These businesses are changing how you spend your money in South Florida
This collection of stories highlights businesses that are changing consumer spending habits.
Publix has upgraded its Briar Bay locationt. Rooms to Go is replacing a longstanding Kendall bookstore with one of the largest showrooms in the country. Tim Hortons plans to resurface in Florida. And the Fort Lauderdale drag restaurant 'Lips' transforms into 'Aquaplex,' preserving its cultural significance while undergoing significant renovations.
Read the stories below.
Drag queen Asheeria Pryce performs as Gladys Knight during a celebrity impersonation show at Aquaplex on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Aquaplex, formerly known as Lips, offers guests a variety of drag shows along with food and drinks. By Photo by Matias J. Ocner
NO. 1: AN ICONIC FORT LAUDERDALE DRAG RESTAURANT WAS ON ITS LAST LEG. IT JUST GOT A FACELIFT
The owners of Key West drag destination Aquaplex bought and remodeled the drag restaurant Lips in Fort Lauderdale. | Published January 28, 2025 | Read Full Story by Amanda Rosa
A contemporary Tim Hortons restaurant serves coffee, donuts and fast foods like sandwiches, wraps and chicken strips. There is talk about opening locations of the Canadian landmark eatery in South Florida.
NO. 2: THIS DOUGHNUT AND COFFEE RESTAURANT IS COMING BACK TO FLORIDA. TAKE A LOOK AT THE PLANS
What to know about the chain. | Published February 12, 2025 | Read Full Story by Jason Dill
Publix greeted customers at the 7 a.m. grand opening of its long-awaited rebuilt Briar Bay store with custom bags on Feb. 27, 2025.
NO. 3: A NEW PUBLIX JUST OPENED IN THE FALLS AREA, AND SHOPPERS HAVE BEEN TALKING. TAKE A LOOK
The Briar Bay Publix is just one of several opening in March around Florida. | Published February 28, 2025 | Read Full Story by Howard Cohen
In this file photo from Oct. 30, 2024, comedian Brittany Brave is photographed outside of the Barnes & Noble bookstore in West Kendall. Brave grew up in Miami's Kendall neighborhood and worked at this store as a barista during high school and had a stand-up performance at the Adrienne Arsht Center on Nov. 23, 2024. By MATIAS J. OCNER
NO. 4: COULD ONE OF THE BIGGEST ROOMS TO GO IN THE COUNTRY REPLACE A BELOVED KENDALL BOOKSTORE?
The closing plans coincide with other plans for expansion. | Published March 20, 2025 | Read Full Story by Howard Cohen
The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.
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Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Puslinch rejects move to speed up potential new Danby HQ in the township
Correction: A previous version of this story said the recommendations will now be sent to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. The recommendations will first be sent to the County of Wellington for approval, then the ministry. PUSLINCH – Puslinch council has rejected a move from Danby Canada and a partner Canadian company that would have helped clear the way for a new $100 million consolidated headquarters in Puslinch. Representing Danby and the Upper Canada Forest Group, a Mississauga distributor of specialty wood products, at a Puslinch council meeting Wednesday morning, MHBC planner Emily Elliott asked councillors to include 4631 Sideroad 20 N., approximately 60 acres beside the Hanlon Expressway and Concession 4, in the lands being eyed for Puslinch's future rural employment. At least 30 hectares of township land are required for additional employment lands and to guide future planning decisions. 'Our client has a vision to develop the land as a prestige employment campus comprised of office, manufacturing, warehousing and associated uses,' said Elliott, in a related report. 'Development of the subject lands as contemplated represents significant employment investment in the township.' According to Elliott, redesignating the lands from secondary agricultural and core greenlands will support the development of 'investment-ready' businesses, ensure 'high-quality, employment-focused development,' and 'unlock' employment lands on the west side of the Hanlon to complete the employment corridor. Originally proposed in 2022 , the development is anticipated to house approximately 600 jobs, 350 of which already exist, and would share amenities between the two companies, including boardrooms, conference rooms, classrooms, a gym, and a daycare. While several concerns have been shared about the proposed development, Elliott said the landowners are exploring a service road connecting Concession Road 4 to Highway 6 to prevent traffic on Sideroad 20, locating future industrial buildings as far away from existing homes as possible and creating large landscape buffers on the site's perimeter with large trees and publicly accessible walking trails. Dust and lighting measures are also being considered. When Mayor James Seeley questioned why the companies would apply to be included in the rural employment lands when a zoning bylaw amendment and Official Planning Amendment (OPA) was already submitted by them in early 2024, Elliott said it would essentially make their existing applications more viable and streamlined. The company's zoning bylaw amendment request and OPA application will come to council for approval at a future date. Instead of including the Danby lands, council followed staff recommendations and approved including 92.98 hectares located immediately south of Highway 401 and east of Concession Road 7, as its preferred location for the township's future short-term employment growth. This was amended during the meeting to include approximately 36.17 hectares located north of Wellington Road 34, east of Concession Road 7, and approximately 34.22 hectares situated directly south of Wellington Road 34 and east of Concession Road 7, following delegations from two other local developers and council concerns about putting all of their eggs in one basket. The land recommendations have been to sent to the County of Wellington for approval (planning committee then ultimately council as a whole ). If endorsed at the county level, it will be sent to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing for final approval. Public consultation will be a component of the county review. Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
Who Will Be The Winners And Losers Of The Next Debt Crisis?
KENDALL, FL - MARCH 07: A member of the congregation prepares her credit cards to be cut up by a ... More saw as she tries to dig herself out of credit card debt during a sermon by Kevin Cross about faith-based financial management at the Miami Vineyard Community Church on March 7, 2009 in Kendall, Florida. Cross preaches to people about the biblical principles of money management with his idea of steps that should be taken for handling finances to glorify and honor God. With the economic hard times that have fallen upon many people, churches around the country are trying new programs such as Cross's Margin and Meaning events, to guide people out of their debt and get back on their feet financially. (Photo by) Although I devoted last week's note to book recommendations, I want to start this week's missive by also highlighting a few classic works, notably Charles Dickens' 'Little Dorrit' and Honoré de Balzac's 'Lost Illusions' and 'Pére Goriot'. All three books, published in the middle of the 19th century, in the shadow of the debt burdens that resulted from the Napoleonic Wars, speak to the pernicious aspects of debt – debtors prisons, debt collection and the surrender of properties caused by over-indebtedness. They have come to mind because markets are beginning to price in a potentially very dramatic change in fortunes – which, if it occurs, will be historic and far reaching. There are at least three noteworthy elements to this. The first is that the difference between interest rates for companies, relative to 'safe' government bonds, have fallen to historic lows. In more technical terms, corporate bond spreads (corporate yields less the US 10 year bond yield for example) and spreads for riskier high yield bonds in the US, are now well below long-term average levels. While this is a function of strong risk appetite and demand for fixed income, it is also a recognition by markets that debt levels for corporations (on average) are at very manageable levels, while those for governments are not. Second, the spread between emerging market debt (countries and companies) and Treasuries has also compressed, to multi-decade lows. Again, this is an indication of appetite for yield from investors, but also a re-evaluation of the riskiness of emerging market debt (compared to countries like the US). Emerging markets collectively (China skews the data) have a debt to GDP ratio of 75% according to the April edition of the IMF Fiscal Monitor, which is the highest it has ever been. The only saving grace is that emerging economies have lower debt levels than the developed world, though the threshold to debt sustainability is much lower for emerging economies (less deep markets, harder to gather taxes). What is more interesting is that within the emerging markets universe there is a decent number of large emerging economies that have relatively low levels of debt – Indonesia and Mexico for example. Then third, rising stock markets and property markets, not to mention business creation, have created massive wealth. Remarkably, world wealth stands at over USD 500 trn, with nearly half of this in the USA where the wealth of the average adult is USD 620,000, according to the recent UBS wealth report. The USA is also home to about 60% of the world's ultra-high net worth individuals, those with net wealth of over USD 50 mn. Surpassing this group, there are close to 3,000 individuals globally with wealth between USD 1bn and USD 50bn (collectively they are worth nearly USD 13 trn). The point of sketching out varying levels of debt and wealth is that in the next five or more years, there will be a seismic transfer of power, influence and wealth between those who have 'healthy' balance sheets, and those who are encumbered with debt…as Dickens and Balzac have so skillfully demonstrated. To give a few examples. The UK is notoriously fiscally constrained and cannot alone raise the capital to fund its ambitious AI Opportunity plan. As such, it will likely enter in partnerships with sovereign wealth type investment funds (Caisse des Dêpots, the Canadian fund, has just announced a CA$ 3.5bn investment in a nuclear energy plant in Suffolk). The same is true in the US. In a recent research note, Morgan Stanley estimates that the US will need to invest USD 3.5 trillion in AI infrastructure up to 2028 (new energy sources and data centres), and that at least half of that capital will come from the large technology firms in the US. In the context of America's fiscal constraints, cash rich technology firms will become more powerful, and critical to national If the US has a debt crisis, and Treasury yields balloon out beyond 8%, an easy political remedy would be to co-opt (under threat of a punitive wealth tax) America's wealthy to buy government debt. Equally, sovereign wealth funds of low debt countries like Norway, will have a unique opportunity to buy strategic assets across Europe in the event of a debt crunch. My prediction is that France, the UK and perhaps the US will spend the next fifteen years in the 'Debtor's Prison', while lower debt countries like Germany, Poland and the Netherlands and Norway will enjoy a strategic opportunity. In a world where democracy is under pressure, and in some cases inequality is rising, large cash rich companies will control more strategic assets, and the wealthy will find that governments need to court them rather than tax them. The one country where this may not be the case is China, which is vastly indebted. Having studied the way some European economies become heavily indebted in the aftermath of the euro-zone crisis, the Communist party will throw entrepreneurs, the wealthy and corporates into the Debtors Prison, and let them pay their way out. Have a great week ahead, Mike
Hamilton Spectator
2 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Automakers are going big on in-car subscriptions. Are customers buying it?
Consumers don't want to pay for it. Automakers are still pushing hard. In-car subscriptions have become a growing obsession for many automakers which see strong revenue potential from recurring customer payments. But it appears that initial attempts to paywall built-in hardware and software features, such as cameras, sensors or navigation perks, haven't been too successful, with few drivers willing to take on yet another monthly bill. That has brought automakers to their next challenge: convincing customers to subscribe. An S&P Global Mobility survey this month found the number of respondents who were willing to pay for connected services in their vehicle dropped to 68 per cent this year, compared with 86 per cent in 2024. 'Subscription-based services (navigation, Wi-Fi, etc.) are increasingly being met with resistance from price-sensitive consumers who may not see the value in paying recurring fees for features they do not frequently use,' the report said. Drivers now have a range of options to subscribe to: semi-autonomous driving, roadside assistance, in-vehicle apps, stolen vehicle assistance and access to Wi-Fi — all at different price tiers. However, steep subscription costs on top of sticker prices of new vehicles remain one of the biggest barriers for many consumers. To get past that, some automakers are offering temporary complementary access to connective services in hopes of gaining loyal customers. Ford Motor Co.'s semi-autonomous driving feature costs between $650 and $900 per year after a 90-day free trial, for example. General Motors Co.'s OnStar subscription can be as high as $39.99 a month after a free trial, according to its website. Automakers which are known for their affordable prices have also joined the race for subscription-based connected services. Kia Corp., for example, has a three-tier subscription offering for owners following a three-year free trial period, which offers services such as a charging station locator, digital key access via smartphone and roadside emergency services. The subscription model is in its evolution phase, said Stephanie Brinley, associate director of autointelligence at S&P Global Mobility. 'We're trying to figure out what consumers are willing to pay for, how much they're willing to, (and) how they want it bundled,' she said. Despite the initial resistance, automakers haven't given up yet. Instead, they're rolling out brand new technology and features in the hopes of enticing drivers to pay for subscriptions. 'They're pivoting to that new tech,' said Daniel Ross, senior manager of industry insights with Canadian Black Book. 'It's more on what's new and what they've never had before.' Ross said as newer technology comes out, there will be more opportunities for automakers to release new generations of cars with updated software. And that's one of the pitches for customers to subscribe, he added. 'If you want that type of technology that's advanced, that's the newest age, that's something you can tell your friends about, this is the way you pay for it,' Ross said. Brinley said automakers are building a road map to help scale this in-car technology and these features to make it more affordable for consumers in the long run — all while keeping personalization at its core. 'Once you have the platform and the service developed, the margin is really high,' Brinley said. 'The fact that it's connected is not really the element that consumers get excited about,' she said. 'It's what does that connectivity do for you as an owner?' Some customers may find value in GM's OnStar safety and security package that alerts for help during a crash, while others may subscribe to Ford's self-driving feature for a month-long road trip. 'The appeal of a feature is that it makes driving easier,' she said. Brinley said automakers have started to talk about their revenue expectations from subscription-based services more concretely. That 'means they're making progress,' she said. On recent earnings calls, GM projected revenue from its hands-free feature, Super Cruise, will be more than $200 million in 2025 and is expected to more than double in 2026. Meanwhile, Ford said the number of its vehicles equipped with the hands-free driving feature, BlueCruise, have more than doubled in the last year to just under 700,000 units. 'You can see our relationship with our customers no longer ends the point of sale or financing. We're starting to build lasting relationships and creating new avenues for reoccurring growth at Ford,' CEO Jim Farley told analysts during its fourth-quarter earnings call. Ross said automakers are banking on the trickle-down effect of the connected services subscription. Often, features first introduced to high-end customers gradually filter their way down to mainstream customers, who are looking for affordable and budget-conscious options, he explained. Brinley said the subscription model is still in its early stages. As it progresses, so will consumer expectations. 'If you have a car that has some of these features and then you go to buy the next car, you think that it just should be there,' Brinley said. As consumers get more used to connectivity, their expectation of what comes with a vehicle and what they're going to pay will also evolve, she said. 'There's probably going to be a lot of flexibility over time in how people choose to consume that,' Brinley said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2025.
