The U.S. convenience store industry is facing the challenging truth that Americans are changing the way they shop for snacks and drinks. The 150,000 plus convenience stores in the nation are being pressured from all sides. Fast-food restaurants and supermarkets are engaging in price wars, and dollar stores continue popping up and Amazon.com offers quick delivery for basic items. (Read More...)
When was the last time you stopped into your local bakery or patisserie and thought about anything but the coffee you crave or the incredible scents of the sweets on display? There’s a lot of expensive machinery that goes into running a high-end bakery from coffee and cappuccino makers to commercial grade ovens and mixers and other specialty equipment. With this expensive equipment, and the cost of potential replacements or expansion upgrades, a baker could get burnt without the right lender. (Read More...)
Design is a crucial part of any marketing campaign’s success. Campaigns are intended to raise the profile of your brand and drive customers to buy your products or services. With a growth in spending from $83 billion in 2017 to a predicted $129.23 billion in 2021, perfecting the appeal of your digital advertisements is extremely critical. (Read More...)
Fewer and fewer of us nowadays are enjoying the experience of washing our car in our own driveway on a Saturday morning. It was a first car owner's ritual; soaping up the car with a big sponge and rinsing it off with the garden hose. Before we all assume it's the youth of today not wanting to put in a little hard work and elbow grease, we should realize . . . that's only part of the problem. The main issue is the waste water run-off from these seemingly harmless chores. That sudsy water running off your driveway into the street is called nonpoint runoff and it is the leading cause of fresh water nonpoint source (NPS) pollution in the United States. And, it is causing many states and communities to ban the once typical suburban activity. (Read More...)
When Robert Powell left the banking industry to fulfill an entrepreneurial dream, he looked for a business that would be a good fit and would grow. When Tower Car Wash & Detail Center came on the market in 2005, Powell could see it was not only a match for his small business dreams, but with the right service, offerings, and customer experience for those who frequented his Batavia, Illinois location . . . he could clean up. (Read More...)
It used to be that the most high-tech piece of equipment on a construction or building site might have been the back hoe or front-end loader. As Bob Dylan once sang, the times they are a changin' . . . today's residential and non-residential construction sites are employing innovative new technologies and ideas to make projects stronger, safer and smarter. (Read More...)
As we go about our lives, we have our financial discipline monitored by the three big consumer bureaus – Equifax®, Transunion®, and Experian™ – and your FICO Score is built using this consumer bureau data. Even the best of us have experienced that moment of fear when we hear that we need to have our credit pulled . . . and we don't know where our number will land. Not all credit pulls are created equal, however; there are important distinctions between hard and soft credit pulls, or credit checks, and the Fair Reporting Credit Act dictates when and why credit reports may be pulled. The two forms of credit inquiries have different effects on your credit report and FICO credit score across the reporting agencies. (Read More...)
In the face of big box stores, Amazon taking over retail online, and national chain restaurants in every community, local companies have mounted a campaign to revitalize community businesses. The “shop small” approach has taken America by storm and the hospitality industry has sat up, fluffed their pillows and taken notice. (Read More...)
