Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
A new Web site created by the folks behind Bold Life and Verve magazines has launched. Hendersonville Shops is a slick-looking site featuring fantastic photos of local businesspeople. But the site leaves some things wanting, in terms of usefulness.
As a reader, I want lots more information at my fingertips, such as hours of operation, location or Google map, maybe a note about hot deals, and I don’t want to have to click three or four times to get that. Also, why is this a standalone site and not built into one of the owners’ existing Hooterville-centric sites, such as Hville Scoop?
I’m all about pumping up local businesses, and I think www.hendersonvilleshops.com is a good start. With a little tweaking, it could be a model for other WNC communities looking to boost their small businesses.
From www.hendersonvilleshops.com:
What is Hendersonville Shops?
It’s a pictorial tour of small businesses in Henderson County, North Carolina.
Who are the brains behind Hendersonville Shops?
Planet Zeus Media, LLC. We publish Bold Life, VERVE, Carolina Home + Garden, The Big Guide to Hendersonville (coming soon) and the Hendersonville community website, hvillescoop.com.
How did it get started?
As a modest assignment to photograph five or six business owners for our website, hvillescoop.com. We wanted to spotlight a few of the successful shop owners in town. Five or six turned into 30 and at that point someone said, “”Hey, wouldn’t it be cool to photograph every small business owner in Downtown Hendersonville?” So we did (almost). As of February 15, we had about 120 photos of downtown business owners.
What’s next?
The project has grown into an obsession…we created a dedicated website, hendersonvilleshops.com, and (in our spare time) will expand beyond downtown and post photos and info on every small retail or service business in Henderson County who would like to be included.
Why are you doing this?
It’s fun. And, did we mention, we’re obsessed? While recent news headlines have focused on small businesses closing or “struggling to stay afloat,” we’re documenting going concerns, most of them doing ok, some even thriving. At Bold Life, we’re fortunate to work with many other small businesses and are inspired by them. Some are specialized, stemming from a passionate lifelong interest, others are 2nd or 3rd generation family operations run by folks with great expertise in their fields. They are a smart, scrappy, fearless crowd. The photos are very personal and as a group we find them to be very powerful.
