Good Foods Grocery

For the last 25 years, Good Foods Grocery has provided healthy food, vitamins, and products to the Richmond community.  They have locations in the West End (at Gayton Crossing) and the Southside (at Stony Point), though I’ve only been to the one in the West End.

It’s a spacious store – much more than you would expect given its location inside the Gayton Crossing shopping center.  It has a fresh produce section which carries as much local produce as possible, a bulk foods section, grocery section, and a section for beauty care items and a very robust health items section with vitamins, supplements, etc.

As far as the West End location goes, most of the people who work there are super nice – if you run across one who isn’t try to brush it off, because the store does have quite a lot to offer.

For instance, they have classes and workshops all the time.  They have occasional Wellness Wednesdays, where they offer information about products, services, and give instructions on cooking and more.  These will be on the third Wednesday of the month at both of the locations.

Their website also offers a wealth of health and nutritional guidance, as well as a monthly sale sheet so that you know about what kinds of bargains you can get.  They also care about making a difference in the world, and lobbied to oppose the Dietary Supplement Safety Act of 2010, which would have given the FDA more power over dietary supplement providers.  You can also read about that on their website.

Locations:

Stony Point Shopping Center – 3062 Stony Point Road 804-320-6767
Gayton Crossing Shopping Center – 1312 Gaskins Road 804-740-3518

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Caffespresso – Old World on Gaskins Road

So, I was at my chiropractor’s office one day early in the year, and he said, “Do you drink coffee?  Because there is a really great coffee shop right next door.”  I don’t, as it turns out, drink coffee.  Never really have.  I’m pretty hyper as it is.  But I went over there anyway, because there was a delicious, decidedly not-coffee smell coming from the place and I was hungry with a capital ungry.

It turns out the delicious smell was a fresh croissant coming right out of the oven.  So, I ate one.  Yum!  The next time back, freshly-baked Tascas had just come out of the oven.  What’s a Tasca?  I tried to google it, so maybe I’m spelling it wrong, but I will describe it to you perfectly.  It’s a little foldover pie filled with cheese, ham, and egg, with a little bit of spices.  It’s DEElicious.  I get it every time now, and I weight a thousand pounds.  Just kidding.  It’s really, really, good.  And they even came up with a coffee drink I don’t mind – of course it tastes nothing like coffee, but it’s good.  It has white chocolate, caramel, and vanilla in it.  Like a said, a thousand pounds.  It’s called the Dante Paradiso, if you want to wallow in the sugar with me.

Caffespresso opened in Gaskins Place in 2009.  Richmond Times Dispatch wrote it up, focusing on the owner, Claudio Ragazzi.  Claudio is the lovely fellow with the delectable Northern Italian accent who greets you when you walk in.  He is not only the owner of Caffespresso, he also teaches Italian and Spanish, and recently took a group of his students and patrons on a trip to Italy.  From what I hear, it was the most fun.

Caffespresso started out as a cart that made its way around VCU campus.  Ragazzi, a former instructor at VCU, wanted to get out and be a part of the vital Richmond community – and he wanted to teach that community about good coffee – because the stuff we drink normally doesn’t hold a candle to the stuff Claudio serves.  And this is from a non-coffee drinker.  Those coffee fiends that I know – they all go to Claudio now.

The cart still makes it to special events.  As for Claudio, he stays at the shop on Gaskins, cultivating a fiercely dedicated following and talking a lot about soccer – his other passion.  He teaches, coaches, plays, and acts as spectator.  In fact, once the World Up is on, you might be missing out on his company for a while.  Luckily, all his employees are charming and wonderful, so you’ll still have a wonderful experience.

**Try, if you will, a panini as well.  I’ve had several different kinds, and my favorites are the Vitello Tonne, the Caprese, and the Cotto.  They are all crafted on fresh focaccia bread and they are delicious.

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RichmondMom.Com – Kate Hall’s Labor of Love

When you talk to Kate Hall, it is hard to decide if you’re talking to a small-business owner, a devoted Mom – o – three, a social media guru, a Mommy Blogger, a philanthropist, or a children’s book author.  Actually, it’s not really that hard, because within a couple of minutes you realize that she really is all of the above.

I was lucky enough to know Kate when we both worked at the now-deceased local title insurance titan, LandAmerica.  Kate showed up at the company with loads of corporate experience and even more charisma.  Unfortunately (at the time) for both of us, the titan fell and we were both looking for work.

Kate started RichmondMom while she was still in the corporate world.  It was a sort of for fun, sort of experimental thing.  She was learning about web marketing and social media and saw a real need for some solidarity among parents in the Richmond community.  Kate, being Kate, decided to do something about it and started the website.

As she went through grueling interview processes at some of the biggest companies in Richmond (including The Fed), more and more of Kate’s Richmondmom.com customers, readers, and fans were urging her to take it to the next level.  With a deep breath and a giant leap of faith, she did so, and the site has been rockin’ ever since.

In addition to running a business that has more than doubled its client base within a short year, Kate has also jumped in to the social media scene here in Richmond, and through it has participated in many, many (did I say many?) charitable events and causes.  If that wasn’t enough, she actually wrote and self-published an educational kid’s book about Richmond history.

I asked her what gave her the idea for Richmond Rocks, and she told me that she was on Brown’s Island with her family and. her eldest son (age eight) started asking her questions about the area, and she realized that there was LOTS he didn’t know about Richmond history.  So she decided to do something about that, too.

Self-publishing is no easy task, but Kate pulled it off with a team of folks (illustrator, editor, etc) that she simply raves about.  With her customary good cheer and wicked (but great) sense of humor, Kate told me about the whole thing – from finding and hiring Knox Hubard for the illustrations, to working with Hayes and Fisk for photographs of Richmond, to the printing and distribution of the books, to how scary it is to foot the bill for a project like this and hope that it makes enough to even pay for itself.

Through hard work, tenacity, and the fact that the book is fantastic, the book is a success.  Richmond schools teach Virginia history in the 5th grade, so teachers are going to use it as a teaching aid.  Kate’s done signings all over Richmond, and you can check the site for upcoming signings.

Kate keeps up with her many online and networking responsibilities via Facebook, Twitter, and even 4Square (according to which she is the Mayor of Chick Fil A) and she attends the SMCRVA events.  She’s a ball of fire, a whirlwind of wit and energy, and one of the People To Know in our fair city.  And to top it off, she’s super-nice.

Get hooked in with her network on www.richmondmom.com and introduce yourself next time you see her out and about in Richmond.  You’ll be glad you did.

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