If you’re interested in networking or Finding the Hidden Job Market, this is your chance!
On October 22 at 7 pm, Shareology will be putting in a repeat performance at Woodbury Lutheran. Focus of this evening will be Q & A on all those topics we want to know more about: networking, finding the hidden job market, the marketing and branding of YOU.
Woodbury Lutheran is located at 7380 Afton Road, Woodbury, MN 55125. See you there!
Kay Roseland @KayLoire
Social Media Breakfast Minneapolis St. Paul gathered September 25 at the Brookdale Library in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota for #SMBMSP #19 featuring a Mix Mobi Demo by Lisa Foote (mixmobi.com) and a live edition of Behind the Firewall by Rick Mahn (rickmahn.com) and Arik Hanson (arikhanson.com) Bacon consumers are pictured below:
Ummmm..... extra crispy!
Bacon and tee shirt Bliss
Pretweeting setup: one if by laptop....
two if by phone...
Lisa Foote on tools for the mobile future
@rickmahn and @arikhanson and the roving mike
That’s all but the final networking, folks!! See you at #SMBMSP #20!
Kay Roseland @KayLoire
Is there any more perfect way to begin a Saturday than a visit to a farmers market? In Richfield, Minnesota, you can double your healthy start with a walk or a bike ride on the adjoining trails in Veteran’s Park.
The Richfield Farmers Market opened in 1990. It quickly grew to become third only to St. Paul and Minneapolis!
Choices at the market go beyond the usual fruits and vegetables on to buffalo meat, cheese, nuts, bread, honey, cut flowers and bedding plants in the spring. Pick the right Saturday and you can have crepes made to your order after your walk. Shareology especially likes this market because it’s so easy to get to and just the right size…lots to choose from yet not a huge walk to and through. In the words of Goldilocks: just right! And there’s a playground nearby for the kids as you shop. Visual samples include:
Lee A. Owens, market coordinator at the city of Richfield, welcomes us to the Richfield Farmers Market.
Now grab some flowers and we’re off with all our lovely veggies. You’ve got through the end of October to shop just south of Highway 62 on Portland Avenue at 64th Street. Hours are 7 am to noon; find out more at http://www.ci.richfield.mn.us/FarmersMarket/ See you there!
Kay Roseland @KayLoire
MIMA (Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association) gathered for one of those amazing September evenings at Calhoun Beach Club, overlooking Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis.
Nothing like the 2nd floor terrace of Calhoun Beach Club....
Much glorious networking in warm air … learn more at http://www.mima.org/
Kay Roseland @KayLoire
One of the networking groups Shareology frequents went through an intriguing exercise recently. On our LinkedIn group, we responded to the question “What three words describe what you do?” Networkers took up the challenge and soon there were 24 responses. Later when the group met, we went around the room with the same exercise. The room was soon alive with creativity as people helped others with strengthening their three words. It was intoxicating to watch people focus, not on themselves, but on helping others find the three words and craft them to the strongest possible result.
Shareology would like to share a few that were posted on LinkedIn, just to give you a flavor of what can happen when you describe yourself and what you do in some of the briefest language possible:
Tim Hennum Anticipate Customer Trends
Garry Spurlock Drive Sales Profitably
Mike Subialka Wow’em With Words
So….what 3 words describe what you do?
Kay Roseland @KayLoire
In Chicago, they know from Pizza! So when Shareology was invited to the grand opening of another HomeMade Pizza Co. store in Minneapolis recently, she had high expectations. Headquartered in Chicagoland, with stores in DC, IL and MN, HomeMade Pizza is a take and bake store. Offering pizza, salads and (OMG!) ice cream, it’s a great way to grab something on the way home that is quick and tastes great. Shareology was particularly impressed with the promotions and marketing evidenced that night. It was all she could do to keep from begging for a ride in the HomeMade Pizza Pickup. CMO Gordon Montgomery and Founder and CEO Eric Fosse were warm and charming hosts; let’s take a peek at the pizza party at 3054 Excelsior Boulevard:
Nothing sadder than a ravenous crowd devoring almost the last piece….until the grill opens again!
Founder and CEO Eric Fosse really knows his way around a grill and a pizza cutter; if you can make pizza in Chicago, you can make it anywhere……
For more information, (and a list of mouth watering ingredients) go to http://www.homemadepizza.com/ or follow them on Twitter at @HomeMadePizzaCo (and see a picture of mouth watering ingredients….)
Hmmmmmm…Shareology will be in this neck of the woods this evening — might be time to try out that ice cream — and maybe a salad to balance the meal…..
Kay Roseland @KayLoire
Shareology got a $ 5 off card in the mail….from Walmart…and thought Labor Day would be a good day to use the card. Since the nearest Walmart had been closed for renovation, this was an opportunity to check out the new layout. The card required I call an 800 number and enter a 16 digit code to activate the $ 5 card before I headed out for the store. No questions asked during the 800 call, so whatever information about me Walmart wanted, it got from the zip code I live in, addressed to Resident.
Resident, aka Shareology, headed off to the reopened store. Photos follow below. The saddest thing? Shareology could find nothing she wanted to buy! And she was in a spendy mood! There was a point in the distant past when Shareology would not put a foot in a Walmart on general principles; it made her feel poor and trashy. A couple of times in the last few years, circumstances caused Shareology to revisit Walmart, and she found a few cute casual clothes, at remarkable prices. So Labor Day, that was on the top of Shareology’s shopping list: new cute top! The first impression upon entering the store was Whoo! Food has entered the picture! For 50 feet in all directions, nothing but space for the shopper to get oriented, and a gigantic produce section dead ahead. You would think that would be a good thing…..
Shareology spent 30 minutes walking the store, trying to find something to buy. Those clothes? Not much selection, and the selection that was there was … ugly or boring. Maybe….shampoo? I had to put something in my cart, or I was going to get stopped by store security. OK, final tally, 2 bottles of shampoo….. Am I going in there again? Probably not.
To be fair, the store and the parking lot were crammed with shoppers. So obviously Shareology was not within her demographic. Why anyone would be a blue cart as opposed to a red cart is beyond Shareology’s understanding. I will also state that I saw many, many, many Walmart employees on the floor. This store opening must have gotten lots of attention from Bentonville. Wish Shareology could have listened in on the reports on Tuesday morning.
UPDATE DECEMBER 6, 2009:
The Star Tribune reports that this store at 494 and Portland Avenue in Bloomington, MN, is “one of two stores in the nation with a drive-through pick-up area for prescriptions and for online orders that can be picked up at stores, avoiding shopping costs”. (A photo of this drive-through is below:)
Note the Pharmacy Pickup and Order on the Web/Pickup at Store Drive Through.....
OK, wasn’t there a pot of mums somewhere to dress up this entrance???
Entertainment gets a major push.......
Get a feeling they are in an Apple mood?
Not quite the Opening impression they wanted……….
Banking and Eye Center Up Front….
Subway also …..
Unbeatable: the word of the hour……….
Another example of Shareology’s unique ability to find digital out-of-home before they load content………better informed sources suggest a trip to Elk River to find the Walmart of the future with “Walmart Smart Network”.
Kay Roseland @KayLoire
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Just voted: Shaquille O’Neal vs. Joel Stein on Twitter http://tinyurl.com/lmqcnv Vote for the best Twitter essay. It’s Labor Day Weekend…..there are 3 people out in the blogosphere….you really have anything better to do than vote for the best essay on Twitter? If you missed Ashton vs. CNN, this is your chance………….
Kay Roseland @KayLoire
New shopping center? Opening? In 2009? Are they mad? The Shops at West End in St. Louis Park, Minnesota may be, but they are opening in October or November, 2009. This new lifestyle center features an open central arcade with an arched roof to protect from rain. (Rain? This is Minnesota — snow happens….) Tenants to open soon include Anthropologie, Creative Kidstuff, Uber Baby, Crave, Cooper and Tobey Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill.
Let’s take a pictorial tour, and explore the new upscale Rainbow grocery store.
Not quite open yet, but soon, very soon...........
Protected against rain in Minnesota -- gee, should we have thought of anything else?
Ah, the freshness of a brand new store front in early fall......
Shareology loves Oscar; apparently Rainbow does too!
The frozen section is also in a little nook all its own......
And now we bid adieu………………….
Rainbow is aiming for an upscale market, with enhanced produce, prepared foods and a salad bar. For a 55,000 square foot store, it feels surprisingly cozy. In fact, two sections, produce and frozen, seem their own little worlds: no hint here of the endless warehouse ceilings normally found. Another first for frequent Rainbow shoppers: quotations on the walls from the likes of James Beard and Oscar Wilde. So Rainbow is open and soon more retail will follow.
Kay Roseland @KayLoire
Metro IBA was invited to James J. Hill Library in St. Paul Tuesday morning for a tour of this excellent business resource. Before we get to the pictures of the library, let’s take a moment to learn about Metro IBA:
MetroIBA is a non-profit organization working to support and preserve locally owned, independent businesses in the Twin Cities region. MetroIBA’s mission is to help the Twin Cities maintain its unique community character, provide continuing opportunities for entrepreneurs, build economic strength, and create an environment where locally owned, independent businesses grow and flourish. (More at http://www.metroiba.org .)
OK, let’s start our tour: (Shareology so appreciates not only the best metro business library, but the architectural jewel it’s housed in.)
Many thanks to Jim Poole of the James J. Hill Library for a superb tour of the best business library in the Twin Cities. For more information, check out: http://www.jjhill.org/
Kay Roseland @KayLoire
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