Standard Register flickers on the radar
Real estate news is often dry. Important, but dry. After all, “real estate” represents where we live, where we work, some of the biggest and most important purchases families and businesses can make.
Sometimes, though, transactions spotlighted in local property records force a second look.
Nearly $3.9 million in total sales of a batch of former Standard Register properties suddenly appeared in Montgomery County real estate transaction records last week. Those transactions were all from Standard Register Co. to Standard Register Inc.
Keep in mind, this is more than three years after Standard Register ended operations.
A broker for the properties wasn’t certain what happened, so I emailed Taylor Corp., the company that acquired Standard Register from its Chapter 11 bankruptcy process in 2015.
Larry Taylor, a vice president with the company, replied within minutes. As it turns out, Taylor recently got around to recording the real estate deeds for Standard Register’s Dayton properties. Hence, the rather dramatic appearance of the transactions in local records.
“We realized the deed from when Taylor acquired the assets out of bankruptcy had never been recorded and, therefore, just took care of doing so now,” Taylor said in the email.
North Mankato, Minn.based Taylor Corp. is counted among the nation’s biggest family-owned companies. The Star Tribune in Minnesota — a newspaper the Taylor family bought in 2014 — reported a few years back that the company enjoys about $1.6 billion in sales.
No new owners for the former Standard Register properties are waiting in the wings, I’m told.
Retail growth
If you want to turn heads in brick-and-mortar retail these days, sometimes all you have to do is survive.
But Kara Driscoll reported last week that Von Maur Department Stores is doing more.
Von Maur is expanding its footprint across the nation with larger stores and new brands, Driscoll told us. Redeveloped and new stores have popped up across the country in the past year — and more are expected in 2019, she wrote. Von Maur carries products from popular brands like Vineyard Vines, Kate Spade and Lilly Pultizer.
The Iowa-based retailer is opening its seventh location in Illinois and spending more than $25 million to revamp a former Carson’s store in suburban Orland Park, Driscoll noted in her story.
National Apprenticeship Week
Apprenticeships work. That’s the message at By Holly Shively ust four days into November, the holiday shopping season is well underway.
A majority of holiday shoppers will start looking for gifts this month, if they aren’t part of the 21 percent that started in September or earlier, according to the National Retail Federation. And with consumers expected to spend an average $1,007, this year could be the highest grossing winter shopping season yet.
Withads and toy guides already surfacing, local retail experts say there are several factors shoppers should keep in mind when hitting stores, or computers, to look for gifts, food and other holiday needs.
“Do some web browsing to find the best deals and think about making online purchases instead of standing in long lines on Black Friday,” said Miami University professor William Even. “Don’t wait until the last minute to get your shopping done.”
Seventeen-year-old Aaron Brown said he mostly shops online because it helps him research the products he’s looking to buy.
“I tend to shop online mostly just because I tend to have more of aknowledge of what I want to get. There’s more variety than what you can typically find in stores,” he said.
Consumers may also take advantage of the growing popularity in Green Monday, usually the second Monday in December.
While less popular than its Cyber Monday counterpart, the Dec. 10 holiday marks the day shoppers realize that days are limited to have online items shipped in time for the holidays.
But Even warned to avoid getting caught in the crowds looking for last-minute purchases.
Whenever customers decide to search for deals, Fisher College of Business economist John Bowblis said to be cautious about using prices as an indicator of quality.
“One of the misconceptions that people make is just because
something is more expensive that means it’s better quality than something else, and that may not be true,” Bowblis said.
Instead shoppers should rely on other consumers who have rated products and left reviews online. Consumers can also find consumer reports for larger purchases, Bowblis said.
“Look at ratings, that’s the key thing,” he added.
In addition to price and quality, Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce executive vice president Chris Kershner said consumers should consider where they are deciding to purchase their gifts, both online and in store.
“Keep in mind the local impact that local spending will have,” he said. “When you do your holiday shopping with local companies, that money stays local; it helps support our friends and neighbors and families that we all cross paths with every day. It helps support our local school systems and local retailers.”