The Fayetteville Observer, N.C., Rebecca Logan column [The Fayetteville Observer, N.C.]

Aug. 28--I'll admit that when Liz Karas called and told me she opened a store in a shed behind her house, I was skeptical.

But after driving out to her home near the Cumberland-Hoke county line, I decided that as far as stores inside backyard sheds go, this one is actually quite cozy.

It's called Prim Lizzie. And if you're a fan of the primitive decorating style, you might want to add the shed to your rotation.

Karas is more than a fan of primitive style. Tack on "-atic" and you'd get the idea. In fact, the shed originally was to be storage for her own primitive excess. But she decided to try the retail route.

"I figured if I went with something I loved, then if it doesn't sell, I'll just bring it all back in the house," she said.

Prim Lizzie is packed with things such as framed sayings, wooden crows, chairs and wreaths. Some inventory Karas gets elsewhere. Some she makes herself, such as heart-shaped pillows and dolls.

Prim Lizzie is at 283 Bonney Lane in the Ravenwood subdivision off King Road.

It's open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the first Saturday of every month, and by appointment.

Karas said that's about all she can handle with her other obligations including being a pediatric nurse and a minister with the Rivers of Living Water Church of God on Bingham Drive.

Say aw-shucks

Many of you have asked about what's being built along Skibo Road near Sam's Club. It's got nothing to do with shopping. The building will be a medical clinic, according to a permit for 1408 Skibo Road. It's apparently to be a dental clinic, to be specific. Sorry to disappoint. And no offense intended toward the drillers of teeth.

New 'Experience'

Speaking of Skibo Road, we'll soon see some activity in front of Home Depot. Verizon Wireless is planning to build one of its "Experience Stores" there.

The first Verizon Experience store -- with a demo bar, interactive displays and oversized plasma television screens -- opened in 2006 in Texas.

Other companies, of course, also have their own "Experience Stores." AT&T opened one on Ramsey Street in 2008.

Karen Schulz, a Verizon Wireless spokeswoman, said the store on Skibo will open sometime next year. She said an exact timetable has yet to be determined, but a mid-year opening is a rough estimate.

"The parking will be better, it will be a bigger store -- just an overall more comfortable customer experience," she said.

Schulz cited reorganization related to this new store as the reason that the small Verizon Wireless store on Ramsey Street is slated to close. That's likely to happen in October, she said.

The Ramsey Street departure will leave Verizon with two stores in Fayetteville. When the Experience Store opens next year, there will be three, Schulz said.

This perplexes me, because one of the existing stores is essentially across Skibo from where the new is headed. So, we'll see.

Cake walk

"I'm pleased to announce the Cupcake Gallery will be opening their second Fayetteville location in our Food Court this fall," said Cross Creek Mall's manager, Matt Holligan, in an e-mail.

For the unfamiliar, the Cupcake Gallery is the cute business that Ana and Kyle Holcombe opened last year on Person Street.

Ana Holcombe said that a November opening is possible and that she and her husband haven't decide whether to keep their downtown location. They probably will, she said.

I asked Holcombe why the mall was somewhere she wanted to be.

"Why? They get 25 million shoppers a year," she said. "We'd get more visibility that way, don't you think?"

Historically, the mall actually gets 23 million to 25 million shoppers per year, according to Holligan.

Lotto to go

You'll soon be able to buy North Carolina lottery tickets at Lottery To Go vending machines at Harris Teeter. Tickets went on sale this week at five Harris Teeters outside the Cape Fear region. But the chain said it plans to roll out ticket sales at all 126 Harris Teeters in the state once things get up and going at the first five locations.

Harris Teeters in Virginia and Maryland already sell lottery tickets.

Calm down

While we're in Harris Teeter territory, some of you have been asking what gives with the work at the Highland Pure Station on Raeford Road.

The underground gasoline tanks are out, and crews are repairing the ground, said V.F. Talley, who owns the land. But the gas station building is not coming down -- at least for now, he said.

"We're kind of in limbo," Talley said. "We're waiting to see what the environmental people will let us do."

This brings me to a rumor. While I typically try to stay away from rumors, there is one that's so pervasive right now that I should quash it. The work you're seeing at the Pure station has nothing to do with Chick-fil-A.

Chick-fil-A is not building anything in front of Harris Teeter, said Jennifer Stoker, spokeswoman for the company that runs the Chick-fil-A locations on Skibo and at the mall.

"I do not know where that's coming from. I've heard the same thing -- and from ... some very prominent people," Stoker said. "But it's never even been discussed."

Sign of the times

Let's move on to a different Talley -- without the 'e.' The well-known sign in front of Tallywood Shopping Center on Raeford Road is in the middle of a facelift.

Work is under way to build a new section around the top to support the letters, said the center's office manager, Kristy Tarrant.

"It's been up there almost 50 years ... ," she said. "And the fonts have changed over the years.

"If you notice, we've had two or three fonts up there," she said.

The glass-shaped pipe tower is made of many pipes in different sizes that get thinner toward the top.

Several years ago, when I interviewed Dan MacMillan, a retired architect who worked on the tower, he told me that one-time mayor Joe Tally was the driving force for the structure. MacMillan described Tally as a "curious sort of guy who would attach himself to interesting ideas (who) was really attached to this idea of a geometric structure."

But, as Tarrant pointed out this week, "we've got a new generation of Tallys here now and it was time for an update." There was, however, never any talk of the stalwart sign coming down, said Tarrant, who spent much of her childhood in Fayetteville as a military brat.

"I remember being in third grade and seeing the sign ...," she said. "Between the Eiffel Tower at Bordeaux and the Westwood tower and this tower, you could definitely tell which shopping center you were at around here if you were a kid back then."

Oopsie

Earlier this month I mentioned how I'd seen renovation plans for the Food Lion on Rosehill Road and reported that Food Lion spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown said the work will start later this year with completion by early next summer.

My bad. I flat out neglected to ask Phillips-Brown if other Food Lions in the area will get renovations, too.

I believe this is likely for a few.

For example, renovation plans have been submitted to the city for the Food Lion on Skibo Road. But Phillips-Brown said this week that any plans that are submitted for any stores just mean those stores are "under consideration" for remodeling. She said she'd share more details if and when additional stores get the official nod.

Staff writer Rebecca Logan appreciates retail tips. Reach her at [email protected] or 486-3582.

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