Blog: Dana Turell

What people in Eugene, Portland and Ashland love about Market of Choice is now being experienced by residents of Corvallis who enthusiastically welcomed Market of Choice’s newest store on Friday, Nov. 29. Located at 922 NW Circle Blvd., the store features an expansive produce selection, upscale kitchen, modern bakery, gourmet deli, specialty cheese, beer and wine shops, whole health and bulk items, and a full-service meat and seafood department, bringing an amazing array of choices to Corvallis.

When you walk the aisles of the store, you’ll hear people saying: “I’ve never seen this before.” “What a selection of produce! Lots of things we couldn’t get in Corvallis before.” “The bakery – absolutely amazing.” “Nowhere else in Corvallis can you find a greater selection.”

“We’re excited to be here,” said Market of Choice President Rick Wright. “We’ve received many positive comments, employment inquires and questions about construction progress over the last couple months. We feel very welcomed.”

Similar to its flagship Market at 29th & Willamette in Eugene, the new Corvallis Market of Choice includes many green building materials. But it’s these design and mechanical elements that truly set it apart:

•State-of-the-art glycol refrigerant, an organic compound that creates a very efficient heat and hot-water reclamation system that warms water and the store, while cutting the use of Freon by 80 percent.

•Design elements that allow for day lighting, as well as 40 solar-tracking skylights with computer-assisted control to reduce the Market’s dependency on electricity for lighting by 75 percent.

•Energy savers, such as LED lights, computer-controlled heating on freezer doors, and an extremely efficient office heating and cooling system that transfers heat between rooms rather than heating cold air from outside.

•Recycling: In addition to traditional recycling, Market of Choice will also be the first large business in Corvallis to separate compostable food waste and landfill waste, Wright said. “We should reduce our landfill waste by 50 percent and provide Allied Waste an excellent product to use for its compost. In Eugene, we pay lower dumping and hauling fees for compostable waste. In Corvallis, we will pay a lot more. Many retailers are simply unable to shoulder that kind of extra expense. But we feel it’s the right thing to do, and we’re happy to do it.”

Comment (0)

It seems everywhere you look in October, pink ribbons appear in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Oregon Imaging Centers takes a leadership role in this effort throughout the year, supporting Komen Oregon and helping to spread the word about the importance of breast health for all women.

Komen Oregon and Oregon Imaging Centers share a belief that early detection saves lives and that mammograms, in combination with regular self-checks and clinical breast exams, are the best methods for detecting breast cancer in its earliest stages. By raising funds for Komen Oregon, Oregon Imaging Centers helps low-income and uninsured women gain access to life-saving screenings, education and other resources.

The highlight of Breast Cancer Awareness Month was the inaugural Eugene Race for the Cure on 10.10.10. Oregon Imaging Centers, who was a gold-level sponsor for this record-setting 5K run and walk, started the effort early, partnering with the City of Eugene to host monthly Breakfast at the Bike Bridge events during the summer to raise awareness and jump-start fundraising efforts.

And a series of stories highlighting breast-cancer survivors were featured in local media in the months leading to Race Day to help illustrate Komen’s efforts in the community and the need that still exists.

On Race Day, Oregon Imaging Centers sponsored two employee teams and sold pink bracelets and its signature “Make time for the girls” T-shirts to support Komen Oregon. Despite the healthy rivalry (and just a little good-natured trash-talking), the "Make Time for the Girls" team led by Dr. Cathryn Chicola, and the "Bike/Commuter Team" led by Dr. Jonathan Sims combined to raise nearly $8,000 for Komen Oregon. These types of generous donations fund life-saving Komen programs for women in Lane County, such as the Patient Navigator at Oregon Imaging’s Breast and MRI Center.

Then, on Oct. 27, Oregon Imaging employees volunteered to staff the pink tent at Shades of Pink, an event held at the Hilton Eugene. Visitors visited the pink tent throughout the evening, resulting in more than 20 requests for mammograms and nearly 40 requests for more information about women's health and the Race for the Cure.

Oregon Imaging Centers also ran a month-long promotion with four local Curves locations. Each Curves member who scheduled a mammogram at Oregon Imaging Centers during October received a free “Make time” shirt. More than 60 Curves members responded to the offer, and were rewarded for taking care of their health.

The Breast and MRI Center at RiverBend took part in the fun, too. A total of 2020 women who visited the center for their mammogram in October received a free pink bracelet as part of the promotion.

Comment (0)

Last month, we told you about a contest to see how many unique page views each Market of Choice blogger could get during the month of July. Overall blog views went up more than 50%. Here are the top three:
1st Place: Anne Marie Bracco, West Linn Floral Manager – 358 page views, up from 45 the previous month. Wow!
2nd Place: Cassie Stockton, Willamette Cheese Steward – 114 page views
3rd Place: Aaron Kirschnick, West Linn Wine Steward  – 92 page views

Each received a Market of Choice gift card: 1st: $100, 2nd: $50, 3rd: $25.

Comment (0)

Search Engine Optimization sounds good – how do you make it happen for your site? Here are five basics every site should have to maximize its SEO.

1. Choose keywords. The term, "keyword," describes a word or phrase search engines use to index a Web page. Decide what words and phrases you think Web users will enter into a search engine to find your site.

2. Use those keywords in the text of your Web pages. Search engines "read" the actual text of Web pages (not graphics). Use your keywords often in a relevant manner.

3. Use keyword title tags on every page. Make sure your developer is using title tags by looking at the header or tab of your browser. If you see a description of the page there, then title tags are being used. List the keyword subject of the page, then the company name. You only get 70 characters, including spaces.

 

4. Use the same keyword subjects as H1 headers at the top of the content of each Web page. H1 is a piece of code assigned to the main header of the page. Make sure your developer is using them.

5. Use Google's tools. Google Analytics will help you track site visits. Google Webmaster Tools help give Google the information it needs to index your site. Ask your developer to set up both.

Need help? Give us a call, 541-484-7052 or drop an email to dana@cawood.com.

 

Comment (0)

Even the best employees need a little incentive from time to time. Visit www.MarketofChoice.com and you’ll discover an array of award-winning blogs written by everyone from the organic and natural grocery buyer to your Market wine and beer stewards. To make things interesting, we suggested a contest to see how many unique page views each blogger could get during the month of July, which encourages them to write more and tell customers about the website and their blog. The top three will receive gift cards to where else? Market of Choice, of course! It’s a win, win, win for bloggers, customers and our client.

Comment (0)