Five Below Appears Headed to Germantown

A discount store marketed to kids, teens and preteens will soon be under construction in Germantown.

On Aug. 31, the owners of Germantown Village Square shopping center applied for a $125,000 building permit for the interior buildout and partial demo of a space at 7720 Poplar Ave.

The tenant is listed as Five Below, a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based chain of retail stores where all merchandise costs less than $5.

The Germantown store will be the Memphis area’s fourth. There are currently Five Below stores in Millington Farms, Olive Branch Commons and Memphis Commons Shopping Center.

- Special to The Daily News

UMRF Ventures Receives Economic Development Award

A University of Memphis Research Foundation Ventures Inc. program has received the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) 2018 Excellence and Innovation Award for Regional and Economic Development.

“Many students are financially challenged, which has impacted U of M’s graduation rates,” the AASCU in a statement. “To combat these challenges, U of M founded UMRF Ventures Inc. to provide third-party IT service and support to corporations by hiring full-time undergraduate and graduate students. These student employees earn $15 per hour, which helps them with tuition and living expenses. The U of M hopes the program will not only improve its graduation rate, but will also create a talent pool to address employment gaps within Memphis.”

The award recognizes institutions that demonstrate excellence and innovation in their approach to student success, regional and economic development, international education, teacher education and leadership in development and diversity.

UMRF Ventures is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the University of Memphis Research Foundation. Its first and largest client is FedEx Corp. UMRF Ventures operates two FedEx call centers, one on the main campus and another at the U of M Lambuth campus in Jackson. UMRF Ventures also launched an IT Command Center on the Memphis campus in June, where 35 graduate students are working on data analytics and proactive problem-solving alongside FedEx IT professionals.

“In our first year, we have increased our student employee numbers from 23 to 120, have increased our student payroll to over $100,000 per month, met our customers’ performance expectations, and our graduates are getting full-time jobs,” Tom Kadien, CEO of UMRF Ventures, said in a release. “UMRF Ventures is an excellent business model.”

By the end of the second year, it is projected that more than 300 students will be employed by UMRF Ventures.

The ASSCU award will be presented Oct. 28 at the association’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C.

- Special to the Daily News

Eads Church Applies For $760,000 Building Permit

Crossroads Baptist Church, located at 125 S. Houston Levee Road, applied for a $761,681 building permit on Friday, Aug. 31.

The permit, filed by Linkous Construction Co. Inc., is for a parking lot expansion and addition to a balcony.

Crossroads Baptist held its first service at Camp Cordova in 2009. In 2015, it moved to a newly constructed church in Eads.

- Special to The Daily News

Workshop Series for Creatives Launches with Summit

Memphis College of Art, Positively Creative Podcast and the Memphis chapter of the Riding Tide Society are launching Positively Creative, a series of workshops of local creatives.

The series begins with the Positively Creative Summit, to be held 8:30-11:30 a.m., on Saturday, Sept. 8 in the Callicott Auditorium in MCA’s Rust Hall. “Today” show correspondent Elizabeth Heiskell, founder of the Debutante Farmer (a brand including gourmet pickles, jellies, jams, salsas and Bloody Mary mix), is the keynote speaker.

The summit will begin with “Community over Competition” talks by local creatives, including Kat Gordon, founder of Muddy’s Bake Shop; fashion designer and illustrator Kris Keys; and Carmeon Hamilton of Nubi Interiors. Participants will then attend roundtable discussions.

Breakfast snacks will be provided. Tickets are $20, including fees. Information can be found here. 

The summit will be followed by several fall workshops.

- Special to the Daily News

Tennessee Homes Ranked Easy to Sell

SmartAsset, a New York-based financial technology company, has ranked cities in the U.S. by the number of days their homes for sale spend on the market.

And for some cities in Tennessee, the news is pretty good for home sellers.

Memphis ranked No. 4 in the state for 2018, with homes spending an average of 41.7 days on the market, giving it a 92.25 ease of sale index. Bartlett homes spent an average of 48.2 days on the market, giving it a 90.96 ease of sale index. Collierville homes spent at average of 68.6 days on the market, while Germantown homes spent an average of 70.1 days on the market.

Homes in LaVergne, Tennessee, spent the least amount of time on the market, an average of 28 days. The average Tennessee home was on the market for 139.1 days.

SmartAsset also measured the healthiness of housing markets, including Tennessee’s, weighing stability, affordability, fluidity and loss.

More of the findings can be found here. 

- Special to the Daily News