been dark since early 2009,when the company went out ofbusiness.

Boyd, the THF Realtyspokesman, said, “I’d be com-fortable in saying we have quitea bit of interest in the formerGoody’s space” that will not betaken by Shoe Carnival. “We ex-pect a lot of activity this sum-mer at Dudley Farms Plaza.”

THF Realty also has tenantsfor the original Shoe Carnivalspace and there’s interest in thespace formerly occupied by AllCare Dental, which went out ofbusiness the first of the year,Boyd said.

Across Corridor G atSouthridge Centre, the newestaddition is Las Trancas MexicanRestaurant, which opened in No-vember.

The restaurant is on the hill-top, in the space near Red Lob-ster and Olive Garden that wasformerly occupied by SmokeyBones Bar & Fire Grill and, mostrecently, Billy’s.

Martin Arello of Vienna ownsLas Trancas. He also has beeninvolved in opening restaurantswith the same name in Clarks-burg and Marietta, Ohio.

Georgette Rashid George, aspokeswoman for RidgeLine Inc.,the landowner at Southridge Cen-tre, said the new restaurant hasbeen doing extremely well.

There are only a few emptyspots at Southridge Centre. Fa-mous Dave’s Legendary Pit Bar-B-Que closed in June after theparent company filed bankrupt-cy. Almost Heaven Steak andRibs operated in the same spacefor a month but closed in July.“We have some good prospectsfor that space,” George said. “Itis a very good out parcel.”

The space formerly occupiedby Sabatino Brothers, a sandwichshop, also is available.

“We are in a steady state,”George said. “We’ve been veryblessed. There’s still demand inthe market, still vibrancy. Themarket is still strong.”

Contact writer George Hohmann atbusiness@dailymail.com or 304-348-

4836.

Lowe’s

Davis

119

KEVIN CADE /DAILY MAIL

New connectorAn $11 million road extending RHLBoulevard from The Shops at Trace Forkto Jefferson Road would provide easier accessto the shopping centers on Corridor G and wouldimprove access to the South Charleston MemorialIce Rink and to a soccer complex.

601

TargetCree

kTrace Fork

601

Corridor G

Dick’sRHL Blvd.

Icerink

Soccerfields

SHOPS ATTRACE FORK

SchenleyPark

JeffersonRd.

Connectorroad route

Bob Wojcieszak/Sunday Gazette-Mail

The Kanawha City Penn Station East Coast Subs is one of six ownedby Charleston resident Roger Kirkland and his wife, Marilyn. Theowners started out with one location in Teays Valley six years ago.

Couple hails successwith fresh productBy Paul FallonStaff writer

Six years ago, Charleston res-ident Roger Kirkland and hiswife, Marilyn, opened their firstPenn Station East Coast Subs inTeays Valley.

They have expanded to sixstores around the state becauseof the success of the brand.

Kirkland believes this successis based on the freshness of thefood.

“The No. 1 reason we’resuccessful is that God has cho-sen to bless us,” Kirkland said.“And the second reason is be-cause we serve the absolutebest cheeses, meat and breadyou can get your hands on.”

Kirkland said employees at alllocations cut meats, cheeses andveggies three times a day tokeep them fresh. They also usefresh lemons to make the shop’ssignature lemonade.

The french fries served at theshops are all made from Russetpotatoes. The potatoes are cutinto fries three times a day andare deep fried in pure peanut oil,which gives them a unique taste,Kirkland said.

“It’s very labor-intensive, butit’s worth it,” he said.

Kirkland owns the Penn Sta-tion stores in Teays Valley, Kan-awha City, Southridge, St. Al-bans, Beckley and Parkersburg.They are hoping to open a cou-ple more shops in the Charles-ton area, he said.

Kirkland declined to saywhere he is attempting to openthe shops because he is still ne-gotiating.

He believes the proof is in thepudding when it comes to hisstores’ success. For example, heopened his second store in Kan-awha City a mere nine monthsafter opening his first in TeaysValley.

A year later he opened thestore in Southridge, followed bythe one in St. Albans 14months later. One year afterthat the store in Beckleyopened followed by the store inParkersburg 11 months afterthat.

All of the stores have beensuccessful, he said.

Kirkland was an operationsdirector for a local McDonaldsfranchise for about 17 years. Hethen bought the McDonalds inSouth Charleston and ran it forfour years.

However, he and his wife de-cided to move in another direc-tion. The pair did extensive re-search over two years to deter-mine what restaurant theywould like to open when he de-cided to leave the golden arch-es.

Their research led them to be-lieve Penn Station East CoastSubs was their best bet.

“We just knew that it wouldwork here because of the tasteof the food,” he said. “And wethink it’s going to continue togrow in this area.”

Although the pair hails fromOhio, they have lived in WestVirginia for many years.

“West Virginia is our home,and we’ve been blessed andtreated well here,” he said.

Contact writer Paul Fallon at paul.fal-lon@dailymail.com or 304-348-4817.

Capitol Flea Market has something for all

Tom Hindman/Sunday Gazette-Mail

A variety of items ranging from antiques to sports collectibles areavailable at the Capitol Flea Market near Capital High School at 24Meadowbrook Plaza. An open air market also inhabits the locationin the spring.

Despite fears, now may bethe time to buy a houseThe Salt Lake Tribune

Interest rates are near his-toric lows. Real estate is moreaffordable than it was threeyears ago. And the inventoryof homes for sale gives buy-ers more choices than they’vehad in years.

So why aren’t more peoplebuying?

Certainly, there are scores ofpotential buyers who nolonger can qualify for loansunder today’s tighter lendingcriteria. And others can’t be-cause of layoffs, pay cuts andother recessionary hardships.

Even among those who canand want to buy, many are stillholding off out of fear that itjust isn’t the right time, but arethey missing an opportunity?

“Consumer confidence is re-ally low,” said Eric Allen, di-

rector of Metrostudy in SaltLake City, which tracks thehousing market.”

Mortgage rates, though upin recent weeks, remain nearhistoric lows. Some econo-mists predict rates will climbto the mid-5 percent range oreven higher by the end of theyear and into early 2012.

That possibility is one rea-son Mark Knold, chief econo-mist of the Utah Departmentof Workforce Services, saidpotential buyers might want toconsider a purchase. Homeprices locally may still fall a bitbefore the market hits bottomsometime this year, but if buy-ers wait until 2012, they al-most certainly are going topay a higher interest rate.Waiting, he said, could actuallyresult in a worse buying ex-perience.

Sites map your social connectionsBy Mike SwiftSan Jose Mercury News

SAN JOSE, Calif. — It’s dif-ficult for people to visualize alltheir connections with friends,family, classmates and col-leagues — a web of linkagesthat can reveal much aboutthemselves and the people intheir lives.

Now social networks aremaking that easier to do.

New apps on LinkedIn andFacebook allow you, in a glance,to see the patterns of connec-tions between you and everyoneyou have a tie to in that networkwho has agreed to create a mu-tual connection. Users will seea rich lattice of personal con-nections that, digitally illustrat-ed, can resemble star clusters,multi-cell organisms or the air-line route schedules in the backof in-flight magazines.

The apps show not only theconnections between yourself

and others, but also allow you toclick on anyone in your networkand see the mutual connectionsbetween people you know. Itcan be a fascinating and sur-prising experience to discoverthat while you know Rob inBoston and Frank who sits a fewdesks away in San Jose, you hadno idea they know each other.Examining those nodes and clus-ters can show you how a spouse,close friend or a career mentorcan literally be the crossroads ofyour life.

“They all tell a very interest-ing story,” said DJ Patil,LinkedIn’s chief scientist. “Thisis literally like snowflakes. Thereare no two of these alike.”

LinkedIn, which launched its“InMaps” feature — which canbe accessed at inmaps.linkedinlabs.com — on Jan. 24, usescolor coding to show at a glancethe hubs of your professionalnetwork. Patil said the networkwanted the graphics to both be

beautiful and have career utili-ty, such as allowing profession-als to visualize who to go to forcareer advice.

LinkedIn allows you to shareyour social graph through Twit-ter, Facebook or LinkedIn — withthe names stripped out to pre-serve the privacy of those in yournetwork.

“We’re able to capture your en-tire professional life,” Patil said.“That was a very empoweringthing for people to talk about.”

At the recent Strata data con-ference in Santa Clara, a long lineof people were waiting at theLinkedIn booth to get their graphprinted out. Mine looks like a dou-ble torus, with two different clus-ters of connection — one aroundcurrent and former colleagues atthe Mercury News, the otheraround connections at my formeremployer in Connecticut.

What struck me was how sep-arate my East Coast and WestCoast worlds were.