Framingham, MA based Staples Inc. to award (5) small businesses with $50k each in free t.v. advertising, (or they can take $40k in advertising and $10k in cash!)

FRAMINGHAM, MA - The 6th annual Staples National Small Business Survey (NASDAQ: SPLS) found that seven out of 10 small business owners are optimistic about the future. Further, 52 percent of small business owners revealed they would grow their business through advertising and direct marketing if they had a larger marketing budget. To help address this need, Staples today launched the Staples “Give Your Small Business the Push It Needs” contest to make it easy for five small businesses to win up to $50,000 each in free television advertising in their home market.

"With more than 25 years of experience working with our core small business customers, we know that investing in marketing to grow a small business is essential, yet many do not have the money to do so," said John Giusti, vice president of small business marketing at Staples. "Staples wanted to do something unique to ...[read more]

49 residential properties were sold in Framingham during the month of September 2011.

FRAMINGHAM, MA- There were a total of 49 residential real estate sales in Framingham during the month of November 2011.

Of those 49 properties, thirty one single family homes were sold at an average sale price of just over $312.5k, (average home size was approx. 1750 sqft.).

Single family home which sold during November had been on the market for an average of just over 15 weeks.

The highest price paid for a single family home in Framingham during the month of November was 28 Overlook Drive East for ...[read more]

39 residential properties were sold in Framingham during the month of October 2011.

FRAMINGHAM, MA- There were a total of 39 residential real estate sales in Framingham during the month of October 2011.

Of those 39 properties, thirty one single family homes were sold at an average sale price of just over $296k, four condominiums sold at an average price of $111.5k, and four multi-family properties sold at an average of $252k.

Single family home which sold during October had been on the market for an average of just over 15 weeks, while condos had taken an average of just 6 weeks to sell.

Multi-family residential properties that sold during October 2011 were on the market for an average of 85 days and sold for $252k, just shy of their average $256k asking prices.  A 2-family, 10-room / 6-bedroom at 395 Concord Street sold for ...[read more]

Framingham based Vici Group, Inc. launches new concept in group buying.

FRAMINGHAM, MA - Vici Group, Inc., a web services company located at 41 Beacon Street, Framingham believes its approach to the online deals market is different enough from Groupon, Woot, DailyDeal and other group buying websites to cut into the lucrative discount online shopping market.  Maybe it is.

Yesterday, (Oct. 31, 2011), the company launched it's myVici.com website which takes its name from the latin "vici" meaning "conquer" and hopes the concept they've come up with will allow consumers to conquer the online deals marketplace.

Instead of waiting for a restaurant, retailer or other business to make an offer to consumers, myVici.com turns the deal on its head -- consumers log in to ...[read more]

Framingham Board of Selectmen, (left to right) Laurie Lee, Charlie Sisitsky, Jason Smith, Ginger Esty and Dennis Giombetti.

FRAMINGHAM, MA - In an effort to skirt the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law, (MG.L. Ch. 30A, Sec. 18-25), the Framingham Board of Selectman have decided to hold two sessions of a meeting with an out-of-town developer, where two Selectmen will first meet with representatives of the Nobscot Shopping Center, and then two more Selectmen will meet with the same party for the same purpose.

Selectmen are specifically working around the intent of the very definition of when a meeting with government officials should be open.

Section 18 (a) of the Open Meeting Law defines,  "a session of a town meeting convened under section 9 of chapter 39 which would include the attendance by a quorum of a public body at any such session."

The meeting(s), which will host Tom P. Geissler, Real Estate Asset Manager for SuperValu Inc., (NYSE:  SVU), the Eden Prairie, Minnesota based company ...[read more]