Verde, a new salad-focused, quick service restaurant on King St., decided to celebrate their Grand Opening and participate in the 2nd Annual “Small Business Saturday.” Verde has spearheaded the movement in Charleston and is encouraging holiday shoppers to shop and eat small this Saturday, November 26.

Several local Charleston businesses will join the national Small Business Saturday (SBS) movement, which has support from American Express, Federal Express, the Better Business Bureau and others. Strategically planned between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday encourages shoppers to favor the locally owned businesses that are often the soul of their communities. Now in its second year, organizers credit the effort for helping increase same day sales by 27% in 2010, over 2009.

“At Verde, we are committed to all things green, which includes sustainable shopping,” says owner Jennifer Ferrebee. “What better way to help the local economy than to encourage people to shop small and patronize their locally owned merchants?”

To encourage shoppers to eat local and celebrate its Grand Opening that day, Verde will offer several specially priced “Small Business Salads” for only $5 (regularly priced at $8.95). Guests can also sign up to win one of three Verde gift packs, which each include a $20 Verde certificate and Buy Local Card from Lowcountry Local First. Buy Local Cards will also be available for purchase.

Verde’s owners have recruited other local businesses to join the Small Business Saturday, including:

• Hampden Clothing (314 King St.): 20% off all regularly priced items
• The Vault (307 King St.): 10% discount for locals
• Worthwhile (268 King St.): 20% off clothing, shoes and accessories
• Charleston Mattress (main: 10 Storehouse Row, Mom & Pop-Up Shop: 359 King St.): Free vintage wash tee with purchase of mattress if you mention this deal. $20 value
• Finicky Filly (303 King St.): 30% off jewelry
• Haute Hanger (307 King St.): 10% off all items
• Cupcake (433 King St.): Buy a dozen cupcakes and get 4 tokens to use at a later date (token good for 1 cupcake, $11 value)
• Copper Penny and Copper Penny Shooz (311/313 King St. & Mt. Pleasant Towne Centre)- 10-70% off the entire store
• Thera M. (346 King St.): 20% off regularly priced shoes and sweaters

To find out the latest from businesses participating in the event, visit Small Business Saturday in Charleston Facebook event page.

In addition to driving sales to small businesses, this initiative has customer benefits, like special offers and a $25 one-time credit on shoppers’ American Express statements if a minimum of $25 is spent on the card at participating stores.

Verde, Charleston’s first salad-focused, quick service restaurant, is located at 347 King St. The menu features inventive “signature creations,” and guests can choose to “create their own” salad from over 40, fresh ingredients and 13 house-made dressings. Verde is open Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. For more information, call 843-579-2884 or visit www.eatatverde.com. Connect with Verde on Facebook at www.facebook.com/EatAtVerde.

Verde was included in a SBS video on MSN’s Business on Main site, watch it below:

Live 5 News also covered the movement locally, watch that video here.

We bought a compact video camera a few months ago to begin shooting video for clients. We’ve covered home tours, events and interviews with our Kodak Pocket Cam.

Below are videos we shot and edited for BANa, a local rehydration drink, and STEALTH Concealment Solutions, a wireless concealment company based in North Charleston.

In addition to positioning their authors as thought leaders, blogs have other positive qualities. We love their Google-worthiness. Touchpoint has recently helped two clients launch their new web logs, and we’re delighted to see them developing a loyal following AND improving their SEO.

Darryl Cobb of Charleston-based Cobb Architecture is musing about great design on his architecture-oriented blog.

And Sean McLernon, CEO of STEALTH, is taking a leadership role in the wireless industry with his frequent posts, videos and links to all things “concealment” on the STEALTH blog.

Check out this gorgeous, glossy new book: The Photographers Guide to Charleston, Savannah and the Coastal Islands by Jeff Dodge. It’s part how-to for photographers, part travelogue, and a whole lot of information and beauty. Published by an imprint of Workman Publishing, the book hits news stands June 6. Dodge will be doing signings around the Coastal area; give a shout if you’d like more info!

Our company strives to be pretty green. We seriously limit printing, turn off computers and lights that aren’t running and recycle (a lot!). And we’re always excited to work with like-minded companies.

We’ve been having lots of fun lately with Charleston Naturally, an online e-tailer that recently bucked the trend by opening a bricks-and-mortar site in Mount Pleasant. If you missed their Grand Opening at 918 Lansing Drive, don’t despair. They’re offering frequent sales and specials, in-store and on-line, and have an ever-evolving mix of products.

Hint: Charleston Naturally is THE place to go for wedding, shower, graduation and baby gifts. Just sayin’…

We have been working with Smoke Free Lowcountry Coalition (SFC) to ensure that Summerville workers have the same protection from secondhand smoke exposure on the job. The bill passed at the first reading on Dec. 8, and a second and final reading is scheduled for Jan. 12. The public is invited to share their opinions during the public hearing period at the beginning of the Town Council meeting. Dorchester County is also introducing a smoking ordinance on Jan. 18.

Here are some facts about smoking ordinances:

• A successful smokefree ordinance in Summerville will bring the total to 38 municipalities and cover more than 1,400,000 South Carolinians. Locally, Charleston, Sullivan’s Island, Mt. Pleasant, Isle of Palms, Hollywood and Ravenel are covered by smokefree laws
• Currently, 74.1 % of Americans are covered by some kind of smokefree workplace ordinance.
• There are 3,173 municipalities that have passed laws that restrict where smoking is allowed
• 22 states have a law in effect that prohibits smoking in workplaces, restaurants and bars

Count on 2 story: ABC News 4 story:

Live 5 News story

CARTA is now offering three downtown routes for FREE! I originally thought this would be a great option for tourists, but I’m now thinking about the ease of hopping on a trolley for lunch meeting that’s too far to walk. This effort by the city is aimed at reducing the number of cars downtown and making travel easier.

It’s been long-known (and just-as-long-resented by many) that the average American working woman earns only a percentage of the salary offered to her male counterpart. Eighty percent, to be precise. But the times, they are a-changin’, and a recent analysis of 2,000 communities across the nation suggests that this gender gap is not only closing, but reversing.

The study, conducted by New York-based Reach Advisors, found that in 147 of the nation’s 150 largest cities, the median full-time salaries of women were 8% higher than the salaries of their male peers. The largest discrepancies were in Atlanta and Memphis, where females earned an estimated 20% more, and in New York City, San Diego and Los Angeles, where they earned 17%, 15% and 12% more than their male colleagues, respectively.

So why the sudden role reversal? Or what’s the catch? It’s more of a caveat than a catch, but this data applies only to unmarried, childless women under 30 who live in major metropolitan areas. A pretty specific subset of the population, we know. The study found that women whose personal lives contradicted any of these criteria were “still on the less scenic side of the wage divide.”

Reach Advisors points to education as the predominant factor in determining both the average salary of those who comprise America’s working class and the width of the gender gap that results: For every two men that graduate from college today, there are three women who do the same. Thirty and forty years ago, when the difference between men’s and women’s salaries was at its greatest, this ratio was reversed. And as for the childless and single criteria, “it’s not [women's] marital status that puts the squeeze on their income,” a Time magazine article on the study explains. “Rather, highly educated women tend to marry and have children later. Thus the women who earn the most in their 20s are usually single and childless.”

Think last week’s LeBron James press conference was a little over-the-top? That an hour of airtime devoted solely to “the decision” was about forty-five minutes too much? Or perhaps you think it was tactically genius PR for both the ball player and his new team? Either way, there’s no arguing that James’ announcement will go down as one of the more memorable in sports history. (For a quick video recap of its delivery, click here.)

Friday’s Wall Street Journal has even taken the liberty of conjuring up a “look back at some of sports’ recent gather-round-the-TV moments” to rank LeBron amongst the best (or worst, I suppose) of them. The top five: Michael Jordan’s ’93 first retirement announcement, Magic Johnson’s ’91 diagnosis with HIV, Wayne Gretzkey’s unusual third-person delivery of his 1988 trade from the Oilers to the Kings, Kobe Bryant’s proclamation of innocence in a 2003 sexual assault case, and my personal favorite, Brett Favre’s series of retirement announcements in 2008 and ’09. Click here to read the full article. And let us know what you think!