The News Tribune Business Team will keep you updated on what's happening in the South Sound and beyond. Check here for news about economic development, aerospace, shopping and much more.
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Contributors
Marce Edwards is the business editor. She has been at The News Tribune for seven years and has written about technology and big businesses in the South Sound including Weyerhaeuser and Russell. Before moving to Tacoma, she worked at The Idaho Statesman in Boise. She is a Northwest native who likes to garden and refuses to use an umbrella. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and two kids.
C.R. Roberts is a Tacoma native. Before joining The News Tribune, he worked as a freelance writer and part-time cowhand on a cattle ranch in Northern Idaho. He writes about small business, personal finance and other business issues.
John Gillie writes about the aerospace and airline industries, commercial development and consumer issues. During his 30-year-tenure at The News Tribune he has covered issues as diverse as the Native American fishing rights disputes, crime and the courts, the wood products industry and energy. He lived in Tacoma with his family for 25 years, but now lives in Kent because his wife heads a five-state non-profit foundation headquartered in Ballard, and it only seemed a sensible compromise to make considering their workplaces are 40 miles apart.
Kelly Kearsley has been a business reporter at The News Tribune since 2005. She covers the Port of Tacoma and international trade. Being born and raised in Spokane she’s used to living in cities with inferiority complexes and, in fact, prefers it. Prior to working at The News Tribune, she spent three years as a reporter for The Bulletin in Bend, Oregon and another year working stints for The Associated Press and Seattle Times. She graduated from Pacific Lutheran University. She lives in Tacoma with her husband and miniature schnauzer.
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Alaska Airlines is offering travelers 25 percent off airfares between Alaska cities for travel between June 16 and through Sept. 30.
The tickets are available only on Alaska's Web site, www.alaskaair.com. They must be purchased by 11 p.m. Alaska time Thursday.
Travel to and from Pruhoe Bay is not included in the sale.
Tacoma Goodwill Industries will open its newest store on Tacoma's Sixth Avenue June 18th, the non-profit organization announced today.
The new store at 5401 Sixth Avenue will stock some 20,000 items including used clothing, shoes, household goods and other items.
The store will be Goodwill's eighth store in Pierce County and its 22nd store in its multi-county network.
The 19,000-square-foot store was a former Long's Drug location.
The new retail operation will create 35 jobs, Goodwill said.
Standard and Poor's Rating Agency cited the City of Puyallup's relatively strong economy and sound fiscal situation in raising the city's bond rating this week.
The rating agency upped the bond rating from A+ to AA-. A higher bond rating potentially could lower the cost of borrowing money for the Pierce County city.
The S&P report said the key to raising the bond rating was financial stability and relative economic prosperity in Puyallup.
Puyallup in recent months has seen an influx of new economic activity including news that a nationwide auto parts retailer, O'Reilly Auto Parts Co. plans to create a distribution center in Puyallup and hire as many as 400 workers.
A French specialty plastics firm is relocating from Seattle to Puyallup, and a Seattle developer is investing $45 million to upgrade a former Puyallup microchip plant to current standards. The Ohio owners of the city's South Hill Mall are also investing millions to renovate the 20-year-old mall.
Federal Way's Weyerhaeuser Co. and an Austrian company, Lenzing, are collaborating on a project to develop new non-woven fabric directly from fibers made from wood.
The two companies will build a pilot plant in Lenzing, Austria, to produce experimental quantities of the non-woven material from lyocell, fibers created from cellulose, a wood product.
Non-woven fabrics, are typically made from fibers that are bonded together to create a fabric rather than woven or knitted together.
An example of a non-woven fabric is DuPont's Tyvek, used in building construction to protect wood from moisture.
The pilot plant will help the two companies explore the possibilities for reducing the cost of producing the wood-based fabric.
Wal-Mart recently offered to buy the Tacoma Elks' property at S. 23rd Streets and Union, but the organization turned down the retail giant's bid.
"Wal-Mart was one of the bidders -- but I won't take that one," Gary Gaimbrone said Wednesday. Gaimbrone is the Tacoma Elks' special representative and is in charge of the lodge, including the property's sale.
Gaimbrone said Wal-Mart's bid was close in price to the one he plans on presenting to the membership.
"The problem with Wal-Mart is that they have too long of a contingency period," Gaimbrone said, adding that he was concerned the company would come back with a lower bid during that time period.
The News Tribune called Wal-Mart for comment, but has not heard back.
He wouldn't say who was the winning bidder. Gaimbrone will present the offer he's selected at a meeting of the Elks' membership July 1. The members will then vote whether to approve it.
Ray Velkers, a commercial real estate broker representing The Elks, said the group is close to an agreement with "a developer that has offices locally."
The 17 acre property in Central Tacoma has been for sale since early this year.
The Tacoma Elks plan on selling the property and then building a new lodge for its 3,000 members at the Allenmore Golf Course in the next two to three years.
Happy Days is here again.
In Lakewood, on Bridgeport Way. Complete with a new kitchen and refurbished restaurant and lounge. Add a new gaming area.
The Happy Days Casino, Bar & Restaurant – at 11521 Bridgeport Way – this week returned to operation with a soft opening, said Tony Averitt, marketing manager.
With 100 employees and after $200,000 in improvements, the casino will host its grand opening this weekend with a performance by country band Broken Trail from 9:30 p.m. until 1:30 a.m. both Friday and Saturday.
The 11,000-square-foot casino features a range of card games, pool tables, video arcade, dance floor and stage, Averitt said.
The new owner, Douglas Searle, said today that he is aware of problems that faced the previous owner. “The prior tenant just up and left,” he said. “We heard all the stories.”
The original Happy Days opened as a restaurant in 1989 and closed as a restaurant and casino in January 2008. Searle said that he found a cache of old business records and was able to contact some former employees and offer jobs at the new establishment.
The casino is licensed with the State Gambling Commission, according to the commission Web site. The license expires in 2010.
