 |
For complete stories and more business news, subscribe now.
April 28, 2008
String of Sears Home Appliance Showrooms to open in Utah
By Barbara Rattle
The Enterprise
A group of people who recently moved from Florida to Utah plans to open six Sears Home Appliance Showrooms along the Wasatch Front, offering not only Sears-brand appliances but other major brands such as General Electric, Jenn-Air, Frigidaire, KitchenAid, Bosch, LG, Maytag and Whirlpool.
Sears Holdings Corp., parent company to both Sears Roebuck & Co. and Kmart, developed the home appliance store concept about a year ago and launched it in Houston. Since then, a handful of additional stores have opened and been so successful that between 70 and 80 more are slated to open this calendar year, said Brian Thomas, who holds the exclusive rights to open Sears Home Appliance Showrooms in the Salt Lake metropolitan area. The showrooms are privately owned by independent businesspeople but are designed and supported, in terms of installation and delivery, by Sears.
The first Utah store will open in mid-May in the Clinton Pines shopping center in Clinton. Last week, Thomas inked a deal for a second store in the Quarry Bend development in Sandy. Each store will measure approximately 5,600 square feet.
"We're going to be in Sandy, Tooele, Clinton and Orem and on the west side of Bangerter -- and hopefully a few more," Thomas said.
Swiss IT firm picks Orem as site for North American headquarters
By Debbi Olson
The Enterprise
Switzerland-based Wendia AG International, a provider of information technology service management software solutions and one of only 13 ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library) certified companies in the world, has opened its North American headquarters at the Canyon Park Technology Center in Orem.
Wendia North America will be led by Hal Tueller as chief executive officer and Kevin Goertsen as chief technology officer.
"Since the start of Wendia in 1990 it has always been the goal to open an office in North America," Tueller said. "We are moving quickly to establish our presence throughout the U.S. with the addition of integration partners in Salt Lake City, New York, Chicago and through recent new partnerships in the Pacific Northwest."
Wendia will establish it presence in the United States initially through creating relationships with Value Added Reseller (VAR) partners that will be recruited by the company to sell Wendia's software products to its established clients.
Security 'fast passes' to become available at SLC airport this summer
The Enterprise
Clear, a Palm Coast, Fla.-based firm that issues cards to pre-screened passengers, giving them access to special airport security lanes that speed them through the check-in process, has inked a contract with Salt Lake City International Airport.
All airlines operating from Salt Lake City, and their passengers, will be able to use Clear's "fast pass" lanes, before summer.
"Salt Lake City is an important market for business and leisure travelers and a significant part of Clear's expansion plan," said Steven Brill, Clear's CEO. "We're eager to spread rapidly in the West and we applaud the Airport's leadership in bringing the program to their travelers."
Clear members are pre-screened by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and, after application approval, are provided with a card that allows exclusive access to Clear's security lanes nationwide. The Clear Card verifies a fingerprint or iris image selected by members during enrollment.
April 21, 2008
Denver furniture chain to open 82,000 sq. ft. store in Draper
By Barbara Rattle
The Enterprise
Furniture Row, a Denver-based operator of more than 330 specialty home furnishings and bedding stores, has broken ground in Draper for an approximately 82,000 square foot store that is slated to open in October.
To be located at 54 W. IKEA Way, the center will encompass four stores -- Oak Express, Bedroom Expressions, Sofa Mart and Denver Mattress Co. and will be open seven days a week.
Furniture Row already operates a similar but smaller center in St. George.
Bill McKendry marketing director, said the Draper center will "bring a unique furniture shopping experience to the area. Unlike other furnishings retailers, our centers have four specialty stores at one destination. Each store focuses on a particular category and each store is managed and staffed with people who are extremely knowledgeable about their specific lines. And, best of all, they all guarantee their prices to be the lowest."
Salt Lake City design firm's T-shirt enjoying national media
By Frances Johnson
The Enterprise
A T-shirt created by Salt Lake City design firm Hint Creative for American Eagle Outfitters and the Declare Yourself youth voting campaign is gaining national attention, appearing on the cover of Seventeen magazine as well as on MTV's "Total Request Live" and the "Access Hollywood" television program.
A long-time agency partner of American Eagle, Hint Creative was working on a redesign of the company's new credit card and related promotional materials when a then-member of the American Eagle creative team, Nate Morley, pitched the T-shirt idea.
"We were working on another project and he liked what we had been showing him and gave us the opportunity to contribute some ideas," said Christian Hansen, principal and art director at Hint. "Now it's getting some great visibility and we're really stoked."
The T-shirt represents a partnership between American Eagle and Declare Yourself, a nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign that encourages every eligible 18-year-old in the country to register and vote. American Eagle asked Hint Creative to come up with a simple, clean T-shirt concept that included the words "vote" and "declare yourself."
Big changes in store April 27 for TRAX light rail riders
By Debbi Olson
The Enterprise
Beginning April 27, the Utah Transit Authority will bring its new FrontRunner Commuter Rail service on line as well as three new TRAX stations that will extend the light rail line to 300 South and 600 West.
The new Salt Lake Central Station, located at 300 S. 600 W., will be the new "end of the line" for TRAX, instead of the current Arena Station, as well as the Intermodal Hub, which will bring together TRAX, FrontRunner, UTA bus service, Greyhound bus service and Amtrak train service all in one location.
However, the new services and TRAX extension will mean a change in commute times along the entire line for the more than 50,000 daily riders of TRAX to and from both Sandy and the University of Utah.
"Trying to schedule two huge construction projects to finish at the same time has been a massive undertaking," said Carrie Bohnsack-Ware, spokeswoman for UTA. "The three new TRAX stations are going to add an additional six minutes on to the commute from the end of the line to the other end of the line."
April 14, 2008
$75 million mixed-use project planned in downtown Salt Lake
By Barbara Rattle
The Enterprise
A South Dakota hotel developer plans to break ground this summer on an approximately $75 million mixed-use project on roughly five acres between 500 and 600 South immediately east of 200 West in Salt Lake City.
Dubbed Salt City Plaza, the project will be anchored by four branded hotel properties totaling 542 rooms and suites in addition to spa facilities, restaurants, approximately 30,000 square feet of rentable commercial space and 90,000 square feet of Class A office space.
The developer of Salt City Plaza, which still requires entitlements from the city, is Salt City Plaza LLC, based in Aberdeen, S.D. Salt City Plaza is a sister company to Utah Hospitality LLC, which has constructed several hotels in the state and recently broke ground for a 94-unit Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites and a 97-unit Staybridge Suites complex immediately north of the E Center in West Valley City that should open in the first quarter of 2009 and include an 8,000 square foot family-style indoor water park and extensive meeting space.
Boston-based healthy, fast-casual eatery to open multiple Utah outlets
By Debbi Olson
The Enterprise
UFood Grill, a Boston-based healthy, fast-casual restaurant chain, is preparing to enter the Utah market as part of the company's northwest expansion.
Franchisee Greg Felder has entered into a development agreement with UFood Grill to open 38 UFood Grill restaurants in Utah, Colorado, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming within the next five-and-half years. Within that region, the first restaurants will be opened in Salt Lake City due to its central location in the five-state region and its demographics.
"We encouraged him to launch in Salt Lake," said Eric Spitz, co-founder and executive vice president of business development of UFood Grill. "We think it's an educated consumer. It's a growing market. It's a consumer that wants to be in the outdoors and that generally lends itself nicely to our business, which is a better-for-you concept, and those two things tend to play together."
New firm gives customers chance to drive fleet of exotic cars
By Barbara Rattle
The Enterprise
Day Dreamin' Exotics, a new company that offers customers the opportunity to drive more than $600,000 worth of exotic automobiles during a five-hour, 150-mile tour for $499, has opened for business at 1297 E. Miller Ave., Salt Lake City.
The firm is owned by Ian Harding, who has operated Luxury Imports Online at the same location for three years, in partnership with Russell Smith.
The Day Dreamin' Exotics fleet consists of a Porsche 911 Turbo, Ferrari 360 Modena coupe, Aston Martin Vantage, Lotus Exige and Dodge Viper SRT-10 convertible.
"We're Utah's first exotic car day tour," Harding said. "We do private bookings for corporations and we offer an experience that no one else has, where people can drive exotic cars that most people only dream about. People see our fleet of cars and it's like attack of the camera phones everywhere we go. How often do you see a brand-new Aston Martin in Salt Lake City, or a Ferrari 360? I think corporations are tired of taking people to steak lunches and on golfing trips. We offer an opportunity for corporations to entertain their clients in a different way."
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
