is the Real Estate Broker’s mantra.
So what does this article from News Channel 8 of Virginia say about paintballers?
Apparently a local shopping mall was built where open fields used to be – open fields and a single grain silo purchased by a former slave just after the conclusion of the Civil War. This is what it looks like – now:
The shopping mall was built around the silo and now the mall’s owners want to tear it down. Many local residents are protesting this move – “”I should get up there and tie myself to it and see if they knock me down with it,” said . Locals say the silo is a valuable piece of the past. “I think it’s a historic landmark and it should be left alone,” said one resident. ”
The silo hails from the 1890s and, although not protected by historical landmark status, it has become something of a feature of the landscape locally.
The mall it sits in front of is home to one of the PEV’s Paintball stores. (Which is what makes this entry significant for paintballers: Pev’s was one of the first specialty chain stores devoted to paintball to ever open. Mike Peverill (founder) was a former member of Bad Company and would go on to merge/sell/whatever his chain with Cousin’s Paintball.)
Also sitting in the mall is JP’s Deli. JP has no problem with the silo: “When people ask me where I’m located I say next to the silo in the countryside shopping center. Now I don’t know what it’s going to be like when they take it down.”
Given the manager of Pev’s contrary response – “People will be driving up and down the shopping center asking where we are cause they can’t see us simply because we’re right behind this giant silo,” said Jeremy Werner, Pev’s Paintball manager, one wonders: did they not see the silo when they rented the retail space? Had the landowners hidden it in some truly creative manner? Maybe they painted it to look like a giant inflatable ‘can bunker (maybe they ought to let Pevs paint it like one…).
And this is what it ought to look like:
Somehow, knowing that Mike Peverill is a pretty astute guy who usually has his ducks lined up, I really tend to believe that they knew the silo was there when they rented the space.
Which makes me wonder about paintballers themselves. How tough can it be to find the paintball store that’s “right next to JP’s Deli, you know, the Deli right behind the giant, historically significant, tallest structure on the landscape, silo thing.”
Maybe Pev’s manager ought to take a trip next door to the deli and ask the folks over there to tell anyone who calls that they’re located “right behind the gian air bunker”. Maybe the ‘ballers will be able to find that way.
Editorial Note: I tried to find an active link to a Pev’s Paintball site to include and failed to do so. You can visit their myspace page here
Video coverage of this story from News Channel 8 here.
68Caliber 2.0 