ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, October 2, 1996 TAG: 9610020023
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Marketplace
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL
Food prices just keep going up, according to the American Farm Bureau.
The farm organization recently released the results of its third-quarter Marketbasket Survey, an informal survey of the cost of 16 basic grocery items across the nation.
The grand total this time around: $32.79, up 84 cents over the second quarter. It was the third price increase of the year and the fifth-highest increase since the survey was begun in 1989.
While prices on four of the 16 marketbasket products fell slightly, most prices rose.
"The biggest concern has probably been the milk prices that went up several months ago," said Tony Chandler, manager of the Harris Teeter store at Towers Shopping Center in Roanoke. Customers also have been commenting on rising bread prices, he said.
Milk and cheese prices jumped because of a drop in milk production caused by high grain prices. Nationally, the average price of a gallon of milk rose 13 cents, to $2.53. In some parts of the country, milk has topped the $3-per-gallon mark.
Bread prices were up 7 cents, to $1.15 per 20-ounce loaf.
The cost of pork products increased drastically, owing in part to the introduction of bacon onto many fast-food sandwiches, which has increased demand for the product. David Miller, livestock policy specialist with AFB, also said supply is down slightly.
Volunteer shoppers from 35 states helped with the survey, which was conducted in mid-August. The lowest total came during the first quarter of 1989, when the 16 items cost $28.50.
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Here's a date to keep open: After months of dust and torn-up floors, Tanglewood Mall will celebrate its grand reopening with a silent auction Oct. 20.
The $7 million renovation is the latest stage in a project that started in early spring. The work took a bit longer than mall officials had planned; the reopening had been scheduled for late September.
A Samick baby grand piano from Hayden Music Co., valued at $10,000, will be auctioned off, with proceeds benefiting the Junior League of Roanoke Valley's "Care that Counts" programs.
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Valley View Mall's new Eddie Bauer store should open Oct. 12, right on schedule. Construction is almost complete, the company says, and the inventory of casual apparel and home furnishings is on its way. The retailer will be on the lower level of the mall, next to the new Disney store, which is scheduled to open Nov. 1.
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Valley Printers Inc. of Salem has issued its second-edition set of Remember Roanoke cards, a series of 16 playing card-size photo cards featuring nostalgic scenes of the Roanoke Valley. The new set, which is available at many local shops, includes digitally restored photographs of the Hotel Roanoke on fire in 1898, a pre-1900 Norfolk & Western train and the original Roanoke Memorial Hospital. On the back of each card is a brief history of the scene.
In the year since Valley Printers issued its first-edition cards, local retailers have sold more than 6,500 of the sets, which include photographs of the incline railway up Mill Mountain and Lakeside Park in 1920.
A quarter from the sale of each deck will go into an account for restoring a Roanoke Valley historic landmark. Valley Printers also is selling postcards and framed and matted cards.
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The Discovery Shop, the American Cancer Society's resale boutique at Townside Festival shopping center, is getting ready to celebrate a year in business. Since the shop opened Oct. 12, 1995, sales have averaged $16,800 a month. In August, the average daily sale was $879, a $350 increase over average daily sales in July.
About 68 percent of the sales are women's apparel, 12 percent are men's apparel and 20 percent are collectibles and furniture.
The shop recently moved to new, larger quarters next to its old space at Townside Festival, and the move has given the society more space to display big-ticket items.
All employees are volunteers, and all merchandise is donated. Proceeds from the shop support the society's cancer research.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by staff: Grocery prices. color. KEYWORDS: MGRby CNB