Gayle Brewer, a 26 year-old Arcadia resident, runs a Pasadena-based business called Celia Caseta Inc. She provides professional makeup services. She plans to open locations in Arcadia and Northridge.
Business profile of Move It Aerobics Studio, an exercise facility that offers fitness classes for overweight students. Michele Silence is the owner. Her business is located at 40 E. Live Oak Avenue.
Spotlight on Arcadia local Dave Berkus, a renowned capitalist and self-made man. He is the founder and president of Berkus Technology Ventures. He started out as the owner of his own record company, then wrote software, and is now a venture capitalist. Photo.
Arcadia launches the new Arcadia Downtown Business Association, with plans to revitalize the downtown district. Matt McSweeney is the association's chairperson and owner of Matt Denny's Ale House Restaurant on East Huntington Drive. City officials will spend about $90,000 on a parking study and about $18,000 in redevelopment funds to get Arcadia Downtown Business Association off the ground. The revitalization plans should work nicely with the slated opening of the Gold Line station at the northwest corner of North First Avenue and East Santa Clara Street by 2014.
Adam Chu is an entrepreneur opening a seafood grill restaurant in Monrovia on April 17, at 123 East Colorado Boulevard. It will be called Big Shrimps Fish Grill. His goal is to keep menu items reasonably priced because he is also the supplier. he imports seafood under the company he founded called Five Star Seafoods. Chu moved the operations of Five Star from Arcadia to the second floor of the new building that will house his restaurant.
Spotlight on local business, a hair salon called 1st Ave Salon, located at 10 N. First Avenue, Arcadia, CA. Owner is Veka Estrada, a Temple City resident.
End of an era--Colonial Pharmacy in Arcadia succumbs to a difficult economy. Arcadia's oldest pharmacy, Colonial Pharmacy, which has been serving the community since 1939, will be closing. Owner Mark Burstyn (photo) has worked there since October 1990.
Arcadia City Council approves $70,000 to help the Downtown Business Association set up a business-improvement district. The district would tax commercial property owners to revitalize the area.
Swim Spot boutique, a swimwear retailer store, leasing a short-term "pop-up" space at Westfield Santa Anita shopping mall, is spotlighted here. If things go well, Swim Spot will likely sign a longer term lease.
Hong Kong Supermarket, a New York-based company, will open a 25,000 square feet market at 935 W. Duarte Road, at the Mon-Arc Retail Shopping Center. It is the fifth Hong Kong Supermarket in the San Gabriel Valley, specializing in imported Asian groceries. It will serve customers from both Monrovia and Arcadia. Asians account for 10.9% of Monrovia's total population while Arcadia's Asian population is at 58.9%.
At the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce's annual Power Planning Conference on January 24, City of Arcadia's City Manager, Dominic Lazzaretto, provided optimism to the local business community during this time of economic uncertainties. He said 25% of Arcadia's $48 million in annual revenue comes from local businesses--with nearly $10 million from sales taxes and another $2 million-plus from licenses and permits. The City has proposed a new business assistance program ombudsman to help entrepreneurs with the start-up process, is working with Chamber of Commerce to create a more interactive one-stop business checklist, and has not increased the cost of a business permit.
Downtown Arcadia business owners establish a Community Benefit District, mandating they each pay an annual assessment on their property taxes to fund marketing programs and activities in hopes of bringing more people to the area. It is called a Property-Based Business Improvement Model. It is a private-sector initiative that bills local businesses by the same criteria used in Old Pasadena--according to their frontage, lot size and scope of any buildings on a given property. 60% of downtown Arcadia owners chose the plan, the result of a three year effort.
Downtown Arcadia businesses create "Community Benefit District." Each business owner would pay extra in property taxes to go into a fund to better market the area to customers and visitors. With the Gold Line Station at North First Avenue and East Santa Clara Street scheduled to open in 2015, efforts to help brand the area have been fast-tracked.
Arcadia resident David Tran, the founder of Huy Fong Foods, which makes Sriracha chili hot sauce, was on hand at the first ever Sriracha Festival in Los Angeles. Tran founded the company 33 years ago, after emigrating as a refugee from Vietnam.
Battle heats up over odors coming from Huy Fong Foods' (maker of Sriracha chili sauce) Irwindale factory. The City of Irwindale demanded the company curb smells coming from the Azusa Canyon Road factory or cease operations. If production is halted due to a court order, the price of Sriracha will likely go up. Residents have complained of headaches and irritation to eyes and throats. Adam Holliday, Huy Fong's director of operations, is committed to solving the problem. The company's owner David Tran is an Arcadia resident.
Judge tells City of Irwindale to just chill out. Request to have Huy Fong Foods' Sriracha chili hot sauce factory shut down was denied. Owner David Tran is an Arcadia resident.
Los Angeles Superior Court judge Robert O'Brien rejects the City of Irwindale's request to shut down production of Sriracha hot chili sauce at Huy Fong Foods' factory. The city has said Huy Fong should be shut down temporarily until the company addresses foul odors believed to be coming from the North Azusa Canyon Road factory. David Tran, CEO and founder, is an Arcadia resident.
David Tran, the owner of Huy Fong Foods (makers of Sriracha hot chili sauce), defends his factory, saying, "We don't make tear gas here." Superior Court judge Robert H. O'Brien on Tuesday, ordered Huy Fong Foods, Inc. to cease operations believed to be causing a smell that the City of Irwindale said has created a "public nuisance" and immediately changes to mitigate the odor. David Tran, CEO and founder, is an Arcadia resident.