It takes an outdoor store to save a Village

Well, well, well.

I guess developers of the stalled Village at Riverwatch had an ace up their sleeves after all.

After nearly three years of on-again off-again (mostly off) activity at the proposed retail site near River Watch Parkway and Interstate 20, project backers have secured the holy grail of outdoor retail: Bass Pro Shops.

But is it enough to save the 170-acre tract?

Of course it is. Duuuuh.

A Bass Pro Shops store (there are only a few dozen of them, by the way) is a tourist destination. People who are not me will drive many miles to go to one. Others who ordinarily wouldn’t stop in Augusta will pull off Interstate 20 when they see the store’s sign.

It’s like a shopping mall, outlet center and theme park rolled into one. Only there are more folks wearing camo.

A couple of years ago I drove through Mitchell, S.D., on Interstate 90. As far I could tell, there were two things to do there: see The Corn Palace (a big building decorated with corn) and stop at the Cabela’s outfitter store (whose massive parking lot was chock-full of cars, RVs and buses).

Anyone remotely interested in outdoor retail knows Bass Pro Shops is way more revered than Cabela’s. In fact, I’ve never heard locals more excited about a single store since, since … well, I can’t remember.

It’s clear Bass Pro Shops will revive the Village project. What’s unclear is what the rest of the tenant mix will be. The developers’ representatives last week were typically mum on the details of the project once pitched as a lifestyle center anchored by a Dillard’s, Belk, Starplex Cinemas and , most recently, a Costco.

Lifestyle center, big-box center, strip mall, outlet center – who cares what the rest of the place looks like? We’ve got Bass Pro Shops!

Eat your corn-fed heart out, Mitchell.

RUMOR OF THE WEEK: The Salvation Army property on Greene Street has been purchased by hotel developers.

Wrong.

Although developers have made overtures, a sale has not occurred, the organization isn’t seeking offers and it doesn’t plan to move any time soon, Commanding Officer Chip Hall said.

Some of the Salvation Army’s land has been acquired to complete the St. Sebastian Way extension project, but Mr. Hall said the organization is “perfectly happy” staying where it is.

“We don’t need to move; we don’t have to move,” he said.

Now, if somebody really wants the property, Mr. Hall said, the deal would also have to include payment for relocation and new building expenses.

“If (relocating is) best for the city, then I’m open to it,” he said.

IN THE (NU)CLEAR? If you’re opposed to nuclear power, this is bad news. If you’re in favor of nuclear power, this is good news. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t really care what makes your TV glow, skip right ahead to the next section.

The owners of the Alvin W. Vogtle Nuclear Generating Plant near Waynesboro, Ga., cleared a major hurdle in the proposal to build two new units at the plant. T his month, they finally settled on a price for the reactors with a consortium of companies led by Westinghouse Electric Co.

Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power, Plant Vogtle’s majority owner, had been wrangling with Westinghouse (one of only two companies whose reactor designs have already been approved by federal nuclear regulators) for months over spiraling costs that threatened to derail the multi billion -dollar project.

The price of the reactors is being kept confidential until state regulators sign off on the long-term electricity-supply plan that Georgia Power will submit next month.

After the plan is (likely) approved, the company is finally expected to finally announce it will commit to the project, which will create thousands of temporary jobs and double the plant’s full-time employment to 1,800.

HERE’S SOMETHING FUNNY – SORT OF: My Unverifiable Fact from a couple of weeks ago – the one about the percentage of area residents who leave town during Masters Week – can almost be verified.

I said 23.7 percent of people leave town. Although no one can prove that, we can say that 22 percent of area residents polled in a recent Belden Associates media survey said they leave during Masters Week.

Was I close or what? I didn’t even have to randomly call up thousands of people to do it, either.

The Belden survey also showed (warning: shameless self-promotion ahead) that The Augusta Chronicle and its affiliated products reach more area residents than all other Augusta media combined. Boo-yah!*

ON THE TOPIC OF MEDIA: You might have noticed that E-Z-GO went all-out this year during its Masters Week media blitz.

The gist of the golf and speciality vehicle manufacturer’s television, billboard, radio and newspaper ads is to get consumers (rather than the shrinking golf course market) thinking about its non golf vehicles as an alternate form of transportation around the yard.

The company wants people to see its small vehicles as the car you drive around the neighborhood or take down to the ol’ fishin’ hole. The unique twist, though, is that the company is using its celebrity golf endorsers – Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Vaughn Taylor – as pitchmen in the off-the-course campaign.

“This is a perfect week, when you’ve got a global audience,” said Kathleen Searle, the company’s vice president of communications.

Now that the Masters Week marketing has concluded, the company is pushing the campaign out to its 600 dealers and distributors around the world for use in their local markets.

ONE LAST MASTERS COMMENT: If it seemed like Augusta National Golf Club hired more people to work this year’s Masters Tournament than in years past, that’s because it did.
Sources say the club hired about 1,900 people to work the week, or about 300-400 more than the number of temporary hires it has made in previous years.

It’s nice to know there will always be one industry in town that’s recession-proof.

SEEING DOUBLE: You might have noticed a new Circle K under construction at 459 Old Evans Road near the intersection of Old Petersburg Road, which is the site of … another Circle K.

At first glance, this would appear to be the convenience-store operator’s third set of dueling stores (side-by-side locations on Washington and Wrightsboro roads being the other two).

The new store, however, is designed to replace the older one, which is being razed as part of the River Watch Parkway expansion project on Old Petersburg Road.

The plan is for the new store to open in mid-July, just as the old one is torn down, said Robert Campau, the director of Circle K regional operations for the chain’s Canadian parent company, Quebec’s Alimentation Couche-Tard.**

The largest convenience store operator in North America – and the largest in the Augusta-Aiken area – is also building a new store at 3698 Mike Padgett Highway at the intersection of Tobacco Road.

Mr. Campau said that the company, which has remodeled many of its area stores during the past 18 months, plans to develop two more area stores next year.

* That’s the last time I’ll do that. Pinkie swear.

** The company name is French for “food for those who go to bed late.” Honest!