🟢 How much does a billboard cost?

Hello Thursday. My good friend and Mood House founder Cristina Wilson purchased Toccare, the award winning day spa in Dilworth.

Toccare ($125 facial) and Mood House ($92 massage) will maintain separate brands. Both concepts are experiencing record setting growth.

I worked with Cristina at The Charlotte Observer and then recruited her to lead the business side of Charlotte Agenda, where she 3x revenue.

It’s a rare win-win. Toccare founder Caci Di Russo (staying on as lead esthetician) had an awesome exit and Cristina now has 2 growing health and wellness brands that compliment each other. Bullish 🚀 

💼 Hot Job: Social Media Creative Director at Credit Karma. Hybrid. Hiring manager is Hayley Banks. VP, Head of People is Ashleigh Anderson. Swanky office in Ballantyne.

👨Shout-out: Kristijan Kahlina, Charlotte FC’s 32 year old Croatian goalie with impeccable hair, for being selected as the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year.

MARKETS: YEAR-TO-DATE

THE LEAD

How much does a billboard cost?

Billboards along I-277 cost around $9,500 per 4-week period, while those in rural areas go for as little as $600 per 4-week period.

Big dog: Adams Outdoor essentially has a monopoly on local billboards with 90% of the billboard inventory inside the 485 loop, 45 local employees, and over 750 annual clients.

My billboard bestie is Tim Pollock. He's their non-salesy sales manager.

Units: Adams Outdoor has 1,485 billboards around Charlotte. There's three different types of units — 865 bulletins (traditional billboards), 580 posters (smaller billboards), and 65 digital billboards.

Buying experience: You send objectives to their team and they send back a "billboard menu" which consists of a Google Map with billboard pins and pricing for each. It's dead simple.

For a digital media guy, I'm oddly bullish on billboards. I'd love to own some, but they rarely come for sale and private equity backed Adams Outdoor (valued at well over $1B) has slightly deeper pockets. Instead, I'll just keep trying to buy a newspaper 🙂

PRESENTED BY WINESTORE

Winestore debuts Holiday Box for $99.99 — hides 9 golden tickets worth $1,000 inside

Winestore's Holiday Box contains 12 mystery wine bottles for a ridiculously low price of $99.99.

"We sold over 1,400 boxes last year at a higher price point,” Winestore founder Matt Hartley told me. "This year we challenged ourselves — how much awesome quality can we pack into a $100 box of wine?"

GOLF NEWS

Banker, dentist, and PGA pro spend $1M to build Under Par Golf Lab

A new indoor golf simulator club named Under Par Golf Lab recently opened near Ballantyne.

Setup: 6 oversized Trackman 4 bays, P12 Puttview putting green, and TRX crossfit gym.

Membership: Full individual membership costs $225/mo with a $500 initiation fee.

Market: Over 6.2M Americans hit golf balls using simulators in the past year, a 73% increase from pre-pandemic levels.

Competition: "Intown Gold Club focuses on a food/beverage model enabling members to use simulators," explained Teddy. "We are a golf performance facility enabling members to train and improve in golf. We're also focusing on families and juniors. We love to see our members bring in a pack-and-play for their young children while they play Pinehurst No. 2."

TINY MONEY JOB BOARD

Who’s hiring in Charlotte? 5 Trending jobs

Hiring? Post a job

Hunting? View all 68 postings on the job board

MONEY TALKS

32 year old newlywed left investment banking, now making $155K with healthier work-life balance

Money Talks is a weekly series showcasing how real people in Charlotte approach money. Participate.

Salary: “Our total household income is $215K. My salary is $155K and my husband's salary is $60K.”

Other income: “I bought a condo back in 2020 before I got married. My husband and I have stretched to be able to keep the condo as a rental property. It will just about break even next year.”

Debt: “The condo has $224K at 3% left on the mortgage (purchased in 2020) and our house has about $421K at 6% left on the mortgage (purchased in 2024). We have less than $15K of car loans.”

Money hack: “Reid's Tuesday Steakburger Night ($10.99) is our favorite high-value, low-cost date. Selwyn location is the best.”

Retirement: “Ideally, I'd like to retire in my late 50s and start an encore career.”

Goals: “Increase household income to $300K, pay off debt by end of 2025 (other than mortgages), and reign in our current spending spree.”

Full story: Newlyweds share details on their 3 big financial goals

MONEY SNACKS

5 Other financial headlines I’m snacking on

FOR SALE

Hoppin' asks $350K for Greenville location

If you've got an entrepreneurial buddy in Greenville, SC you should chip in and buy corporate-owned Hoppin' Greenville for $350K.

Comps: The current cost to open a Hoppin’ ranges from $1.2M – $1.9M, so this listing price is a steep discount compared to a new build. There are 5 open Hoppin' locations and 6 more in development.

"We're selling Greenville because we believe it's best to have a local owner with presence in the community," Hoppin' CEO Rich Moyer told me. "We want to give the new owner a lot of upside." It's currently around breakeven.

Buy it: If interested, email my buddy Rich Moyer directly — rich(at)hoppinbrands.com

Happy Thursday! I’m coaching my son’s U10 soccer team in the playoffs on Saturday, then heading to Streamsong Resort to tee it up with dad for his 72nd birthday.

– Ted

MONEY POLL

Last week’s poll results: No. 1 sushi restaurant in Charlotte? (5,409 subscribers)