Cloverdale-based MÁS Wine Co. is developing a niche "that takes wine sales outside of the box or, more appropriately, outside of the traditional wine bottle," officials said in a release. The company produces red and white wines -- using Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino grapes -- by the bottle and 11.3-liter and 15-liter mini tanks.
In Fresno recently, Valley Wide Beverage Co. placed the MÁS Wine products with Save Mart Center, and in Sacramento, the annual Memorial Day Weekend Jazz Festival will be serving MÁS Vino, red, and MÁS Vino Blanco, white, from 60 kegs placed at the huge annual music show, the company said.
In preparing a story for next week, I talked to Scott Leonard, president of Guarantee Real Estate in Fresno. He sounded upbeat, considering the state of the real estate market, and this is why: his agents put 65% more houses into escrow in April than the same month in 2007.
"We had more pending sales in April than in any single month in all 2007," Leonard said.
He said would-be buyers are getting off the sidelines because they think prices have bottomed out. It remains to be seen if this is the beginning of a rebound or a dead cat bounce, but I would love to talk to anyone who is buying a house because prices have dropped.
Country Crock’s 3-pound tub of butter-like spread is now the 2-pound, 13-ounce tub. The price, however, did not shrink.
This tidbit is according to the Web site MousePrint.org — “exposing the strings and catches buried in the fine print.” The site is full of other examples of corporate sneakiness if you’ve got some reading time.
Check out the photos comparing the old and new tubs. Country Crock told MousePrint it shrunk the spread to prevent raising the price to deal with increased materials costs and other expenses.
Nice. Less for the same price. Does that mean I can work 7/8ths of my day and still get paid for a full day?
Today, Dutch Bros. Coffee officials say they will donate proceeds from all coffee sales to the Muscular Dystrophy Association to raise awareness for ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.
The drive -- from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. -- is held annually to support the company’s co-founder Dane Boersma who has ALS, the company said in a statement. Last year, Dutch Bros., which has Valley locations, contributed $55,000 to the MDA for research and family services funding.
Two groups published a report today that compares the cost of renting a house and owning one in dozens of cities, including Fresno. The authors suggest that renters are being ignored in the national debate over how to resolve the mortgage meltdown.
The study says that many houses bought in 2007, including those in Fresno, will be worth less in 2012, and that the foreclosure crisis will cause a demand for more rental housing. Be advised: the comparison of owning and renting does not factor in the value of a homeowner's mortgage deduction and paying down the principal, says co-author Dean Baker.
Gas prices near $4; anybody have a remember-when story?
Gas prices in Fresno bumped up a penny a gallon overnight to an average of about $3.96, according to AAA.
Here in The Bee's Business Department, we're keeping a daily watch. The $4 benchmark, while just a few cents away, is nonetheless significant. It makes many of us think wistfully of days past.
For instance, I remember when gas crossed the 50-cent threshhold at Ivory Jack's in rural Fairbanks, Alaska. We didn't own a car at the time, but it shocked my hitchhiking mother.
High school students to learn about construction trades
About 350 students from Valley high schools are expected to find out what working construction is all about Friday.
They may even get a little dirty. Organizers say the event is hands-on.
The first Central Valley Construction Career Awareness Day is meant to offer students exposure to construction-related career opportunities and the construction industry in general. The event, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Fresno's Save Mart Center, is being organized by Associated General Contractors of California (AGC) San Joaquin District.
If you've got a hankering to move your business online but haven't been able to justify the expense, maybe a $60 crash course from one of the world's premiere Internet companies will change your mind.
Eric Stein, director of local markets for Google Inc., will be in Fresno on Friday morning to lend his expertise to companies looking to capitalize on the World Wide Web. With a focus on how companies can cut costs -- not increase them -- with a move online, Stein's presentation may resonate well with business owners looking for ways to cope with a weakening economy.
Also on hand will be Gary Janzen and Nancy Johnston of Thielen Ideacorp and Jim Lowe of Jeffrey/Scott Advertising to give a Central Valley perspective on the value of online marketing, as well as local Internet entrepreneurs Marc Raygoza, founder of Vine Global, and Tina Henson, founder of Plastic Jungle.
Seats are still available for the 7:30 a.m. to noon workshop at National University, 20 River Park Place West in Fresno, and if you're already online, go visit the Web site of the workshop sponsor to pick up a ticket for $50. Otherwise, it's $60 at the door -- continental breakfast included.
Gas prices are inspiring more and more people to shop online, according to a recent survey.
In fact, 33% of adults said they’re more likely to shop using a computer rather than spend their pennies driving to the mall. Almost 60% cite free shipping as a reason to shop online.
Good thing, because retailers use gas to deliver their goods too — and they’re charging you for it. Some online retailers are tacking on 18% fuel charges. Major shippers are upping their rates about 5% this year and postal rates rise next week.
Fortunately, some digging will turn up deals from retailers desperate for business. The Web site freeshipping.org compiles free shipping deals from 650 online stores on one site, everything from Hanes.com to The Body Shop.
For some companies, warmer weather means a relaxed dress code.
However, business etiquette expert Barbara Pachter sent out a note today saying employees should be careful when trying to beat the Valley heat. Short skirts, skimpy tops or otherwise inappropriate clothing don't cut it, she says.
“Sexy is not a corporate look,” says Pachter, author of the "NewRules@Work: 79 Etiquette Tips, Tools, and Techniques to Get Ahead and Stay Ahead" from Prentice Hall Press. Clothing, she said, still needs to project professionalism.
In its May 19 issue, Forbes magazine offers what sounds like a common sense solution to this housing crisis. Why not simply extend the length of the loan rather than raise the monthly payment?
Or, in cases when that doesn't make sense, why not work out a deal where homeowners return part of the equity to the bank when the property is sold?
The article titled "An Equity Kicker" says these solutions could be reached by lenders and borrowers working together and government creating a secondary market for trading the new mortgages. Makes sense to me. What do you think?
The good news with declining home values is that more families shut out of the market during the boom years are able to jump in now. The bad news is that many households who bought during that period are watching helplessly as their investment falters.
How much has it fallen in value, you ask? Zillow.com just released some estimates. Many in the real estate industry question the accuracy of Zillow's figures, but they can be used as a starting point. Go here to find out specifics for your area. Zillow even breaks it down by zip code.
By the way, my neighborhood in Clovis - 93611 zip code - has experienced nearly a 23% dip in value over the last year, according to Zillow. Good thing we've lived in the same house for 15 years; we still have equity.
Linens ‘n Things, the national retailer selling everything from fine china to curtains and yes, linens, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week. The company announced plans to close 120 underperforming stores, including 27 in California. See the list here.
Today, representatives from the company and River Park confirmed that the Fresno store in The Marketplace at River Park will remain open.
That’s good for River Park, which saw CompUSA leave recently when the company closed stores across the nation. It’s interesting, however, that the store in Modesto will close, but not ours.
Washington Post personal-finance columnist Michelle Singletary has been appearing regularly in The Bee since 2005.
Recently, she opened up to Washingtonian Magazine about her career and her inspiration -- "Big Mama." Take a look. She's been giving old-school financial advice since 1997.
The average cost of two adults traveling together is $244 a day for lodging and meals, AAA announced today.
The announcement includes a list of some of the most and least expensive cities for travel. And guess who is toward the bottom? Yep, Fresno, at an average of $207 a day, slightly above Oklahoma City at $194 and Albuquerque, N.M., at $179.
Of course, the really fun places cost more: Honolulu at $673, New York City at $606 and Las Vegas at $358.
AAA says you can figure out how much it will cost to drive to those places -- except Honolulu, of course -- by using its fuel cost calculator. And in case you are planning a Fresno vacation (or have friends or family coming) this Web site gives you the city’s top-rated hotels and things to do.
Penton Media and Western Farm Press will publish the official World Ag Expo magazine and show guide in 2009.
The choice of publisher was announced today by Jerry Sinift, general manager of the International Agri-Center, where the expo is held each year.
The show guide is distributed at expo gates and includes a map and list of events during the show’s three-day run. World Ag Expo next year is scheduled for Feb. 10-12.
Going green is all the rage among the corporate set.
But what exactly does that mean? Definitely not tree hugging, although embracing new concepts that make money while saving energy, materials and the environment is definitely encouraged.
The path is hardly simple, and Kara Kenney, spokeswoman for Green West Expo (May 20-22 in Los Angeles), said the green employment sector is so new that often company officials don't know what to include in job descriptions.
"No matter who you are, big or small, the sustainability initiative can be daunting," she said.
Regardless, the interest means jobs. And Manpower, which provides workplace services, wants to help provide them. Manpower has an office in Fresno.
I saw the title about stamina and cracked a joke about energy drinks and other stimulants fueling executives to work those 12- and 14-hour days. Turns out the book isn’t far from that. It includes chapters on nutrition, fitness and “Yoga at the office,” in addition to much more, of course. It does not recommend drinking Red Bull, however. Eat your broccoli instead.
Personal and business bankruptcies are up 84% in the Valley, and bankruptcy attorneys are busier than ever.
“I feel like a doctor at a train wreck,” said Peter Bunting, a bankruptcy attorney in Fresno who files close to 30 personal bankruptcy cases a month, up from about a dozen several years ago.
The volume of work is so great that firms like Buntings and Caswell Bell & Hillison of Fresno have added extra staff to handle the increased caseload.
Bedoyan feels fortunate when he can help clients restart their lives and in some cases jump back into business. But he’s not optimistic about the near future.
“My feeling is that this current housing crisis is not going to turn around this year or next,” Bedoyan said. “And if you talk to anyone in real estate there is tremendous inventory out there. And it will take a while to work through that.”
Write It Well, a training and consulting company that helps people improve their business writing skills, has released a new edition of its popular book about writing e-mail, which now includes a section about instant messaging and using handheld devices.
"E-Mail – A Write It Well Guide: How to Write and Manage E-Mail in the Workplace" addresses a fundamental yet largely overlooked skill in every career level of business: how to write professional, effective email. The book's publisher says poorly written e-mail can sabotage careers, threaten productivity, and negatively affect a company’s image, while effective e-mail increases productivity and improves the workplace environment.
Poor e-mail can have legal implications and give a company a poor image. Even with so much at stake, more professionals are entering the workforce without the ability to express themselves clearly in writing, according to The National Commission on Writing for America’s Families, Schools, and Colleges.
“E-mail writing is business writing,” said business writing expert and President of Write It Well, Natasha Terk.
E-mail has become the primary method of business communication, surpassing the telephone as our preferred communication tool in the workplace.
