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Planet Fitness has leased about 22,680 square feet of space at the Charlestown Shopping Center in Kernersville, marking the third company location in the Triad.

YOT Fitness Kernersville LLC, which conducts business as Planet Fitness, leased the space from Greenwood and Charles Inc. and joins Rite Aid and other tenants in the shopping center.

Raymond D. Collins Jr., of Collins Commercial Properties Inc., represented YOT Fitness/Planet Fitness in the Kernersville lease.

Ladd Freeman Jr low rate payday loans., of Freeman Commercial Real Estate, represented Greenwood and Charles Inc. as landlord in the lease.

Planet Fitness in Kernersville is slated to open in the fourth quarter with an initial 15 employees. Other Planet Fitness centers are located in Greensboro and High Point.

Martin Sinozich is principal and managing partner of the three Triad locations.

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IPhone seekers hoping to avoid days-long lines thought they’d have an ace in the hole: retail outlets other than Apple’s stores. Apple partner AT&T warned potential buyers that it wouldn’t have inventory for walk-in buyers until next week, but Wal-Mart, Best Buy and RadioShack all announced plans to have "limited" supplies available Thursday for shoppers who didn’t pre-order the iPhone 4.

That was the theory. The reality hasn’t played out so smoothly.

Wal-Marts around the country said that their iPhones were in short supply, and Twitter was ablaze with customers reporting from Wal-Mart stores that had just one or two of the devices in stock.

An Evansville, Ill., Wal-Mart said it had exactly one unreserved iPhone 4 available when it opened. But don’t race out the door: It’s already sold.

Only 1,500 of the 3,600 Wal-Mart stores in the United States are offering the phone on Thursday, according to company spokeswoman Ashley Hardie, though more stores will sell the phone after the launch day.

"They can’t get here soon enough!" Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien added.

A spot check of two Best Buys and multiple RadioShack stores in New York City found no phones available for customers who hadn’t claimed them in advance.

But a few pockets of inventory emerged: A Best Buy on 62nd Street had a stash of 16 GB iPhone 4s available for sale mid-afternoon. Store employees wouldn’t say how many were left.

"Inventory remains constrained, and it is expected that many of the iPhones that Best Buy receives will go first to customers who reserved one during presale," Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) warned Wednesday in a statement. The company said availability would vary store by store, and that customers should call before heading out to pick up a phone.

To prevent long lines at Apple and AT&T stores — the only places to get the iPhone on the first day of sale in past years — Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) delivered devices to Best Buy, RadioShack and Wal-Mart stores across the country. But the inventory was not enough to meet the wild demand for the phone.

One RadioShack on 23rd Street in Manhattan said Apple had given it just eight iPhones — total. They were all reserved for pre-orders, but the store said that it would make them available to walk-ins at noon if they weren’t yet claimed.

Another RadioShack, on 57th Street, went through its scant inventory so fast it wasn’t able to fulfill all of its pre-orders. One block away, a RadioShack store that didn’t accept pre-orders — it stuck with first-come, first-served — sold out fast amid hectic demand.

Best Buy, which planned to have very limited iPhone stocks on hand, had no one in line at its Fifth Avenue outpost right before its opening.

But that was for the best, since that store didn’t have a single iPhone 4 on hand for walk-in customers, according to a manager preparing for an early open. Customers who pre-ordered through Best Buy would be able to pick up their phones at scheduled appointment times throughout the morning, he said.

RadioShack (RSH, Fortune 500) did not immediately return requests for comment.

AT&T (T, Fortune 500) announced last week that it won’t start selling the iPhone 4 to walk-in buyers until June 29, and it stuck by that statement Thursday morning. Customers who turned up seeking one were set away.

Daniel Karbowitz, 32, lost his iPhone 3G last week and hoped to replace it with the latest model. When the AT&T store broke the bad news, Karbowitz set out for the nearby Apple store.

"I’m not optimistic," he said. "I hope I can get one today, but Apple likes keeping a scarce supply of their newest products."

Demand for Apple’s new phone was 10 times higher than it was for the previous version, the iPhone 3GS, according to AT&T. Apples said it sold 600,000 devices on the first day of pre-sales.

The unanticipated demand crashed AT&T’s servers, and a number of customers were unable to pre-order the iPhone 4 last week. AT&T stopped accepting pre-orders after just one day. It’s waiting for Apple to restock its inventory.

Meanwhile, the iPhone’s availability — or unavailability — at other retail outlets did nothing to quell demand at Apple’s flagship store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Thousands lined up at the store Thursday morning, with many saying they came because they heard the phones would be in short supply.

With a line still out the door, the Apple store on 67th Street in Manhattan ran out of inventory mid-afternoon for customers who didn’t pre-order. Just after 2 p.m., the store closed down its walk-in line. Managers said they would take stock of their remaining supplies and see if the could re-open the queue later Thursday.  

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Tesla Motors Inc. has shown potential investors "freaking bad ass" plans for electric SUVs, cabriolets and vans to follow its planned sedan.

The potential new models are shown in a road show given by CEO Elon Musk leading up to the expected $185 million initial public offering by the company on June 29. Toyota Motor Corp. has pledged to buy another $50 million in Tesla stock after the IPO.

"Freaking bad ass" is how he describes the variations on the Model S sedan the Palo Alto expects to start making in 2012 at the former New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. plant in Fremont. To see the Tesla IPO presentation click here.

Unlike the company's only existing electric car that it has actually delivered, the Roadster, the sedan and other models shown in the road show would be completely built by Tesla. The sports car body and frame is now produced by Lotus, whose British factory is closing for renovations before Tesla can produce its sedan, causing a gap during which the company will be delivering no cars.

Tesla last week discussed in a blog posting how it plans to build the sedan at the NUMMI plant.

If the Toyota-Tesla partnership proceeds as outlined, the companies could also be producing electric vehicles together in Fremont, with speculation centering on an all-electric version of the hybrid Prius.

Toyota's announcement last week that it plans to restart a plant in Mississippi to build Corollas has fueled further speculation that hybrid Prius manufacturing could happen at the plant the Japanese auto maker abandoned in April. The Mississippi plant had once been touted for Prius production as well.

To read more of the Business Journal's in-depth coverage of Tesla, click here.

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Rockville-based Washington Real Estate Investment Trust has completed the sale of four properties for $23.4 million.

All four buildings — three office buildings and one industrial property — are on Parklawn Drive in Rockville. WRIT has owned three of the buildings since 1993. It purchased the fourth in 1999.

This is the latest shuffle in WRIT’s local portfolio.

Earlier this month, the real estate investment trust paid $68 million to acquire two office buildings at the Quantico Corporate Office Center near Marine Corps Base Quantico in Stafford, Va.

The company owns more than 90 commercial real estate properties in the Washington market.

WRIT (NYSE: WRE) had $76.5 million in fiscal first-quarter revenue, little changed from year ago results.

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You retired. But that was then. Now things have changed, and you want — or need — to return to the workforce. Jumping back in may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be, says Age Wave CEO Ken Dychtwald, an expert on boomers and aging. The challenge of finding a job — again — isn’t just about the mechanics, like writing a résumé for the first time in years or convincing a potential employer that you’re a better hire than the perky young college grad he just interviewed. It’s also about altering your mindset and realizing that this may be a new beginning. Here’s Dychtwald’s advice on how to make your way back onto a company payroll without too much stress.

Reframe what work means

Having to go back to the office when you dreamed for years about puttering in your garden or volunteering can be frustrating, even depressing. But retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be either. For most productive, well-educated men and women, an average of 25 years of "leisure" can be terribly isolating and boring; returning to work may turn out to be a blessing after all. Remember that work is good not only for the cash flow but also keeping the mind and spirit sharp.

Don’t play the youth game

This is an area where people make a lot of mistakes Payday Loan for Bad Credit. They dye their hair (if they have any), get some hip, new, young clothes — even though they might not fit — and try to use the jargon and style of youth. That doesn’t work. A better idea: Go on the offensive and sell yourself as a mature person. Stress your capacity to make smart decisions, your good judgment in managing people, your contributions in brainstorming and business development, and your lifetime connections. This is your advantage.

Target industries with older clients

70% of all money in banks is held by people over 50. That’s an example of an industry that’s finally coming to realize that a 60-year-old client might actually appreciate dealing with a 60-year-old banker. Other sectors likely to welcome a more mature approach: adventure travel, luxury cars, lifelong learning, or retail.

–A psychologist, gerontologist, speaker, and author of 16 books, Ken Dychtwald, CEO of Age Wave, advises large companies on developing products and services for the aging population. 

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1. ENTERPRISE HOLDINGS

600 Corporate Park Drive

Clayton, Mo. 63105

314-512-5000

www.enterprise.com

Sales $12.1 billion

CEO Andrew C. Taylor

Founded 1957

Main products and services

Jack Taylor started his leasing business out of the basement of a St. Louis car dealership in 1957. The company now owns and operates the largest fleet of passenger vehicles in the world today — more than 1 million cars and trucks, operating more than 8,000 car rental locations including every major airport worldwide.

2. APEX OIL CO.

8235 Forsyth Boulevard, Suite 400

Clayton, Mo. 63105

314-889-9600

www.apexoil.com

Sales $5.5 billion

CEO Paul Novelly

Founded 1932

Main products and services

Apex is engaged in wholesale sales, storage and distribution of petroleum products including asphalt, kerosene, fuel oil, diesel, heavy oil, gasoline and marine bunkers. The company has terminals in the Midwest, East Coast, Gulf Coast and California.

3. GRAYBAR ELECTRIC CO.

34 North Meramec Avenue

Clayton, Mo. 63105

314-573-9200

www.graybar.com

Sales $4.4 billion

CEO Robert A. Reynolds Jr.

Founded 1925

Main products and services

Graybar distributes electrical, communications and networking products. One of the largest employee-owned companies in North America, it has a network of about 6,900 employees and nearly 240 locations across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

4. EDWARD JONES

12555 Manchester Road

Des Peres, Mo. 63131

314-515-2000

www.edwardjones.com

Sales $3.5 billion

CEO James D. Weddle

Founded 1922

Main products and services

Tracing its roots to its first branch office in Mexico, Mo., investment house Edward Jones now has more than 10,000 offices in the U.S., Canada and Britain. Believing that online trading encourages rash decision-making, the company instead prefers to have one-broker offices and personal contact with investors. Edward Jones, which is the largest U.S. financial services company in terms of number of offices, serves more than 7 million clients.

5. CENTER OIL CO.

600 Mason Ridge Center Drive

Town and Country, Mo. 63141

314-682-3500

www.centeroil.com

Sales $3.3 billion

CEO Gary R. Parker

Founded 1986

Main products and services

Center Oil distributes gasoline and other refined petroleum products throughout the U.S. by pipeline, ship, barge and truck to and from 10 petroleum-product terminals in the Midwest and East Coast.

6. McCarthy Holdings Inc.

1341 North Rock Hill Road

St. Louis, Mo best payday advance. 63124

314-968-3300

www.mccarthy.com

Sales $3.1 billion

CEO Michael D. Bolen

Founded 1864

Main products and services

McCarthy Holdings Inc., comprised of McCarthy Building and MC Industrial, provides construction services from coast to coast with full-service offices in Missouri, Texas, California, Arizona, Nevada and Georgia. An employee-owned company, McCarthy was ranked the 20th largest U.S. construction firm in trade publication Engineering News-Record’s 2010 listing of top 400 contractors.

7. SCHNUCK MARKETS INC.

11420 Lackland Road

Maryland Heights, Mo. 63146

314-994-9900

www.schnucks.com

Sales $2.5 billion

CEO Scott C. Schnuck

Founded 1939

Main products and services

The family-owned grocery chain operates more than 100 supermarkets in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Mississippi and Iowa. Nearly all are operated under the Schnucks brand.

8. WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY INC.

60 Weldon Parkway

Maryland Heights, Mo. 63043

314-569-7000

www.wwt.com

Sales $2.2 billion

CEO James P. Kavanaugh

Founded 1990

Main products and services

The St. Louis area’s largest minority-owned business, World Wide Technology provides technology and supply chain solutions to commercial, government and telecommunications customers.

9. ALTER TRADING CORP.

700 Office Parkway

St. Louis, Mo. 63141

314-872-2400

www.altertrading.com

Sales $1.8 billion

CEO Robert Goldstein

Founded 1898

Main products and services

Alter Trading is a fourth-generation family-owned company. Its principals also own 40 percent of Isle of Capri Casinos. Alter is one of the nation’s largest scrap metal recyclers and brokers, with processing plants and office locations throughout the central U.S. Alter has rapidly expanded, offering full product recycling capabilities and trading directly with consumers. It operates 32 scrap recycling facilities with shredders, shears and balers.

10. UNIGROUP INC.

One Premier Drive

Fenton, Mo. 63026

636-305-5000

www.unigroupinc.com

Sales $1.6 billion

CEO H. Daniel McCollister

Founded 1987

Main products and services

UniGroup is parent of moving companies United Van Lines and Mayflower Transit. It also controls a global mobility management service company, and an insurer for trucking companies and movers.

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RESEARCH: Matthew Fernandes | Post-Dispatch

Data on Apex and Alter compiled from Sorkins.com

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NEW YORK — Simon Hallett, chief investment officer of Harding Loevner, knows a thing or two about international markets. The nearly 30-year investment-industry veteran manages two highly rated mutual funds, Harding Loevner International Equity, and Harding Loevner Emerging Markets. His firm manages more than $7.3 billion. Here are his views on the European debt crisis and the global economy:

With all the discussion about Greece and the decline of the euro, what’s on your mind?

All that we’re seeing now in Europe is a kind of a ripple effect from what began here three years ago.

We wrote to our mutual fund shareholders in October, and talked about the twin big risks that the world faced. One is the risk of higher inflation resulting from the massive expansion of monetary supplies.

That helped finance the other big risk: the contraction in assets that came as a result of terrible lending by the banks. So there’s this kind of tradeoff between inflationary pressures in the future, and massive deflationary pressures now.

We don’t know what policy is going to enable us to steer between these two monsters. There is a tremendous risk of policy errors at a time when government involvement is much, much greater. But we basically said, deflationary pressures are the ones that are going to win out over the coming years, and that has some implications for the kind of companies in which we should invest.

What can we expect now?

We’re seeing a contraction in bank assets because they made stupid loans. And equity markets, in particular, seem to be very short-sighted about where the strains are going to emerge next. Governments in Europe have too much leverage. Not just in terms of their balance sheets, but also in terms of their unfunded commitments, such as welfare benefits, and unemployment benefits. In order to fix the credit problems that the banks have, governments have to generate more revenue, so they have to push tax rates up and that threatens the economic growth. So I think we’re going to continue seeing strains on government finances, strains on the finances on anybody who has too much debt.

What kind of companies can best operate in this kind of environment?

Our philosophy is to make sure that balance sheets are strong, cash flow is strong, that management is capable, and that the competitive position is invulnerable — or at least as strong as you can possibly assure. And that this is the kind of company that can eke out fairly modest amounts of growth wherever they can find it. They’re not reliant upon very strong economies.

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The Business Response Team created by Mayor Karl Dean and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce toured flood-damaged businesses Thursday to better understand their needs.

“We’re trying to determine how best we can get businesses helping businesses get back on their feet,” co-chairman Henry Hicks of Gray Line Tours said after a tour of Soundcheck, which provides storage and rehearsal space for musicians and was destroyed by flooding.

The team also met with representatives of Interior Design Services, which is located in the same warehouse facility on Cowan Street near the Cumberland River. Steve Meek, chief financial officer with IDS, said the company could use help figuring out how to insure the company’s space going forward. Soundcheck owner Ben Jumper said he is looking for help from the Mayor’s Office to get occupancy permits fast-tracked.

A separate group of representatives from the Business Response Team toured industrial businesses on Visco Drive. Businesses can visit nashvillebusinessrecovery.org, to inquire about assistance and to find out how to contribute to flood recovery efforts and share resources with businesses in need. See this story for more information.

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LSI Industries announced Tuesday that it will close its LSI Greenlee Lighting plant in Dallas and consolidate the operations in Cincinnati.

The Dallas plant employs 40. The closing will take place in phases over six months, with about five to six engineering and sales employees remaining in Dallas, said Chief Financial Officer Ron Stowell. The plant manufactures outdoor architectural and landscape lighting, he said.

LSI said in a news release that it is consolidating the operations to centralize its manufacturing operations, lower costs and improve how it uses space in its Cincinnati plant. Besides its Dallas and Cincinnati plants, LSI has 13 other facilities in the U payday advance low fees.S. and Canada.

The company said it will try to sublease the 40,000-square-foot Dallas plant. Its lease on the building extends to February 2012.

LSI Industries (NASDAQ: LYTS), headquartered in Blue Ash, designs and manufactures lighting fixtures and graphic elements for the retail, specialty niche and commercial markets. The company posted sales of $53.5 million and a net loss of $2.5 million for its fiscal third quarter.

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