Mervyns to close 149 stores
UncategorizedAfter filing for Chapter 11 bankrputcy in July, the California retail chain Mervyns LLC announced Oct. 18 it plans to close its remaining 149 stores after nearly six decades in business. On the Central Coast, Mervyns maintains six stores in San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, Lompoc, Ventura, Oxnard and Thousand Oaks. Mervyns will have going-out-of-business Read More →
Miramar looks for opening as soon as 2011
UncategorizedDeveloper Rick Caruso is hoping to get a fast start on building the new Miramar Hotel in Montecito, with construction slated to begin in January and a grand opening already penciled in for 2011, according to a written statement from the developer. There are only two things standing in the way of this ambitious plan. Read More →
Hard lessons for surviving economic troubles
ColumnsOn Friday, Oct. 10, I had the honor of delivering the keynote address to the annual meeting of Coastal Business Finance, a nonprofit organization that helps small businesses get financing on the Central Coast. It was a sunny afternoon in Santa Maria and I was trying to strike an upbeat note as the stock market Read More →
Region
UncategorizedWall Street’s crisis has cast a pall over venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. But in the Tri-Counties, investors and start-ups alike say they’re prudent but undeterred. “We’re not as exposed to the vagaries of the public markets,” said Frank Foster, managing director of the DFJ Frontier Fund in Santa Barbara, which has funded Santa Barbara Read More →
Reaping new energy
UncategorizedCeres, a Thousand Oaks-based energy crop firm, is getting into the seed business. The biotech company has developed high-yield varieties of switchgrass, sorghum and other plants needed to produce cellulosic biofuels. It’s ramping up a division called Blade Energy Crops, which will sell seed to farmers to be sown in spring 2009. Orders should start Read More →
Wood & Bender attorneys go on tour to discuss AIG issues
ColumnsIn the wake of the federal government’s $85 billion seizure of insurance giant American International Group, or AIG, Wood & Bender, a Ventura-based firm that specializes in helping companies wrench claims from their insurers, has gone on tour to explain what it all means and how companies can boost their chances of getting insurers to Read More →
