The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Tesla Lease Driving Stonefield Boycott w/ Far Left; Joann Craft Store Closing

Episode Date: February 13, 2025

The I Love CVille Show headlines: Tesla Lease Driving Stonefield Boycott w/ Far Left Joann Craft Store Closing (Rio Hill Shopping Center) Businesses With Big Square Feet And Rent Closing Flat Crêperie Founder Opening New F&B Business Commercial Kitchen For Rent In City ($5K/Month) Magnolia House Demolished Despite Attempt To Save AlbCo Attorney Jim Hingeley On I Love CVille (3/5) UVA Innovators Of The Year On I Love CVille (2/20) Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible, Rumble and iLoveCVille.com.

You never say quiet on this, Judah. I say it every day. Well, I'm sorry. Goodness gracious, great balls of fire. Good Thursday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville show. It's a pleasure to connect with you guys

through the I Love Seville network on what is turning into a 50 degree day. The snow is melting, the sun is shining, and Judah is chippy and cheery per usual. Thank you kindly for joining us on what we like to call the water cooler of Charlottesville, where you, the viewer and listener, help shape the show with your thoughts, your ideas, your questions, your topics, and your perspective. A lot I want to cover on the program today, including the far left, those who are vehemently opposed to Donald Trump and his second term, are choosing to boycott the shops of Stonefield, owned by a private equity group from New York, the shops of Stonefield. They recently inked a lease with Elon Musk and a Tesla dealership. They call it a Tesla gallery. Gallery is a branding term for dealership. And because Tesla

was announced, news that we broke probably close to a year ago when we had Roger Voisinet on the program. Roger Voisinet, a realtor, a developer, and a Charlottesville stakeholder. I love Roger. Love seeing him around town. He broke the news on I Love Seville that a Tesla dealership was coming to the shops of Stonefield about a year ago. Well, that news was announced within the last 48 hours. We covered it yesterday. And since that news broke, folks that utterly despise Donald Trump and Elon Musk are saying they are now going to not just boycott the Tesla shop, the Tesla gallery,

but they're going to boycott the entire shops of Stonefield. They're doing this boycott while driving around in a Tesla, typing on their iPhones, on Amazon Web Services, powered internet, on social media platforms owned by Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, while enjoying some fresh produce from Whole Foods and Jeff Bezos. I want to talk on today's show, the impacts of boycotting the shops of Stonefield because of political passion and ideology. We'll talk on today's show,

Joanne Craft Store closing in the Rio Hill Shopping Center. Goodness gracious, another one bites the dust. And this list is getting quite long, my friends. Roses, Reed's Grocery Store, 10,000 Villages on the Downtown Mall, Big Lots, Zoom, Charlottesville and Barracks Road, South and Central, Fuzzy's Taco Shop, just to name a few. They have all bit the dust in very recent memory. And I'm going to have this conversation. What are some of the common denominators that have led Joanne's and Rose's and Reed's and 10,000 Villages and Big Lots and Zoom to close, to shutter their doors. One of those elements that should be highlighted is the drowning in square feet overhead, drowning in rent overhead. I want to talk about that. All those businesses, if you compare them to their competitors and their

respective spaces of business, have on the very large side of business footprints. We'll talk about that on today's show. On the program, we're going to talk about a new food and beverage business opening. This business, the hard work of the founder of the flat creperie, Judah, so a new F&B brand being birthed in the Charlottesville food and beverage ecosystem. We'll talk on today's program, a commercial kitchen that's for rent on Market Street, just to hop, skip, and a jump from where I'm sitting right now in downtown Charlottesville. We will highlight the unfortunate demise of Magnolia House, an indie music venue. Do you patronize Magnolia House,

Judah Wickhauer? Are you one? The last time it was used for music was, I believe, 2020. And no, I don't think I ever knew about it. Last time it was used was pre-pandemic. Yeah, it lasted for, I believe, 12 years from 2008 to 2020. Judah will have that story for you, viewers and listeners. So a lot we're going to cover on the program. In a matter of moments, we'll give some attention to Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, Judah, but hold that thought for now. Had an interesting encounter with one of the Miller maniacs this morning as I'm getting ready to go to work and running late outside the door as we're getting ready to take the oldest Miller maniac to school. I drop him off at school in the morning. The youngest Miller maniac, who's two years old and changed, decides to have a little fun with mommy and daddy and

his big brother. I have my keys in my pocket. I have my wallet in my pocket. I have my North Face jacket on my shoulders. I have my Yeti 40 ounce, I love Seville, coffee cup in my hand. And I'm sprinting for the door. My wife, the glue, the Elmers of the Miller family, says, do you have your lunch, Jerry? Where is your lunch? Do you have your lunch? You always forget your lunch, which causes me an extra trip to drive in from Ivy into downtown Charlottesville to drop off the lunch at the Macklin building in front of the studio. And I'm like, no, I don't have my lunch. I'm panicking. For some reason, I'm patting my pockets and my shoulders and my chest and my arms, thinking that my lunch, which is in a,

what do you call those containers, Judah, those plastic containers? Tupperware. A Tupperware container could fit in my pocket. Of course it can. And for lunch on this given, this glorious Thursday, were chicken wings, leftovers from dinner. Fantastic chicken wings that my wife had cooked. I'm patting my chest. I'm patting my pockets. I'm looking in the pockets of my North Face jacket

for some reason, and I can't find my lunch. She's scrambling all over the house looking for the lunch. We've even enlisted the oldest Miller maniac, our first grader, who is looking everywhere in the home. We're lifting up the, we're pulling out drawers. We're looking in the mudroom. We're looking under jackets. We're looking behind the sofa. We're looking in the fridge.

We could not find the lunch. And the youngest Miller maniac was just standing in the center of the house, watching with a shit eating grin as his mother, as his father, and as his older brother are running around with chicken, like chickens with their heads cut off throughout the house, looking for daddy's lunch. Eventually, I just said, you know what? Screw it. I got to get the oldest kid to school. We're running late. I don't want him to be late because I can't find my lunch because I can't find my chicken wings. And as we get out the door, as we get into the car and as we head to school,

I get a phone call from my wife 15 minutes later and she says, you're not going to believe where your lunch was. The youngest Miller maniac, our two-year-old, had hid daddy's lunch in his play kitchen, in the sink of his play kitchen. He goes into his play kitchen, pulls out the Tupperware container with daddy's six chicken wings, brings them to mom with a laugh of a sinister nature, like a Morgan Freeman, James Earl Jones belly laugh and says, daddy, and gives them to my wife. He foils the family by stealing the chicken wings and hiding them for 15 or 20 minutes, knowing all along that he was the man behind taking daddy's lunch. A two-year-old, ladies and gentlemen. That was today in the Miller House.

We'll give some attention, speaking of legacy and family, to Charlottesville Sanitary Supply. 60 consecutive years in business. We saw Andrew Vermillion today. Always looking distinguished and dapper, Andrew Vermillion in his row back. On East High Street, Charlottesville Sanitary Supply guys has been in business for 60 plus years. They're located online

at charlottesvillesanitarysupply.com and it's a good family business. Started by a first generation husband and wife team, a baton that was passed to John Vermillion who's just a good man. Now the baton being passed to Andrew Vermillion. Charlottesville Sanitary Supply, ladies and gentlemen.

Keep the businesses in business by supporting them and help them enjoy another 60 years of consecutive business. CharlottesvilleSanitarySupply.com. A lot we're going to cover on the program. Judah Wickhauer on a two-shot. I razz Judah. Is razz the word, Judah? I give him a hard time from time to time on this show,

but I try to emphasize and highlight that he is a critical component of the program, and the program does not function as it does without this man that you see on screen who's got probably the best collection of sweaters in the greater Charlottesville area. This is one of my personal favorites. How about that?

You have a lot of sweaters, do you? I've got like... A dozen? Four that I wear. No, no. You wear more than four. I've got four heavier ones. One's not even a sweater.

It's more of a quarter-zip fleece. Then I've got some lighter sweaters for summertime. Only Judah. Only Judah. Only Judah wears a sweater in summertime. Well, maybe only Judah has a chilly workplace in the summer. Chilly workplace. The thermometer is set to 70 degrees.

I'm wearing a button-down Brooks Brothers with the sleeves rolled up. The odd couple over here, Judah and I. How about some odd behavior, Judah, if you want to put the first, lower third on screen? I need you to help me understand this, and I think he's going to have beef with my choice of words. I call it the far left. The population of Charlottesville that hates Trump the most. And let's cut to the chase. That's a large portion of Charlottesville, Alamook County. Is it just the far, far left, though, that hates Donald Trump and Elon Musk? Why don't we set the table first with the story, and then we can go down that, because that might be the actual better talking point, what you're about to bring up.

Stonefield, the shops of Stonefield, owned by a private equity group from New York. This is class A of class A real estate in our area. It's Barracks Road Shopping Center and the shops of Stonefield with the most expensive rents. One of them's in the city, one of them's in Alamaro County. Barracks in the city, Stonefield, and Alamaro County. They announced within the last 48 hours news that we broke over a year ago when Roger Voisinay came on the program and talked about this. But a Tesla dealership, Tesla's calling it a gallery, it's a dealership, is opening in the shops of Stonefield. Tesla, of course, the driver of wealth,

the top driver of wealth for the wealthiest man in the world, Elon Musk, who is now the most powerful man in the world, Elon Musk, because he was the one that was most responsible for getting Donald Trump elected for his second term. Elon Musk in the news for a number of reasons now, SpaceX, Twitter, Starlink, Tesla, but most notably of late because he is slashing government spending at a pretty significant clip. The type of slashing of government spending that's impacting quite a few people in the Central Virginia community because there's quite a few Central Virginians, Charlottesvillians, and Elmira Countyans that are making their living tied to federal funding, government funding, some kind of funding with the government.

And this is the type of funding that Musk is slashing. So when Stonefield announces that Tesla is opening the first Tesla dealership of its kind in the region and the shops of Stonefield, the community has a hissy fit. And that hissy fit has been of significant proportions. A lot of the ire has been directed directly at the Tesla dealership, where folks have some unsavory things to say about Tesla. And let's cut to the chase. There's hundreds, if not thousands, of Teslas that are driving around Charlottesville and Central Virginia. Everywhere you look, there is a Tesla. In fact, if you go to the Market Street camera, you just saw a Tesla drive by.

You may not have been able to catch it there. Teslas everywhere. I bet if we put the show on the Market Street camera throughout the entire one hour of the show, you'd see a dozen Teslas drive by our studio on Market Street. Here's the interesting wrinkle of what's happening. It's not just a boycott of Tesla and this dealership in Stonefield, Judah. The far left, I call it the far left. Judah, I want you to pick that apart like Thanksgiving turkey. But the far left is saying, we're not even going to shop at Stonefield in general. In Stonefield in totality, we're so angry with this private equity group from New York that leased the Tesla dealership, that agreed to a Tesla lease.

Where do you want to go with this topic? Judah Wickauer. I mean, I copied some of the responses in there. Do you want to read them off? I mean, the ones that you can read off? I mean, I don't think there's any that have... I'm taking down names or anything like that, and anybody can go on to...

These are all from Stonefield's... Facebook page. Facebook post. Mentioning... I mean, they did a post saying that, hey, we've got Tesla coming, Stonefield's Facebook post mentioning, I mean, they did a post saying that, hey, we've got Tesla coming, and there are quite a few responses, and I don't know if I would call them unhinged,

but I don't think we're talking about, you know, this isn't necessarily all far-left nutcases. These are, I mean, these are, you know, it's easy to make fun of Reddit because names are hidden. But this is Facebook. Everybody's posting as themselves. These are people posting with their actual names.

Yeah. This is not people posting with anonymous handles on Reddit. Yeah, they're saying, I won't be shopping or seeing movies at Stonefield anymore. People talking about not going to Trader Joe's, people not going to any of the shops in Stonefield in totality,

people boycotting the shops in Stonefield as an entire experience because of this lease. I call them the far left. You have beef with that. Yeah, as I mentioned, I don't think that it's all... I mean, what is far left? Is there a way to put someone on that scale?

I mean, do you judge someone far left just by what they say? Meaning that anyone who makes a comment on this thread saying we won't be... Okay, so what's a better description than far left? Liberal? See, I think that does a disservice to folks that vote Democrat. By labeling liberals are boycotting, the headline on screen is Tesla lease driving Stonefield boycott with far left.

Judah suggested that the headline should read Tesla lease driving boycott with liberals. I believe the one that says liberals is more true than the one that says far left because you don't know that all of these people are you know do they uh do they associate themselves with the far left or is it just your association uh that they're making these statements that puts them on the far left fair question fair question i don't believe fair question and i could be wrong but i don't believe that there's there are any

conservatives people on the right side of the aisle aisle, who are saying we're not going to shop at Stonefield. Again, I could be wrong. But I think it's safe to say that the people making these statements are left-leaning liberals. And I don't know that they're all far left. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. Vanessa Parkhill, James Watson, let us know your thoughts. Janice Boyce Trevelyan, Lonnie Murray, Lisa Kuslow, Logan Wells-Colello, just to name a few. Bill McChesney.

I was hesitant to use liberal in the headline because I find this behavior of choosing to boycott Stonefield, the shopping center, in totality because it signed a lease with Elon Musk's Tesla. I can understand the concept of, I wouldn't do it, but I can understand the concept of people choosing to boycott Tesla. I cannot understand the concept, cannot, of boycotting all the shops in Stonefield because a Tesla dealership has signed a lease with the shops I don't understand that I agree I thought putting liberal in the headline you jump in here I thought putting liberal in the headline did a disservice a significant disservice to folks who vote

Democrat or are left-leaning because it categorizes them as a group that is doing this behavior. Would Democrats have been better?

I think that might be even more insulting than using liberals. It could be, but let me explain. So first of all, I agree with you on if you want to boycott Tesla, that's fine. My initial problem is when people start basically networking and trying to get everyone around them to also boycott something. Even worse is what's going on here, where you're not going to shop in a shopping center because it has... I made the analogy earlier to you about...

Imagine somebody going into Spencer's at the mall, seeing something that to them is offensive, and then deciding and telling all their friends and trying to get everyone else to agree with them that nobody should be shopping at the mall because Spencer's sells, what, pot-branded T-shirts? Yeah. And adult toys?

Yeah. Really? Okay. So the reason why I don't think it's... the reason why I think it's fair to say Tesla lease-driving Stonefield boycott with liberals is you're not labeling liberals. You're not saying all liberals are horrible people or all conservatives are a bunch of idiots. You're not pooling everybody in some blanket statement that puts down every single person in that slot. You're just saying Tesla lease is driving a Stonefield boycott with liberals because I'm fairly certain that the people that are planning on boycotting Stonefield are liberals. There's nothing wrong in that statement.

And you're not saying that all liberals are like that. Judah Wittkower on point on the Thursday edition of the I Love Seville show. Viewers and listeners, let us know what your thoughts are. Judah Wittkower bringing the heat today. Put your thoughts in the feed. We'll relay them live on air. Go ahead and then i'll get to the commenters here's my here's my favorite uh reaction to to this this was in on on the facebook thread on the stonefield page these are people posting with their actual names people this is not reddit where it's anonymous people flexing

their keyboard keyboard muscles these are actual posts with their actual names. A lot of times where they work professionally that are posting this stuff. Are you going to use the name or not? Are you going to use the person's name? No, I haven't taken down any names, so I couldn't give you the names, but you can find them yourself. And none of these statements are, I don't see anyone getting fired because they posted one of these statements on Facebook. I mean, some of these statements are utter insanity. Well, here's my favorite. Somebody said, boo, and goes on to say, I had plans to see a movie and have dinner at Stonefield tomorrow.

So apparently those plans are off. off or maybe he's thinking that his plans have been ruined because this news is so, I don't know, heart troubling that he just can't go, can't follow through with those plans tomorrow. People are saying on this thread, I guess the shops of Stonefield are welcoming Nazis. Right. I guess the shops of Stonefield are welcoming Nazis. Wow, the shops in Stonefield, you're making a terrible decision here, said another commenter. I guess we won't be shopping at any of your stores once this opens. Yeah. I mean – That's reason enough for me to stop shopping in Stonefield.

And then we've got some responses like, let's be real. Nazis were national socialists, not champions of a free market economy. For a town that prides itself on being educated and liberal, you'd think they would actually understand what the term National Socialist German Workers Party means. And then my favorite sideline comment is, I'm just here for the meltdowns. And I believe somebody else left a GIF of someone shoveling popcorn. Spencer Pushard made a reference to the popcorn emoji in the comment section of my Facebook page.

Viewers and listeners, let us know what your thoughts are. Vanessa Parkhill, the Queen of Earliesville, has some comments that she's offered on the I Love Seville Facebook page. She says this, Judah, and when Vanessa Parkhill leaves a comment, I am very quick to read it because I respect her perspective tremendously. She said, I just had a conversation with my daughter about the use of the term liberal versus leftist or far left. I have an article about that language that I will need to find. I'll share it with you guys once I have it. Janice Boyce-Trevillian says,

please share that article, Vanessa. I would love to read that article and it will most likely become fodder on the talk show. Lonnie Murray, I'm very curious of your thoughts on this. I value Lonnie Murray's perspective. He's watching the program. I'm very curious of your thoughts on this. I value Lonnie Murray's perspective. He's watching the program. I'm very curious of your thoughts on this discussion, Lonnie. Janice Boyce Trevelyan says this.

It's very similar with being Republican if you are immediately labeled MAGA and kissing Trump, which is not true of all Republicans. That's 100% true. 100% true. 100% true. Yeah. And again, let me say that I'm not – nothing that we've said here is a blanket statement about any group. We try not to do that. Whether it's Democrats, liberals, or far left, we haven't made a blanket statement about anyone. And so our use of far left, liberal, and democrat is language to

explain what we're talking about. And without that, we lose the meaning of language. The context of the headline. We may be using the wrong terminology, but it's not to put anyone down or turn those words into bad words. No, it's called headline writing. This literally is what I did for a living while working for the Daily Progress, was write headlines for the newspaper.

Amongst stories, laying out the paper. This is called headline writing. And the topic, the first topic of the show, was Judah and I in the pre-production meeting, uncertain if the headline that you see on screen, Tesla lease driving Stonefield boycott with, he said it should say liberals, I said it should say far left, because if I use the word liberals in the headline, it's distasteful or it's insulting to folks who vote Democrat.

But it's not, though. And you've made a compelling case. You've made a compelling case, Judah. You've maybe even persuaded me. I don't think any of the people making these statements are Republicans or conservatives or people on the far right. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts on this. So how do we categorize? Yes, viewers, how do we categorize people making these statements? What is the preferred moniker here? From my standpoint, far left means more radical in your actions and behavior than liberals,

which someone who is liberal can very much be a centrist. Yeah, definitely. Someone who is liberal could be center aisle. Someone who's liberal could even be left of aisle. But far left means radical in ideology and action. And I find the behavior of someone that is posting with their name on Facebook about boycotting the shops of Stonefield and Totality

because they signed a lease with a car dealership... Radical. Radical. That's why I suggested far left was best for the headline. And that's fair. That was my whole thinking right there. Viewers and listeners, your thoughts, put them in the feed. I'll relay them live on air.

Interesting storyline here. John Blair, respect his opinion dramatically on LinkedIn. I'm going to respond. I will mention this live on air. He says, John Blair, I would only point out, point this out to you too, because you're old enough to remember this. Remember the phrase latte liberal. There was a time when conservatives made fun of Starbucks drinkers. Now the left is more anti-Starbucks than the right. And five years ago, there were some anti-electric vehicle sentiment on the right. If it was 2018, I might expect the anger about a Tesla dealership to be coming from some right-wingers opposed to green lifestyles.

Now it's the left. How the world turns. Fantastic perspective from Mr. Blair. No doubt. And very true. I mean, yeah. There was a time when Musk had nearly savior status

among some people. And some people thought that... And again, I'm not... Before Musk got... I'm not even trying to put a label like liberal. I'm just saying some people have never liked Trump. Some people loved him. No, no, no.

But some people thought that electric vehicles were going to save the world. Mug, there's been no, you can make a legitimate argument that in the United States of America, the second most polarizing and divisive person in America is Elon Musk. I'm going to give moniker number one to Donald Trump, okay, as the most polarizing and divisive person in America, Donald Trump. Now, some will point to the fact that Trump won in landslide fashion as the fact that he should not be on this list. I'm still going to say Trump the most polarizing and divisive person in America today. I'll Trump, the most polarizing and divisive person in America today. I'll say the second most polarizing and divisive person in America today

is Elon Musk. And I want you to think of the significant change in personal brand for Elon Musk. Before Elon Musk got involved with Twitter ownership, it started with Twitter ownership. And once he controlled this media platform And once he controlled this media platform, once he purchased this media platform, Twitter, he started basically spouting out,

basically using Twitter as stream of conscious and utilizing the platform to have diary of the mouth in every capacity possible. Twitter seems to do that to people. He does it with transgender. He does it with gay rights. He does it with politics.

He does it with geopolitical warfare commentary. He does it with budgeting and spending commentary. The stuff that your parents said, you don't talk about religion, politics, and sex in neutral settings. Musk does all of that. Literally does all of that. And I cannot think of a person over a five-year period of time that's had a more significant change in personal brand from being a savior of sorts to many with what he was doing with Tesla where Tesla drivers were in a lot of ways the left like John Blair has said left-leaning individuals that were

pounding their chests saying electric vehicles green green, good for the environment. Now those same people five years ago, before he bought Twitter, before he bought Trump the second term, right? If you say so. He was his top funder. Was it over a quarter of a billion dollars? I don't have the numbers. Okay. I think over a quarter billion dollars. Five years ago, the left-leaning folks that were eco and green pounded their chest and were proud to say Tesla. Pounded their chest and were proud to say Tesla. Yeah. Now those folks are as anti-Tesla as humanly possible.

Won't even go to a... Won't go to a shops of Stonefield. With a Tesla gallery. With a Tesla gallery on it. Can you tell me someone in America in a 36-month period of time, three-year period of time, that has had a more significant about-face with personal brand? Probably not.

Is there one in America that's had a more significant about-face and personal brand than Elon Musk over the last 36 months? I mean, there are, but we don't need to get into all these. Few. Few. Of this significance? I had a conversation. Finding out things that people have done.

I had a conversation yesterday with someone I will not name. And the conversation I had yesterday was someone I will not name. And the conversation I had yesterday with someone I will not name, this individual is absolutely convinced that the world is close to coming to an end because of artificial intelligence and the role that artificial intelligence is going to have in the world

basically replacing humans and so many facets that we cannot understand. And this individual was saying yesterday, I am absolutely convinced that Elon Musk, who is one of the most intelligent people in a lot of ways in the world, is aware of the impact that artificial intelligence will have with replacing humans in the very near future. So he has a savior complex of some kind

where he is trying to, in his eyes, save the world from this. And or he realizes the negative impact, the negative consequences of artificial intelligence as it applies to the human race. So at this point, he's just having as much fun as he can possibly can with life because he believes we're doomed. One of two things to back or characterize or signify Musk's behavior right now. He's either got a savior complex to save humanity, or he knows humanity is doomed. And because of that foreshadowing, because of that doom foreshadowing, he's just spending his money and having a blast with what he's doing in life right now. That's an odd way to have a blast. You would characterize some of what Musk is doing as unhinged. I wouldn't characterize it as going on one last blast before the cancer ends your run.

Musk's commentary on Twitter, he's tanked value of Twitter. He's damning and damaging the Tesla stock with his commentary and his political flag waving. You said he's damaged Twitter?

I Is Twitter got the same value than when he bought it? No, but that's, but we've also said that. Tesla stock is certainly down and the brand's been tated since he got Twitter and started talking his views in such public capacity. I mean, some would argue that his stock was overvalued anyways, but... Comments coming in. James Watson.

He says, I will stay out of the political side and just simply say that Stonefield has been a revolving door of retail and restaurants. A beautifully designed shopping center will sit with several empty spaces. Very few have been successful. Malls and strip malls just don't do well

in Charlottesville for some reason. Barracks is the only one that has stood the test of time and we don't even have a mall anymore in Seville. Yeah. Was signing a Tesla lease malpractice in the shops of Stonefield, for the shops of Stonefield?

Maybe yes, maybe no. I'm going to go ahead and say that once it's in there and it's been there and the ire has been forgotten, burned itself out. People will go back to, I mean, you know, not all of us can shop it for Teslas anyways, but I think a lot of these people go back to Stonefield and return to their regular haunts. Comments coming in quickly. Lonnie Murray leaving a comment. Very, respect this man's opinion tremendously here. He says this. I'll just say that as a liberal, this is Lonnie Murray. He says, I'll just say that remember that liberalism is a political and more philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. Okay. That's good to know. Though oftentimes those subtleties are hard to

what's the word I'm looking for? Not everybody has the same definition of all these words. And so we use them lightly and we don't use them to offend anyone. But as we mentioned before before to try to characterize what we're talking about georgia gilbert says i cannot imagine the trader joe's junkies boycotting trader joe's janice boyce trevillian says fine i will enjoy the smaller crowds at trader joe's then vanessa says many would say you are free to do this or that,

but just don't ask or expect me to pay for it. I think that is the focus of his Doge initiatives, not on the taxpayer dime. Ms. Park, he'll leave in some comments. Viewers and listeners, let us know your thoughts. An intriguing storyline developing right over the city line in Albemarle County. Very intriguing storyline. All right, Judah Wittkower, our next headline on the I Love Seville show, my friend, what is that headline? Joanne. Okay, so another one bites the dust, right? Now it's

Joanne Fabrics, as the company is... A lot of Joanne Fabrics. I think it was 500 of them, right? Let's see, it's... I think it was 500 of them, right? Let's see. Pretty sure it was 500. 533 of its 800 U.S. locations. Yeah.

I mean, this company is in the pooper here. Ryo Hill Shopping Center. We're talking one of the flagships in the Ryo Hill Shopping Center. Joanne, ladies and gentlemen, Fabric and Craft Store is closing. This is a gut punch to many of the, I mean, what is it called? What is the hobby? Is it crafting?

I guess it's crafting, knitting, sewing. It could be a lot of things. I don't think there's any. It's not like they sell to just one type of – I mean it's called fabric and craft store. Yeah, they've got – So crafting. We'll call it crafting.

They've got stuff for quilting. They've got stuff for – We'll call it crafting for the sake of a talk show here. So we're not getting in the weeds here. Get cloth for clothing. Yeah, it's a craft store. The company filed for bankruptcy. They filed for bankruptcy less than a year ago, too.

A second time less than a year ago in January, after initially filing and then going private in March of 2024. So I want to use this news to kind of look at the businesses that have closed of late. Some of them, Lonnie, I'm using the word some. Some of them that have closed of late in the greater Charlottesville area. And are there any commonalities? I think perhaps there are some commonalities. I'm going to rattle off a few. Viewers and listeners, help me and Judah add to this list. Joanne's is closing in the Rio Hill Shopping Center. Rose's is closing in the Pantop shopping center. Reed's grocery store is closing over there

on Preston. It has closed. Has closed. 10,000 villages closing on the downtown mall. Big Lots closing in one of those shopping centers on Route 29. I get them all confused. I know one of those shopping centers, it certainly has Square in the name. Whether it's Almar Square or Seminole Square or Fashion Square, one of the squares, Big Lots is closing. Zoom, Charlottesville, closing in Barracks Road. Closing Barracks Road. South and Central and Dairy Market. Fuzzy's in Fifth Street Station.

Joanne's, Rose's, Reed's, 10,000 Villages, Big Lots, Zoom, South and Central, Fuzzy's, just off the top of my head. And about five minutes of thinking before the show started. Ladies and gentlemen, you look at all those businesses, Joann's, Rose's, Reed's, 10,000 Villages, Big Lots, Zoom, South and Central Fuzzies, and you compare and contrast those businesses with their competitors in their space of business, their silos of business, and all those competitors,

all those businesses that close have pretty large footprints. Maybe you don't include Reed's in there because Reed's people are going to try to compare it to a Harris Teeter or a Kroger or Food Lion. And the Reed's in footprint is much smaller. I, however, push back and say a better comparison for Reed's would be the Market Street Market than comparing Reed's to Food Lion or Harris Teeter. Because I think a Reed's is more akin to Market Street Market, the grocery store right next to us in downtown Charlottesville, than a Harris Teeter in Barracks Row. And if I was comparing a Reed's to the Market Street Market here,

the Market Street Market is like 60% smaller than Reed's. So the case I'm making, the argument I'm making, my thesis is Joanne's, Rose's, Reed's, 10,000 Villages, Big Lots, Zoom, South and Central, and Fuzzy's, when you compare them to their competitors in their space of business, they have the largest footprints of their competitors. And as a result, they're drowning in lease overhead. Drowning in lease overhead at a time when human behavior has changed significantly collateral damage to covid we started shopping and buying online even more because the government told us we couldn't leave our house so we started getting our behavior change and even more ordering

done to our home through digital means and less of human connection less a willingness or a want to build human connection by getting in our cars and shopping at brick and mortar locations. Support brick and mortars, people. A world where in-person shopping and brick and mortar shopping is a world that does not, that behavior does not exist, is a world I don't want to live in. It's a world I don't want to live in. Joanne's, Rose's, Reed's, 10,000 Villages, Big Lots, Zoom, South and Central, and Fuzzy's. I make a convincing argument. I hope that they have drowned a death of too much leasing overhead.

They've died a death. Drowned a death? They've drowned? If you drown, are you dead? Eventually. But can you drown, are you dead? Eventually. But can you drown and not die? If I say he drowned, is that person, if I read or you said so-and-so drowned,

are we to think that that person is 100% dead? It generally implies that they did not survive. Drown means dead 100% of the time? I wouldn't say 100% of the time. So you can drown and survive? Yeah. I was drowning and somebody saved me. But that's drowning.

He's drowning and someone can rescue someone who's drowning. But drowned, is that person dead? I mean, I'd have to look at the important topics on the I Love Ceevil show. Eric Thompson watching the program. If you aren't making, he says, 26% plus or minus more than you did in 2020, then you are poorer because of inflation. That includes businesses as the rising costs of goods and services impact everyone. Adjusting for inflation is crucial to maintaining your purchasing power and financial health. 100%. I would push back and saying what has really caused the death, the drowned status of these businesses, specifically Joanne's, Rose's, Reed's,

10,000 Villages. In fact, I would say every single one of them is human behavior changing as it applies to shopping on the internet. Is that true across the country, though? I say yes. The willingness to sit down in a restaurant, to get in your car, sit down in a restaurant, wait for somebody to come over, take your order, wait for the food to be delivered, and then tip on top of that, and then go leave the restaurant,

get in your car, and head back home, that behavior is diminishing with millennials and younger. It's diminishing with millennials and younger. Some places are still thriving. Some of them are, but it's because they're doing something exceptionally well. The third-party delivery apps are going, the third-party delivery apps in a lot of ways

will be the demise of sit-down restaurants. Yeah. And the crazy thing is, a lot of times I believe they don't even ask. So it's like, hey, we are going to deliver food for your company, whether you like us to or not, and we're going to do it until we put you out of business and can't deliver for you anymore. It's like the newspaper business. The newspaper business that chose to give away its news for free online without understanding the value of the Internet

and then being like, oh, it is. Hear me out. The newspaper business, I was right out of UVA working for the Daily Progress and I was watching as media general who owned the Daily Progress was giving away its news for free online. And I would say in meetings, and I was low man on the totem pole. I'm talking like a 22 or 23 year old at the time, 24 year old at the time. I said, we should not give away the news for free on the internet. And then I had our managing editor and our publisher say who is this Nat? What is he talking about? It's like it's just the, I remember the publisher saying it's just the internet, they're gonna want to read it in print anyway

and I just looked at him, I'm like dude what are you talking about? I read all the news online and he's like he absolutely looked at me like I was an idiot. Because I'm by youth. The newspaper chose to give away its news for free. And when it gave away its news for free, that ended up being the demise of newspapers. These sit-down restaurants are choosing, out of desperation in a lot of ways, to partner with third-party delivery, selling their food at such, selling

their food at no margin, where they're literally making no money. And they don't realize that will be the demise of their sit-down restaurant where their margin is what's sustaining them when people come in and sit down. Your comment there? You probably know more about that than I do, but I think a lot of those businesses don't have a choice. That's not true. When DoorDash is already selling your stuff online.

That's not true. Okay. I agree that DoorDash, these third-party deliveries are saying, we're going to sell your stuff. If you're a restaurant owner, you can say, no, you're not. Judah makes the point, yes, that these third-party deliveries are just cloning their menus or putting a link to their menu

and slapping it on their DoorDash app or their online website. But the restaurant owner can absolutely say, no, you're not doing this. They can try. I don't know if it's always successful. You don't give the food to the person who comes in. Do you know?

Yes. You know. It's DoorDash or Uber Eats. Viewers and listeners that are in food and beverage, Curtis Shaver, if you're watching the program, help me out. I respect Curtis Shaver's opinion so much. The food and beverage business knows it's DoorDash. Curtis, help me out on that. When the DoorDash guy comes in, please, someone in food and beverage, help me out.

You can say no to them. Say, you're not doing this. But they can't because of fear and desperation. And that will eventually be the death of restaurants. And oftentimes it's the difference between making a smaller margin and making no margin because you don't have a delivery service. Right? I've been told by some of friends

of the program, clients of the program and friends of the program. We're at the point where we've been doing this business for 17 years where the clients have become friends. We have some clients that have been clients for a decade plus that have become friends. The clients that are

friends or the clients are telling us that we are barely breaking even on doing third-party delivery and and the customer in a lot of ways is so disenchanted with the experience because by the time they get the food it's cold yeah and they take out that dissatisfaction on the restaurant itself as opposed to the experience, the process of third party delivery. It's insanity. People are angry.

As evidenced by the outcry when a new shop comes to a shopping center. It's insanity. People love to be outraged. But yeah. I personally have had a lot of luck.

I don't order food delivery a lot, but maybe they just know me. I've had some... In fact, I always get my food long before the estimated time. Where are you ordering from?

Let's see, it's usually Fabio's or Guadalajara or Red Lantern. And you're using third-party delivery for that? I mean, I go to their websites and click on whatever they have.

Red Lantern is delivering with an in-house delivery person. Are you sure? Yeah. Red Lantern, if you're ordering through Red Lantern, Red Lantern is using in-house delivery. Okay, well, I'm talking about three different services,

whether they're Uber, Eats, DoorDash, or whatever. I don't even, you know, I don't keep track. But we usually get, I usually get like a text message saying, hey, your food will be delivered by whatever it is, 8.30. And then 8.10 rolls around and get a text saying, your driver is approaching. I'm like, what? Really? We just ordered the food.

That's good. Yeah, it is good. But my advice, and people are going to hate me for making this comment. Young millennials and the younger generation will hate me for making this comment. Young millennials and the younger generation will hate me for this comment. My advice to the restaurant owners that watch and listen to the show, and I see half a dozen of them doing it right now, is to stop doing third-party delivery. I'd like to hear their responses. If enough of the restaurants stop doing third-party delivery where they literally have slim, if any, margin at all,

then that stopping of third-party delivery will change human behavior and will drive their customers back into their actual brick-and-mortar restaurants to either eat there or to do food to go. If they were really smart, they would team up with each other and start a delivery service. That's been tried in Richmond. Okay. Curtis Shaver leaving some comments. Thank you, Curtis.

He says, You just... You just not... What are you saying? You just not... I can't read this. What are you saying in this first paragraph, Curtis, here? I know he's typing fast because he's trying to get these comments in while the show is going on. He said, if you're signed up, you can't deny making the food if it's ordered, if you sign up. Can you deny being on the site, Curtis? This is a guy that used to own Peloton Station, executive chef

at Hamilton's, and knows the ins and outs of restaurants better than anyone I know. He says, you can turn the service off, Judah. He also says, I agree that the drivers don't give two poop emojis about the food or the customer. The drivers do not. How many times have you gotten food from third party delivery where you've ordered food and it's like this has happened to us so many times here where you've ordered food

and they've been giving you the bags and then you get the bags of food and you put them on your kitchen counter and then you just take a whiff of the bags and they reek of weed have you ever had that? I've never had that problem. Paper bags or a lot of

plastic bags can absolutely hold the smell. And I'm like, look, it didn't bother me, but it was very clear that the delivery driver was smoking a blunt in his 87 Cutlass on 17 inch rims while driving it to the Miller house.

And then Miller Maniac, the first grader is like, Daddy. You get more interesting deliveries than I do. Daddy, what is that smell? The worst problem I had, and this I think only happened once, was we missed the person coming and I had like a note. I'd left a note on the order

saying, because I had an old doorbell ringer that wasn't attached to anything. And my friend got me one that's completely unattached through like wiring and stuff. Okay. I told him to push the button, which button to push.

And I'm like, shouldn't they have, you know, we got a text and we're thinking, shouldn't they have gotten here by now? I go open the door. There's the food sitting on my front stoop. That was the worst. Like, really? How long has my food been sitting out in the cold? The worst I'd ever seen was part of the food being eaten.

I've heard horror stories where people don't even get their food. The driver just eats it. Had the munchies. Thanks. And the 87 Cutlass on 17 just ate the Riverside Bacon Cheeseburger and the shoestring French fries. And then what do you do about your $50? You call the company and they're like,

we can't do anything. And the jalapeno, the fried cheese. God, that Riverside fried jalapeno cheese. So good. I eat those all day. But if you get them straight out of the deep frying juice and you pop one in your mouth, you will burn

your inside of your mouth. No doubt. What you need to do is get an ice cold Budweiser and take one of the jalapeno poppers, pop it in your mouth as it comes straight out of the deep fryer and have some ice cold Budweiser while drinking it. That will totally not stop it from rending the top of your mouth. But the ice cold Budweiser, it helps.

To shreds. It helps. To shreds, I say. Curtis Shaver, no one is forcing the restaurants to sign up. Most do it just to get some business. We did it because of COVID. COVID changed human behavior. F-ing pandemic.

The F-ing pandemic. The F-ing government told us we couldn't leave our house. The F-ing government changed human behavior and part of the collateral damage. We will not truly understand the significance of the collateral damage we're navigating right now until years from now when we have perspective. Years from now when we have perspective. They told us we couldn't leave our house. They gave us extra money to spend. I would argue that it caused so much

damage. I would argue that was an escalation of a product of the times that was already happening. Oh yeah. It expedited it. With the rise of Amazon's dominance and Amazon's destruction of smaller markets, this was all mostly, I think, inevitable.

100% it amplified it, but it didn't have to be at this level of amplification. I know. As we grow more self-important, I think this is also one of the end results. I don't want to get in the car. I don't want to drive five minutes. Convenience, convenience,

convenience, convenience. I want that stuff, and I want it tomorrow or the next day at the earliest if that's possible. And so I will shop at Amazon no matter what it means for the people and the places around me. Restaurant owners that are listening, create a coalition. Create a coalition of your fellow restaurant

owners. And as a coalition, boycott third-party delivery. This will force customers to come into your restaurant to order their to-go food where your margin is greater or it will force customers to come into your restaurant and actually enjoy the food at your tables like you intended when you open your restaurants at first by continuing third-party delivery with uber eats and grubhub all you are doing is working hard at your own demise. At your own demise. But the unintended consequence of what you're asking may also be that a lot of customers will go to restaurants who are still using...

Yeah, and those restaurants are going to go out of business. Unless it's a ghost kitchen. And we have a story about this. This is why I wanted to highlight this. There's a commercial kitchen for rent on market street right now. Let me know if you're interested $5,000 a month, the asking price for this commercial kitchen on market street. If you want to operate a sit down restaurant, do it without third-party delivery. If you want to operate a ghost kitchen where the ghost kitchen, all you're doing is using third-party delivery, this is how you can do it because you're going to have a lot less overhead at this $5,000 a month commercial

kitchen. You're not going to have front of the house labor. You'll have a person working the phones, you'll have an expo and maybe two or three behind the line. And then you can push out 100 to 200 orders a night. Now, people might have issue with that. I'll say three behind the line and an expo can push out that much work. But that's a hell of a lot less overhead

than somebody doing a sit-down model. 5G, did you get that lower third on screen? 5K a month commercial kitchen, negotiable on price. Let us know if you're interested. All right, it's the 135-minute marker. We have some headlines that we're going to have to save to tomorrow. I thought you did a hell of a job today on the show. Some of the headlines that we didn't get to, if we can mark and utilize on tomorrow's show,

because I thought they were pretty significant I had a couple of programming notes the UVA innovators of the year a team of three professors are going to join us on the I love Siebel show a week from today very excited for the new technology they developed also friend of the program all around a plus guy and certainly on the list of best-dressed guys in Charlottesville, Jim Hingely, the Alamo County Commonwealth's attorney, will join us on March 5th. Jim Hingely on March 5th. We have said the best-dressed guy in Charlottesville, someone, until they prove me wrong, is city manager Sam Sanders. We have the

George Clooney of policing,, Mike Kachis. And we have the best-dressed guy in Charlottesville, City Manager Sam Sanders. That's the I Love Seville show on a Thursday. Judah Whitcower and Jerry Miller. Thank you.