Pittsburgh’s biggest sporting event is ready to get back to normal.
May 7, 2023 @ 7am
While the Penguins, Pirates and Steelers all draw big game day crowds, none can compare to the crowd that comes out for the Pittsburgh Marathon. With more than 30,000 participants and 300,000 spectators, it’s an event that draws people and dollars to the city.
https://www.thepittsburghmarathon.com/
You are right in the action at your http://www.starloftspgh.com home.
See you there! Janet
In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic years, Laura Karet sounds fully confident about the prospects for Giant Eagle today.
“We have big aspirations to grow,” said Karet, who spoke Tuesday before a sold-out audience at a VisionPittsburgh luncheon at the Duquesne Club downtown.
Amid an ever-crowding competitive climate in which everyone from Aldi to Amazon.com Inc. is selling groceries, Karet spoke as the CEO and chairwoman of a retailer that has grown to more than 470 stores and annual revenue of $11.1 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022.
In a fireside chat led by Pittsburgh Business Times Publisher Evan Rosenberg, Karet talked about Giant Eagle’s origins. The company was started by five families during the Great Depression and its ownership continues on today in a retail industry often dominated by publicly traded national chains.
Karet’s story of Giant Eagle’s ongoing growth and expansion came in two distinct parts, the first fueled by petroleum sales and the company’s decision to diversify its store types, the second by the pandemic.
“Twenty-five years ago, we realized customers were starting to change their shopping habits,” she said.
She recalled how about 20 years ago Kroger, the Cincinnati-based grocery chain that doesn’t operate in the region, started putting gas pumps in their parking lots and how quickly Giant Eagle decided to do so as well.
The result soon led to the launch of the company’s GetGo convenience store chain.
Karet recalled how quickly establishing gas pumps at Giant Eagle stores as well as for the new GetGo locations resulted in major boosts in sales for everything else.
“We started buying gas pumps as fast as we could,” she said.
She added GetGo is now differentiated by its approach to food, noting there are now more GetGo locations than there are traditional Giant Eagle stores for what’s become a major growth vehicle for the company.
Giant Eagle also was able to benefit from the major societal disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, a global health crisis in which the grocery chain operated as one of the few places people were allowed to shop amid the wave of government-required shutdowns.
“When Covid happened, our business grew enormously overnight,” she said, adding Giant Eagle quickly worked to roll out an online delivery service that had been in the works.
That was as much of a challenge as an opportunity.
With GetGo expanding and the company also rolling out more and more Market District-branded stores, including in smaller formats, Karet sounded as though Giant Eagle has carved out a sustainable niche and territory for itself.
That’s despite sometimes jarring industry consolidation.
“When Amazon bought Whole Foods, it was like a bomb went off in the industry,” she said at one point.
Yet Karet doesn’t expect any changes to the competitive landscape to come any time soon from the proposed merger between Kroger and Albertsons. Roughly handicapping it as a 50/50 proposition to go forward, Karet expects such a merger to take years to fully pull off and integrate.
“We’re pretty big but really small compared to them,” she said of the two chain grocers.
She sees lots of opportunity for Giant Eagle to grow and expand as it becomes more difficult for smaller operators to compete.
“There’s too many opportunities, which, by the way is a good problem to have,” she said.
Karet noted how the company is active in converting established Giant Eagle stores into Market District stores, establishing new smaller-format Market District locations, as well as expanding its WetGo car wash business along with GetGo as a now proven store model.
“We’re pretty convinced we have a unique model that will allow us to compete in this hard changing world against people who are much bigger than us,” she said.
Karet recalled her early days in her career when she said she had “no interest in coming back to the company,” wishing instead to chart her own course, working early in her career for such companies as Procter & Gamble and Sara Lee.
Now, after taking on the title of chairwoman at Giant Eagle last year, Karet expects she’s worked in just about every position at the company, outside a few, such as chief information office and in the real estate department.
However, none of them equaled the kind of grounding she received actually working in the stores.
“The best training by far was working in the stores growing up,” she said.
Article from Pittsburgh Business Times: https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2023/03/14/laura-karet-giant-eagle-vision-pittsburgh.html
Many exciting things happening in Downtown Pittsburgh at your Star Lofts Pittsburgh home next to the Benedum Theater. http://www.starloftspgh.com
Is there anyone who doesn’t love Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol? The story is filled with the holiday spirit – and hauntings and redemption and celebration and forgiveness. There isn’t much to dislike.
A Christmas Carol Summary
A mean-spirited, miserly old man named Ebenezer Scrooge sits in his counting-house on a frigid Christmas Eve. His clerk, Bob Cratchit, shivers in the anteroom because Scrooge refuses to spend money on heating coals for a fire. Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, pays his uncle a visit and invites him to his annual Christmas party. Two portly gentlemen also drop by and ask Scrooge for a contribution to their charity. Scrooge reacts to the holiday visitors with bitterness and venom, spitting out an angry “Bah! Humbug!” in response to his nephew’s “Merry Christmas!”
Later that evening, after returning to his dark, cold apartment, Scrooge receives a chilling visitation from the ghost of his dead partner, Jacob Marley. Marley, looking haggard and pallid, relates his unfortunate story. As punishment for his greedy and self-serving life his spirit has been condemned to wander the Earth weighted down with heavy chains. Marley hopes to save Scrooge from sharing the same fate. Marley informs Scrooge that three spirits will visit him during each of the next three nights. After the wraith disappears, Scrooge collapses into a deep sleep.
He wakes moments before the arrival of the Ghost of Christmas Past, a strange childlike phantom with a brightly glowing head. The spirit escorts Scrooge on a journey into the past to previous Christmases from the curmudgeon’s earlier years. Invisible to those he watches, Scrooge revisits his childhood school days, his apprenticeship with a jolly merchant named Fezziwig, and his engagement to Belle, a woman who leaves Scrooge because his lust for money eclipses his ability to love another. Scrooge, deeply moved, sheds tears of regret before the phantom returns him to his bed.
The Ghost of Christmas Present, a majestic giant clad in a green fur robe, takes Scrooge through London to unveil Christmas as it will happen that year. Scrooge watches the large, bustling Cratchit family prepare a miniature feast in its meager home. He discovers Bob Cratchit’s crippled son, Tiny Tim, a courageous boy whose kindness and humility warms Scrooge’s heart. The specter then zips Scrooge to his nephew’s to witness the Christmas party. Scrooge finds the jovial gathering delightful and pleads with the spirit to stay until the very end of the festivities. As the day passes, the spirit ages, becoming noticeably older. Toward the end of the day, he shows Scrooge two starved children, Ignorance and Want, living under his coat. He vanishes instantly as Scrooge notices a dark, hooded figure coming toward him.
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come leads Scrooge through a sequence of mysterious scenes relating to an unnamed man’s recent death. Scrooge sees businessmen discussing the dead man’s riches, some vagabonds trading his personal effects for cash, and a poor couple expressing relief at the death of their unforgiving creditor. Scrooge, anxious to learn the lesson of his latest visitor, begs to know the name of the dead man. After pleading with the ghost, Scrooge finds himself in a churchyard, the spirit pointing to a grave. Scrooge looks at the headstone and is shocked to read his own name. He desperately implores the spirit to alter his fate, promising to renounce his insensitive, avaricious ways and to honor Christmas with all his heart. Whoosh! He suddenly finds himself safely tucked in his bed.
Overwhelmed with joy by the chance to redeem himself and grateful that he has been returned to Christmas Day, Scrooge rushes out onto the street hoping to share his newfound Christmas spirit. He sends a giant Christmas turkey to the Cratchit house and attends Fred’s party, to the stifled surprise of the other guests. As the years go by, he holds true to his promise and honors Christmas with all his heart: he treats Tiny Tim as if he were his own child, provides lavish gifts for the poor, and treats his fellow human beings with kindness, generosity, and warmth.
Go see the live Christmas Carol near your home at the http://www.StarLoftsPgh.com It usually plays at the Byham Theater a block from your home at the starloftspgh. See you there, Merry Christmas from Janet and Charlie.
Your at home at http://www.starloftspgh.com
Feeling down about the environment? Need a drink to take the edge off? Air Company has a crisp, clean solution for both of your problems: Air Vodka.
Launched in 2019, and now bolstered by a completely new round of funding that will push production levels, Air Company has a focus on creating products with carbon dioxide emissions, which are responsible for 79 percent of greenhouse gasses produced through human activities as of 2020, according to the U.S. Environmental Protective Agency. So far, its Air Vodka product has seen the most traction with backing from companies like JetBlue Airways and Toyota.
Through its carbon conversion technology, Air Company removes the impurities often found in alcohol by capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that would otherwise pollute Earth. From there, it converts the CO2 emissions into ethanol in water, free from all solids or other constituents you’d normally find in the fermentation process. The result is a high-end 40 percent alcohol-by-volume vodka sold across the country and in bars from New York to San Francisco.
Have some vodka with us at the Backstage bar right across your front door of the http://www.starloftspgh.com
Salut, Janet & Charlie
The 2022-23 list, released Tuesday, ranked 150 U.S. metro areas using indexes for jobs, housing affordability, quality of life, desirability, and net migration to calculate each city’s standing. U.S. News gathers data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Labor, and its own internal sources. Pittsburgh is a great place to live. You can call Pittsburgh your home at http://www.starloftspgh.com.
Call 412.943.7660 for a tour of http://www.skyloftpgh.com available May 2022.
Great news, Frozen, the musical is coming to the Benedum Theater, right across the street from you home. The schedule for this is October 5-16, 2022.
Be sure to get your tickets. This will be a record-breaking season for the Pittsburgh Broadway season 2022-2023!
Here is plot of the musical Frozen:
A Greek chorus introduces Princess Elsa of Arendelle and her playful younger sister, Princess Anna (“Vuelie”, “Let the Sun Shine On”).[41] While the family knows about Elsa’s magic, it is kept a secret from the people of Arendelle. One night at bedtime, Elsa and Anna build a magical snowman and name it Olaf (“A Little Bit of You”); Elsa creates snow in their room. In their excitement, Elsa accidentally injures Anna with her icy magic. Their parents, King Agnarr and Queen Iduna, call for the aid of the colony of hidden folk, led by Grand Pabbie. He heals Anna and removes her memories of Elsa’s magic. Elsa asks Grand Pabbie to remove her magic, but he says that it is a part of her. He gives her a vision of her future, frightening Elsa, who believes that her magic will cause death. The King isolates the sisters within the castle. Elsa shuts Anna out when Anna seeks to play (“Do You Want to Build a Snowman?“), and Elsa’s fear of her powers grows. While the princesses are still young, the Queen and King sail to seek a solution to help Elsa control her powers, and they die at sea during a storm.
Years pass. The day before Elsa’s coronation as Queen of Arendelle, Anna asks if there is anything she can do for her sister. Elsa, her room coated in ice, refuses to open her door out of fear of hurting Anna again. Anna is excited for the castle’s gates to open (“For the First Time in Forever“) and meets the handsome Prince Hans (“Hans of the Southern Isles”). Elsa is terrified that the kingdom’s citizens might find out about her powers and fear her, while wishing to be able to reconnect with Anna (“Dangerous to Dream”). Elsa’s coronation goes smoothly, and she initiates her first contact with Anna in years. They enjoy the coronation together, with Anna talking the Duke of Weselton out of dancing with the newly crowned Queen. However, Elsa leaves after Anna asks about keeping the gates open. Anna falls in love with Hans (“Love Is an Open Door“), who quickly proposes marriage to her, and the two share a kiss after she accepts. The couple asks for Elsa’s blessing, who objects because the two have only known each other for a day. After intense questioning from Anna about shutting her out of her life, Elsa accidentally unleashes her powers before the court. The Duke brands her a monster. Elsa flees to the North Mountain without realizing that her suppressed magic has engulfed Arendelle in an eternal winter.
Anna goes in search of Elsa, leaving Hans in charge of the kingdom during her absence. Up in the mountains, ice harvester Kristoff and his reindeer Sven (“Reindeer(s) Are Better Than People“) are found by the ill-equipped Anna, still in her coronation dress. She orders Kristoff to take her to the North Mountain, the source of the storm. Kristoff gives her a set of winter clothes, and she leaves her dress behind. In view of her sudden engagement, Kristoff and Anna disagree about love as they cross a bridge (“What Do You Know About Love”), and Anna saves Kristoff from falling off the bridge. Anna and Kristoff then encounter a newly created Olaf, who offers to guide them to Elsa and sings about his love for summer (“In Summer“). A soldier arrives in Arendelle with Anna’s dress, and Hans fears for Anna’s safety. He assembles a search party (“Hans of the Southern Isles” (reprise)), including the Duke and two of his men, who intend to put her in her place. Meanwhile, on the North Mountain, Elsa builds an ice castle with her powers and transforms her coronation dress into a sparkly ice gown (“Let It Go“).
Anna, Kristoff, and Olaf arrive at Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post & Sauna to meet the owner, Oaken (“Hygge”). Anna enjoys the sauna together with its many other patrons. Kristoff convinces Oaken and his patrons to aid their journey; Oaken gives them provisions and a winter dress for Anna.
Reaching the ice palace, Anna meets Elsa, but when she reveals what has become of Arendelle, Elsa becomes angry and frustrated, saying that she cannot fix it, and she accidentally freezes Anna’s heart (“I Can’t Lose You”). Out of fear of hurting Anna further, Elsa forces her, Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf out of the palace. Anna’s hair begins turning white, so Kristoff takes her to meet the hidden folk, his adoptive family, who recognize Anna as the princess and attempt to match her with Kristoff, despite him mentioning her betrothal to Hans (“Fixer Upper“). Grand Pabbie attempts to remove the magic freezing Anna’s heart but fails; Kristoff realizes that he is falling in love with her (“Kristoff Lullaby”). Grand Pabbie reveals that Anna will freeze solid unless “an act of true love” reverses the spell. Kristoff selflessly races Anna back home so Hans can give her true love’s kiss.
In the ice castle, Elsa considers whether she is a monster and wonders how can she end the storm, unsure whether the storm would end or grow worse if she were to die (“Monster“). She resolves to stay alive to end the storm and lowers the defenses around the castle, allowing Hans and his men to capture her. Home, Anna is delivered to Hans, but rather than kissing her, he reveals that he has been plotting to seize the throne of Arendelle by allowing Anna to freeze to death and accusing Elsa of her murder (“Hans of the Southern Isles” (reprise 2)). Hans locks Anna in a room to die, as Anna reflects on her mistakes while still holding on to the idea of love (“True Love”). Olaf frees Anna, and they venture into the blizzard outside to meet Kristoff, whom Olaf reveals is in love with her.
Hans publicly charges Elsa with treason and sentences her to death. Elsa escapes her chains and flees outside as a blizzard grows (“Colder by the Minute”). Kristoff and Anna struggle to find each other. Hans confronts Elsa, claiming that she killed Anna, causing Elsa to break down and the storm to pause. Anna finally finds Kristoff but spots Hans about to kill Elsa; she leaps in the way and freezes solid, stopping Hans. Devastated, Elsa mourns her sister, who thaws out, her sacrifice constituting “an act of true love”. Realizing that her magic is controlled by love, Elsa ends the winter (“Vuelie (Love Thaws)”). Anna punches Hans, and she and Kristoff become a couple, with Elsa’s blessing. Elsa and Anna reunite without fear for the first time, as their parents, young Elsa and young Anna appear in the background, signaling the healing of the sisters’ painful past (Finale).
Warm Regards, Janet and Charlie
Dance companies in Pittsburgh and around the globe are looking at ways to bring ballet into the 21st century. The Pittsburgh Dance Council will introduce local audiences to one such innovator, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, described as transcending tradition in a “groundbreaking mix of styles ranging from ballet to hip hop.”
Complexions Contemporary Ballet presents “Bach 25” and “Woke.” 8 p.m. Byham Theater. 101 Sixth St., Downtown. $10-65. 1 Block over from your starloftspgh home.
See Atticus Finch, Scout and Boo Radley like never before when one of “the most successful American plays in Broadway history” comes to town for a special eight-show run. Adapted from Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece by renowned playwright and director, Aaron Sorkin, the gripping drama stars Richard Thomas as Alabama lawyer Atticus Finch.
Tuesday, April 19: To Kill A Mockingbird at the Benedum Center
7:30 p.m.
Who needs a television when you have a live theater right next door to your home at the http://www.StarLoftPgh.com
Decorating your first apartment can be a new and sometimes overwhelming experience. However, it can also be a time to explore your creativity while having fun turning your new apartment into a home. Here are five helpful tips for decorating your first apartment.
Be focused on other financial aspects, so spending excess money purchasing all your decor at once isn’t ideal. You can start to add more and more décor pieces to your apartment gradually as time progresses and you’ve settled into your new place decorating and putting the ambiance of your apartment living space together. Gradually buying your apartment décor allows you to discover what you will really need and enjoy while saving you money, time, and space, preventing you from purchasing unnecessary items.
Wall décor can be a key component of apartment decorating. Adding wall décor to your apartment allows you to show off your personality and style by creating a theme in your apartment without damaging or painting your walls. Wall décor consists of mirrors, pictures, paintings, clocks, tapestries, shelving, and other art forms that can enhance your apartment’s appeal and space.
Rugs are a great décor piece for your apartment! They help enhance the appeal of rooms in your apartment, making them cozier and inviting. Rugs are also functional, keeping your floor warm, reducing the noise coming from your apartment, and making sitting on the floor more comfortable. You can even place a rug over the existing carpet in your apartment to separate areas and add a splash of color or texture to the rooms in your apartment.
Along with enhancing your apartment’s appeal, you want your décor to provide comfort. Adding blankets, throw pillows, rugs, and lamps to your apartment goes a long way in creating a cozy, relaxing, and serene atmosphere. It’s ideal for helping you relax and enjoy the comfort of your apartment after enduring a long day of work or school. You also want to consider adding items that make your apartment inviting to accommodate those guests that are “just visiting.”
Adding creative décor to your apartment helps display your personality reflecting your tastes and interests. Personalizing your apartment can be done by including pictures of loved ones, souvenirs, creative paintings, different color rugs, unique furniture pieces, and much more. As your tastes and interests change, you can redecorate, providing new visuals.
The Apartments of Wildewood have a friendly community that’s waiting to welcome you!
The StarloftsPgh.com are located in beautiful downtown Pittsburgh.
To set up an appointment to check out an apartment, call Janet at 412-943-7660
Pittsburgh's Theater District Star Loft Apartments 