Reporter boosted military coverage

A great reporter of Wright-Patterson Air Force and military contractor business news was laid to rest last week.

Dayton Daily News reporter Barrie Barber died June 20 at age 52.

An award-winning journalist, Barrie reported to me for several years, and I found him to be one of the most thorough and caring reporters I have worked with in my years as an editor.

The community lost a great cheerleader for and provider of military news with Barrie’s death.

The Dayton Daily News will continue to produce important news on the military and Wright-Patterson, but it will never be able to replace Barrie’s caring touch in everything he did.

Don’t blow your thumb off

We like fireworks.

The average American is expected to spend $75.35 during Fourth of July week. That’s down slightly from $73.42 last year.

Americans are expected to spend $6.9 billion for Fourth of July cookouts and picnics, down from $7.1 billion last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

Fourth of July is also a popular time for traveling, with 31 million planning to head out of town. That’s down from last year’s 33 million, and travelers said higher gas prices would affect the their plans, but decline in travel could also be related to the timing of the holiday.

Discount stores see growth

We like off-apparel stores in the Dayton area.

Reporter Holly Shively reported last week that Burlington Stores has plans to place a new store location in Huber Heights. This will be second location in the Dayton area for Burlington.

The discount retailer’s plans show it is renovating the former H.H. Gregg location at 5545 Executive Blvd. in the North Heights Plaza owned by PMAT. The store plans a $1.8 million renovation to the 32,784-square-foot building, according to city records.

T.J. Maxx, Ross Dress for Less and Macy’s Backstage have plans to open these same kinds of off-apparel stores in the Dayton area.

Shively reported these offprice stores aren’t as easily replaced by online shopping as traditional stores because they’re designed to attract customers hunting for bargains with a wide inventory of clothing and goods but only a handful of each item.

Grocery delivery

I’ve written before about how lazy we are with all of this delivery or ordering online ser

vice. News from Kroger last week will make us even more couch potatoes.

Kroger groceries may soon be delivered to a curb near you — without a delivery driver. The company is exploring delivering groceries with driverless minia-