Whatever your particular creed or faith, most people regard this time of year as a season of peace — a time to reflect, count blessings, maybe offer a little prayer for better days ahead. We suffer the coarseness and indignities of a saturated consumer market to enjoy the time with family and friends, and work for better days in our communities. That is why it was so appalling that a recent trip to an area Sam’s Club for supplies for a holiday party became an occasion for outrage. Sam’s Club (a division of Walmart) often has vendors set up special displays of merchandise that might not be part of its regular lineup of products. Megawine Inc., a liquor distributor from Van Nuys, had an ent

Everyone has had encounters with either really great or really awful service no matter where they live, and the people of Sacramento are no exception. The Sacramento Press hit the streets recently and asked people where they had received the best or worst service in the area. Quoc Nguyen, 27, a store manager living in downtown Sacramento, gave examples of two places he'd received the worst and best service. “The best service I've had was at a coffee shop called Chocolate Fish, because they are very knowledgeable about their products and I like the 'Great White',” Nguyen said. “I'm Vietnamese, so I can say this: I receive the worst service at Vietnamese restaurants. I don't usually tip

The partially built TGI Friday’s and Sonic Drive-In restaurants at Truxel Road and Gateway Park Boulevard in Natomas were being torn down Wednesday. One of the buildings was crushed by 5 p.m., while the other still has yet to be demolished. Exchange Bank, which now owns the property, is demolishing the buildings in response to a city order. Councilwoman Angelique Ashby started the process of removing the buildings in November, according to her public policy director, Michelle Kille. The structures are located in a commercial area near many chain retail stores, including Walmart and In-N-Out Burger. The buildings were a blight in the community, Kille said. “I am thrilled to see the stru

The City of Sacramento's Neighborhood Services Division of the Department of Parks and Recreation, the VIBE Foundation, the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency (SETA) and the Walmart Foundation are sponsoring a FREE Youth Summer Job Fair on Saturday, April 2nd at Cesar Chavez Park and Historic City Hall.  Here is more information: Saturday, April 2, 2011 ~ 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM ~ Cesar Chavez Park (910 I Street, between 9th & 10th Streets) & Historic City Hall (915 I Street) Are you between the ages of 16 and 22?  Then don't miss out on this opportunity!  Over 30 organizations will be available to offer full time and part time job opportunities, internship opportunities, college recru

As part of its 2010 Holiday campaign focused on fighting hunger, Walmart launched a Facebook campaign that invites fans to select the communities that will receive $1.5 million in grants. By visiting the campaign website and "liking" a community via their Facebook account, people influence which communities will receive the funds. The community with the most "likes" will receive $1 million to fight hunger; the next 5 highest scoring communities will receive $100,000 each. Why is this news? Because Sacramento is in now in 6th place which earns a $100,000 grant! With less than 48 hours remaining in the race, Sacramento's social media influencers are campaigning to keep Sacramento in 6th pla

Thanksgiving evening at 11pm, Ed Fogle and I joined forces to capture the Black Friday shopping frenzies. Our adventure began at Arden Fair Mall. Here is a timeline: 11:49pm - Thanksgiving evening Traffic at Arden Fair Mall was ongoing. Busses continuously dropped shoppers off. 12:01 AM At the front of the mall, the line's tail-end of shoppers were sprinting to get through the doors. 12:04 AM Elevators were packed. Shoppers were packing into stores! Apple was busy! Shoppers with bags streamed out of Macy's. 1:47 AM Fry's Electronics at Northgate Blvd had a long line of shoppers trying to stay warm in 34 degrees. The woman in the blue cap arrived at 10am Thanksgiving.  

  (Note from the author- I found a lot to like this weekend, instead of doing 5 different "stuff I like pieces", I did 1 "Discovering Sacramento" piece.  Among the places/things discussed here in- The Torch Club, Final Final Band, Michaelangelo's, Walmart bikes, Los Gallos, and The Old Spaghetti Factory.  I hope you enjoy)  So, how was your weekend? Good? Got out and enjoyed the spring weather? Oh, you didn't get to? You were stuck in the office, finishing those TPS reports? I'm really sorry to hear that. Man, that is rough. Hey, let me just stop you there. To be honest with you, I was really just hoping to segue into a conversation about my weekend.        I had a fantastic weekend.  I

A good crowd of South Sacramento customers made it out early this morning for the grand opening festivities at their new Florin Road Walmart Supercenter. The new Supercenter is located in the new Florin Town Center, which was recently developed after the old Florin Mall was torn down. Store Manager Jason Craig, flanked by his management team, delivered a message of gratitude to his family, coworkers and customers. "People Reaching Out" was given a $50,000 check at the grand opening, for their "Fresh Start Program." County Supervisor Jimmie Yee also made an appearance acknowledging Walmart and the staff for bringing 600 jobs to South Sacramento, "300 of which are new," said Yee. Walmar

While everyone else is being layed off and experiencing furlough, Wal-Mart is opening a 100,000-square-foot store in Elk Grove. Its location will be at Bruceville and Poppyridge. The store located at Elk Grove Blvd and 99 will remain open. Wal-Mart spokesman Aaron Rios claims that this Wal-Mart will sell fresh groceries in addition to their usual merchandise. As someone who is not a supporter of the Wal-Mart monopoly, I wonder why there is a need for a second Wal-Mart in an already covered-up-strip-mall area? I also wonder how fresh those groceries will actually be? Although this new store opening is probably good news to those who are in need of a job, my words to you are good luck. We