Traverse City Business News

June 27, 2020

The Aftermath: Cautious optimism guides three of northern Michigan’s manufacturers

[caption id="attachment_53248" align="alignleft" width="216"] Boyne City-based snow ski manufacturer Shaggy's joined with 1-800-Stencil, also of Boyne, to manufacture approximately 175,000 disposable face shields for McLaren and other Michigan hospitals.[/caption] Virtually every northern Michigan manufacturing company was touched, in some way, by the devasting coronavirus pandemic. Many were forced...

By Rick Haglund

May 29, 2020

Banks, credit unions scramble to help clients in wake of pandemic closures

Healthy Start Child Care has been providing much-needed day care for families in the Traverse City area for a quarter of a century. But the coronavirus epidemic, which prompted Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to order the temporary closure of most day care operations, threatened to shut the...

By Rick Haglund

April 30, 2020

‘Business Has Dramatically Changed’: Munson furloughs staff, freezes capital spending

Munson Healthcare Chief Executive Officer Ed Ness is navigating unchartered waters as he steers the nine-hospital system through the COVID-19 pandemic. “From a health and business prospective, this is something we haven’t experienced before,” he said. “In the short term, the business has dramatically changed.” But Ness...

By Rick Haglund

March 30, 2020

‘Millions of Dollars’: New auto insurance law threatens Munson’s bottom line

by Rick Haglund Michigan hospitals – including Munson Healthcare – will likely take a financial hit from a new auto insurance law that will replace the state’s 48-year-old no-fault insurance system. Meanwhile, it’s unclear how much consumers will save under the new law, which takes effect July...

By Rick Haglund

February 29, 2020

The Land of OZ: Leaders hope new tax incentive can drive development in local Opportunity Zone

Local business leaders have high hopes that an unconventional, little-known federal tax incentive could pump millions of dollars of new commercial and residential investment into a low-income section of Grand Traverse County. A 6.2 square-mile swath of land including a large area of Garfield Township and...

By Rick Haglund

February 1, 2020

Up, Up and Away: As economy booms, so do local aviation services companies

Much of the recent news coming out of Cherry Capital Airport has been about the expansion of commercial passenger service to new locations, including cities in California, Florida and Texas. But there is a lot of activity happening in the private business travel and personal aircraft...

By Rick Haglund

December 31, 2019

Armor Express cashes in on military, anti-terrorism markets post-bankruptcy

In the 1990s, Second Chance Body Armor was the darling of the northern Michigan business scene, with legends of its founder actually shooting himself to prove the efficacy of its products. In 2004, a recall put the company in a tailspin, its assets sold off. But now,...

By Rick Haglund

December 1, 2019

Urge to Merge: M&A fever hits accounting and insurance firms

The merger trend among local independent insurance agencies, which shifted into high gear last year, is also hitting the public accounting sector. Traverse City-based Dennis, Gartland & Niergarth (DGN), northern Michigan’s largest, locally owned public accounting firm, last month purchased Hill, Schroderus & Company, a Petoskey-based...

By Rick Haglund

December 1, 2019

Banking On It: Local deposits up 30% from 2009

Financial institutions have long competed for deposits using a variety of lures, including promotional interest rates, tote bags and toasters. Frankfort-based State Savings Bank, which entered the Traverse City market last year, even offers a free pie to anyone who switches a checking account from another...

By Rick Haglund

October 31, 2019

Oil Change: Paul Schmuckal reflects on recent sale of his family’s 64-year-old company

When Schmuckal Oil Company was sold in August to Ohio-based True North Energy LLC, it marked the end of a well-known Traverse City business that Art Schmuckal and George Slane started 64 years ago with little more than a contract to sell home heating oil. “They...

By Rick Haglund

The Aftermath: Cautious optimism guides three of northern Michigan’s manufacturers

Banks, credit unions scramble to help clients in wake of pandemic closures

‘Business Has Dramatically Changed’: Munson furloughs staff, freezes capital spending

‘Millions of Dollars’: New auto insurance law threatens Munson’s bottom line

The Land of OZ: Leaders hope new tax incentive can drive development in local Opportunity Zone

Up, Up and Away: As economy booms, so do local aviation services companies

Armor Express cashes in on military, anti-terrorism markets post-bankruptcy

Urge to Merge: M&A fever hits accounting and insurance firms

Banking On It: Local deposits up 30% from 2009

Oil Change: Paul Schmuckal reflects on recent sale of his family’s 64-year-old company

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