Simple mistake or desperate measure?

HVB (Hunter Valley Brewery) was a trashy nightclub/dickhead magnet just five minutes' walk from our place. Mercifully, it shut down a while ago.

Of course, a mutant cousin simply emerged to replace it: The Valley.

I can tell it's striving to be a little classier (I use the word judiciously) but I did notice this perplexing excess of vowels as I toted my Yummy Noodles home the other day:

Is the extra 'e' suggestive of something beyond a nationwide spelling crisis? Are they struggling for business to the extent that they thought this little tweak might somehow help, at least subliminally, as if the sign itself were spruiking for patronage?

I do wonder. Honest. I have a lot of spare time (or not much at all, depending on my mood).