Grayboxx's Local Search Goes Live In One City

Local search site Grayboxx launched today, but only for the residents of Burlington, VT…for now. No offense to the folks in Burlington, but our hopes were a little deflated when we first heard that last part. After a quick email exchange with a company spokesperson about the small initial splash, we got the following response per site founder Bob Chandra:

Burlington was chosen because of it’s size. Small to mid-sized cities like Burlington are underserved by traditional local search and reviews sites, and grayboxx is perfectly positioned to fill the void in these areas. Grayboxx already boasts more than 12,000 "neighbor recommendations" for 3,000 of Burlington’s local businesses.

We understand the need for testing within a control group, but the amount of spin in that response had us bordering on mild skepticism. With the potential for growth in the local search arena Grayboxx seems to have positioned itself well with its favor of implicit recommendations via meta data over user submitted reviews. But until we’re able to use the site on our own stomping grounds, its performance against competitors like Yelp can only be speculated. For a look at how it all comes together (for Burlington, VT residents) make sure to visit the site and enter "05403" as the area code.

• Local Search Revisited: A Peek At Grayboxx