Ex-CEO shares Trader Joe’s secrets
Speaking in Thousand Oaks on Nov. 9, former Trader Joe’s CEO John Shields offered up business advice and anecdotes from his thirteen years spent heading up what Fortune magazine recently called “the hottest and most secretive retailer in America.” Shields, who guided Trader Joe’s growth from 27 to 174 stores and from $132 million to Read More →
Heritage Oaks reports $11.3M loss
Paso Robles-based Heritage Oaks Bancorp reported a third-quarter loss applicable to common shareholders of $11.3 million on Nov. 9, compared to a $5.6 million loss in the same quarter last year. The banking firm, the third largest based in the Tri-Counties, blamed the wider loss on a $10.5 million non-cash charge related to the valuation Read More →
From the editor: Regionalism reigns at eco-devo forum
Santa Barbara County should explore an economic development effort to help existing businesses expand and recruit new companies to the area. That was the near-unanimous view of more than 200 business leaders who packed the Reagan Room at Fess Parker’s DoubleTree Resort on Nov. 8 for a South Coast regional economic development forum. I served Read More →
Entitlements done, Investec finds $10M exit from Carpinteria property
The 12-acre residential portion of Carpinteria’s Lagunitas mixed-use project recently sold for $10 million, a move the seller says frees it up to focus on what it does best. “I am not as enamored with building as I am with entitling and getting things approved,” Ken Slaught, president of Investec Real Estate Companies, told the Read More →
California’s chips are all in on green
One thing is clear from this year’s election results: California will bet a big chunk of its economic future on alternative energy. The resounding defeat of Proposition 23, which would have rolled back the Golden State’s cap-and-trade regime, came at the hands of a big coalition of venture capitalists, environmentalists and traditional business leaders bent Read More →
