Main street merchants hoping for holiday miracle to save sales
Facing a revenue meltdown as the Thomas fire drags into a second week, business owners put out a call for residents to do their shopping locally and made tough calls on ways to support staff. “Our regular business levels are at less than 5 percent of normal,” said Sherry Villanueva, owner of Santa Barbara-based Read More →
Help is available for small business owners
By Brian Gabler and Bruce Stenslie More than 23,000 businesses operate in Ventura County — three quarters of which have 10 employees or less. There are another 20,000 to 30,000 sole proprietors. Anyone who runs his or her own business knows that it can be a daunting task. Business owners often do very well at Read More →
Tri-Counties shedding fossil fuels industries
The Tri-Counties is moving away from its legacy of fossil fuels industries. The pace of that move and managing the cost of leaving oil and gas operations behind will say a lot about the region’s future prosperity. The Tri-Counties edged further away from fossil fuels on Oct. 5 when the San Luis Obispo County Planning Read More →
Small is new big when it comes to business
By Ray Bowman Recently while traveling, I had the honor of meeting one of the world’s top five trend-spotters, Marian Salzman. She talked about some of the leading trends for 2016 and noted that “local is the new global” and that living large is no longer a trend. “Small is the new big” suffices to Read More →
State Treasurer Chiang talks budget balancing in Camarillo
Eight days into his first term as State Treasurer, John Chiang painted a largely upbeat picture of California’s future.
Region presses ‘play’ on $60M film production industry
Film and television production reels in an estimated $60 million for the region each year, and the industry’s impact on the Tri-Counties is likely to rise as tourism groups in each of the three counties ramp up their outreach to Hollywood.
Editorial: Pre-school as economic development
A Jan. 16 program hosted by the Economic Development Collaborative of Ventura County raised an intriguing question. If pre-school works so well, why not make it accessible to every kid in the county?
