TRAVERSE CITY - During her lean retail months of January and March, downtown retailer Susan Ruoff must dig deep into her pockets for one hefty line item: rent. In January, her slowest month, rent can be as high as 16 percent of her operating cost, said...
TRAVERSE CITY - Aside from its National Park moniker, there is nothing sleepy about Leelanau County.Development is raging there on a scale that its county planner says is "unprecedented." There are multi-million dollar projects of all kinds being pitched to township leadership-windmill farms and water...
WILLIAMSBURG - The most aggressive renovation project in its 26-year history has dramatically transformed the Grand Traverse Resort & Spa as the Acme landmark prepares to host the nation's governors in 2007.The 99th Annual National Governor's Association Meeting will be held July 20-23, 2007 at...
TRAVERSE CITY - They're making only $6 per sale, but that hasn't deterred Passageways Travel from competing online against cut-rate airline ticketers Orbitz, Priceline, and Expedia, whose charges can exceed $20 .Rather, the company's leadership is convinced that their way of selling discount airline tickets...
TRAVERSE CITY - Sharing her enthusiasm for northern Michigan is all in a day's work for Kim Corcoran, who launched a business giving companies and organizations from around the country a taste of the region."We don't want (northern Michigan) to be a secret anymore. We...
TRAVERSE CITY - Dave Leonhard has watched the business of fly fishing change a lot over the years. The owner of Streamside Orvis in downtown Traverse City, Leonhard was on the river casting a long rod even before the sport went Hollywood and made up...
TRAVERSE CITY - It was hardly by accident that Hagerty Collector Network opened their new five-person European office in April.Rather, months of meticulous research showed that the British car collector market was ripe for the kind of specialized insurance services the privately-held company offers."We've known...
TRAVERSE CITY - On a desk about the size of two large pizza boxes, Enrico Schaefer has his entire office at his fingertips. Literally. Schaefer, founding attorney of Traverse Legal, runs a completely "digital" office. He built the firm that way just 16 months ago....
TRAVERSE CITY - Bay Bucks debuted last fall and while it still has a pretty low profile in the community, the commitment to the local currency remains strong.Bay Bucks is a paper currency circulating within the Grand Traverse region. It was conceived by a group...
REGION - With so much focus on gas prices, it's easy to overlook the potentially good news for tourism-related businesses: the new post-Labor Day school start. "Extending the season only a week or two will have surprisingly large positive impacts on businesses' bottom lines," says...
