We just wrapped up our reader survey and got a lot of great responses.
Thanks to everyone who responded.
As a small weekly, it’s no surprise that slightly more than half, 52%, of the respondents read the entire paper from front to back. Rants & Raves was the next most popular landing spot with 16% going there first followed by Dining & Entertainment at 10% while a few people, 5% go to other places, mostly their favorite columnist.
So, what can we do to give you more of what you want? There were 26% of you who want more dining reviews, but we have a feeling you really want more restaurant news while 27% of you want more local news. There were 14% who wanted the ephemeral other with 8% wanted more business news, 6% wanted more personal profiles, 4% for more rants and raves, 3% photos and 3% sports.
We had a lot of interesting general desires, such as local activities, gardening, anything new, police reports, Club Scene, cooking, coupons, employment, Deltona news, entertainment, human interest, Out & About, personal ads, puzzles and hurricane Information.
We got several suggestions for providing local event information further in advance and we’d like to point out we have a section in Out & About for Coming events in which we try to provide events at least two weeks in advance. Even better are our In Season and Celebrate Spring special sections that provide a calendar of events far in advance. They’re available at our office or on our website.
Reader’s Choice was by far the favorite special section with the myriad lists of favorite businesses in Volusia County.
I’m a little surprised this column was the favorite at 36% compared to 31% for Costa Magoulas’ Chef’s Corner column, 22% for Dan’s Smith Land Lines and 14% for his fishing column. Several respondents couldn’t decide and just marked all of them, which made us happy.
In the survey results we saw several areas where we can improve and better provide the information you’d like to see. One last note, though, we’d like to point out the limitations of our print product are mostly overcome by our website where there are no space limitations.
By the way, the winners of the drawing, and Publix gift cards, were Robert Griffin, $200; Rita Carlson, $100; and David Linsler, $50.
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Commercial real estate stayed hot last week, led by Extra Space Storage buying DeLand Storage at 900 E. International Speedway Blvd. in DeLand for about $11.02 million. New Jersey/Florida partners bought the oceanfront Cove Motel at 1306 N. Atlantic Ave. in Daytona Beach for $5.25 million. New Smyrna Beach investors bought the land under the Davita Labs manufacturing plant in DeLand for $3.15 million. Sun Estates of Tampa bought the Sunshine Mobile Home Park at 481 Sunshine Court in DeLand for $2.25 million. A California investor bought the office/warehouse property at 2800 S. Nova Road in South Daytona for $3.025 million.
Also, Jesus Church of Port Orange bought the Rock Church property at 1818 Taylor Road in Port Orange for $2 million. Ormond Beach partners bought the commercial property at 785 W. Granada Blvd. in Ormond Beach for $1.45 million. Amherst Residential of Austin, Texas, bought vacant land along South Pine Street in DeLand for $1.295 million. Healthventures Properties of Melbourne bought the office condo at 1067 Town Center Drive in Orange City for $600,000. The owner of the Planet Granite property at 600 Ballough Road bought vacant land next to Walt’s Automotive on North Beach Street in Daytona Beach for $420,000.
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Some miscellaneous items included plans were submitted to the City of Daytona Beach for Heartland Dental at Tymber Creek Village on LPGA Boulevard, west of I-95. Previous plans submitted for the project were for McDonalds, Starbucks and a mini-storage facility. The restaurant site at 114 S. Beach St. in Daytona Beach is becoming Senorita Mexican Kitchen & Tequila Bar. A pizza place, possibly an Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom, is going into Latitude Landings on LPGA Boulevard in Daytona Beach. The fitness center is reopening at 1342 Howland Blvd. in Deltona.
Managing Editor Cecil G. Brumley has been tracking business and the economy in Volusia County for more than 25 years. Contact him at [email protected] (no hyphens) or follow him on Twitter @cecilbrumley.
