YAKIMA, Wash. -- We’re just one week away from the crazy shopping day known to many as Black Friday.

I will be up bright and early that day giving updates on what’s happening.

So here’s the deal. If you’re on Twitter, look for updates marked with #yhrblackfriday09.

And for those who want to share what they’re up to, mark your Twitter updates with #yhrblackfriday09. Or if you don’t Twitter, why not e-mail me your Black Friday experiences. I’ll have access to my e-mail all morning long.

For tho

YAKIMA, Wash. -- A local hardware store is closing its doors for good on Saturday.

Right Pro Hardware has spent the last month selling all its inventory at marked-down prices as part of its closing sale. The store will be closing after 15 years in business.

I managed to catch owners Dave and Benine McDonnell today to talk about the business and why it ultimately had to close.
Right Pro Hardware was founded by Yakima County commissioner Mike Leita in 1994. In 1998, he partnered with Dave McDon

YAKIMA, Wash. -- The Star Tribune in Minneapolis had a story today on new SuperValu CEO Craig Herkert. Herkert, who came to the Minnesota company from Walmart, expressed several goals that included making shopping more simple.

SuperValu runs Albertsons stores throughout the Western U.S., including several in the Yakima Valley. The article also reported that Herkert traveled to Pasco last week to visit with grocery store workers and customers to get a taste of local grocery trends.

All these e

The Greater Yakima Chamber of Commerce is holding a ribbon-cutting at 5 p.m. today at Russillo’s Pizza & Gelato as part of its grand reopening.

I talked to Mike Bastinelli today about why his restaurant at Track 29, 1 W. Yakima Ave. was having a grand reopening several months after its initial opening.

Here are some tidbits Bastinelli shared with me.

• All the publicity about the possible relocation of Track 29 led customers to believe that it was closed. Bastinelli often received calls fro

I got some interesting news during a public hearing for the proposed Union Gap Promenade retail development.

During the hearing, Heather Burgess, an attorney for Eisenhower & Carlson in Tacoma, said she was an attorney for WinCo Foods and indicated that her client was a proposed tenant for an 83,000-square-foot building during the first phase of development.

The hearing was part of the project’s application to rezone and subdivide the proposed site east of Costco.

Ty Morrision, project mana

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Dick’s Sporting Goods is looking to expand in Washington, according to a story from The Seattle Times.

The Pittsburgh sporting goods chain will open its first store in Washington in Puyallup next spring in space that once was occupied by Circuit City and Linens ‘n Things, two retailers that went out of business in the last year.

There’s been chatter about Dick’s Sporting Goods being a potential tenant for the Valley Mall.  At this point, Valley Mall officials haven’t indicate

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Looks like Yakima is two weeks from getting a new restaurant.

Bob’s Burgers and Brew is scheduled to open Nov. 16, according to owner Jeff Roberts.

The restaurant has hired most of its staff and plans to start training next week.

As we mentioned before, the Yakima location will be the first one east of the Cascades for the Western Washington chain.

-- Mai Hoang

Reach blogger Mai Hoang at mhoang@yakimaherald.com or by commenting on this entry.
Too busy to read Shop Talk? Fol

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Previously, I wrote that the third Yakima area Walgreens was going to open sometime after the West Valley Walmart store.

Turns out “sometime” is this afternoon.

The store at 6400 W. Nob Hill Blvd. will be opening between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. today, a Walgreens spokeswoman said.

Once open, regular hours for the store are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Walgreens already has stores at Seventh and Yakima avenues and at the Westpark Shopping Center on 40th and Summitview avenues.

-- Mai Ho

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Sears Holdings Corp., which owns Sears and Kmart stores nationwide, are jumping on the holiday bandwagon early.
So early that you can shop for presents while you’re out getting candy for the kids. It’s starting “Black Friday” sales at all Sears stores on Halloween, a full month before the traditional sales that come the day after Thanksgiving.

This move isn’t that surprising considering that retailers seem prepared to offer different promotions to attract cash-strapped shoppe

Some local shoppers got a bit excited when CenterCal Properties  posted a site plan on its Web site that named tenants for vacant spaces at the Valley Mall.
Too bad it’s the wrong one.
When I reached Fred Bruning, president of the Portland-area CenterCal, about the site plan, he mentioned that the document was a working one and was completely inaccurate at this point. (They have since taken the site plan off the Web site.) 
Bruning, however, did give me some tidbits of interest:

• Forever 21 w