Just when you thought the Occupy meme was going to fade away in 2012, Avondale Brewing Company is inviting folks to join them in their invasion of 41st Street South (a.k.a. the Avondale commercial business district served by Main Street Birmingham).
Occupy Avondale is an opportunity for a new or existing business to move in directly across the street from the brewery – and including six months free rent in the completely renovated space located at 200 41st St. S. The winner will be chosen from five finalists and occupy either 1,800 or 2,400 square feet of space on the ground floor of the building.
Folks interested in the opportunity may apply using the Google docs form through January 31. The winner is scheduled to be announced at an event at the brewery in March.
A recent entry on MSB’s on-site blog goes over some of the criteria being considered among the judges. You also probably wouldn’t want to enter without looking over the contest rules (it’s a PDF).
By the way – if you want to learn a little bit more about memes, check out this site (don’t worry, it’s taking part in today’s blackout too).
The news became official this morning as 
Just as 
Trader Joe’s? It’s going to be a while
UPDATE: 9/17/2014 – Patience has paid off as an announcement was made this morning | Trader Joe’s arrives in Birmingham in late 2015
The interviewer asked about the online battle taking place here in Alabama about where to put a Trader Joe’s. The response has sparked some debate:
Another interesting point brought up by Coulombe was how the salaries were determined for the original stores; it was based off of the median family income – a practice that is still followed by the company (which is now owned by a trust created by the owners of the Aldi grocery store chain).
If Trader Joe’s were to put a location in the state of Alabama and they followed the median family income policy, based on 2009 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, the average employee for the chain could potentially make $39,980/year, plus benefits.
This would all be great – if Trader Joe’s had plans to move into metro Birmingham in the near future. According to a Birmingham News article written last month, it’s not in the cards (at least not for the next couple of years). That’s even with three different efforts taking place on Facebook trying to get them to consider a location in Birmingham or Hoover. Then there’s the one we wrote about back in March 2009 – they’ve now got close to 1,500 members.
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Posted in Business, food
Tagged battle, Birmingham, comments, food, grocery, Hoover, Joe Coulombe, LA Times, location, Trader Joe's