Grocery stores add technology features to stay competitive
Like many grocery shoppers, Michele Ricketts dreads long checkout lines.But lately, she’s been breezing by the cash register at her neighborhood Ralphs even with the usual crowds at the store.“In the...
View ArticleMoto X plant seen as harbinger of more manufacturing
FORT WORTH, Texas – The mobile phone in Dennis Woodside’s hand looks like something Captain America would carry, with a cherry red back, glossy white front and thin rings of metallic blue around the...
View ArticleSales boom tests real estate agents
The hot housing market has real estate agents scrambling.At the same time, they are fretting over the future of their industry.The current sales boom’s impact on how homes are sold and the dominance...
View ArticleManagers turn to new tricks to lure, keep employees
As the economy improves, corporate profits increase, and the job market strengthens, some employers are getting creative to hold on to key employees.“I can’t tell you how many employers are calling me...
View ArticleTrader Joe’s to end health benefits for part-timers
WASHINGTON – Trader Joe’s Co., the closely held grocery store chain, will end health benefits for part-time workers next year, directing them instead to new insurance marketplaces as companies revamp...
View ArticleErie County Real Estate Transactions
AKRON• 48 Hoag, Janice Bridger; Richard A. Bridger to Lee D. Salmon; Jennifer A. Salmon, $130,000.• 91 Cedar St., Audrey Taylor; Audrey M. Taylor to Steven D. Drier, $121,500.ALDEN• 118 Summer Hill...
View ArticleNiagara County Real Estate Transactions
CAMBRIA• Upper Mountain Road, Nathan G. Silvernail to Melissa Stolzenburg; Eric Stolzenburg, $165,000.• Baer Road, Melani Autin; Marfa A. Kwiatkowski to Sante Dipaolo; Idalynn McDonald, $20,400.• Town...
View ArticleNo progress evident as Falls Council again tackles Hamister dispute
NIAGARA FALLS – The governor has pledged to make it happen. The mayor has been onboard with it.But the three-member City Council majority has yet to make a decision on the Hamister Group’s plans for a...
View ArticleGM official praises Tonawanda plant’s endurance
Bill Shaw is a high-ranking official at General Motors, as its North America manufacturing manager. And he is quite familiar with GM’s Town of Tonawanda engine plant and the region in general. In...
View ArticleBusinesses, workers await effects of health care reform
The vast majority of large and midsize companies and institutions offer health benefits as a way to attract and retain employees or because company officials believe it’s the right thing to do.As a...
View ArticleRockstar Games set to take ‘Grand Theft Auto’ franchise to...
Rockstar Games doesn’t play by the rules.Not that anyone would expect the creators of the massively successful “Grand Theft Auto” franchise to operate like other game designers. And while that’s...
View ArticleTurkey Talk Line making history by calling on men to offer advice
NEW YORK – This year, if you call Butterball’s Turkey Talk Line for some turkey advice, you might get a male voice on the line.For the first time, Butterball is enlisting the help of men along with...
View ArticleECIDA gives candymaker $5.1 million in tax breaks for new Tonawanda factory
Candymaker Wythe Will Tzetzo is getting more than $5.1 million in tax breaks through the Erie County Industrial Development Agency for its $18.7 million project to build a sprawling factory and...
View ArticleGap in jobless rates between rich, poor hits widest level on record
WASHINGTON – The gap in unemployment rates between America’s highest- and lowest-income families has stretched to its widest levels since officials began tracking the data a decade ago, according to...
View ArticleAnderson opens door to Hamister project in Falls
NIAGARA FALLS – The City Council majority on Monday released its chokehold on a $25.3 million downtown development project.Councilman Robert A. Anderson Jr. defected on the issue from his colleagues...
View ArticleDeveloper seeks rights to former Trico factory.
The long-vacant Trico Building on the edge of downtown Buffalo and the medical campus may finally get a new use.Peter Krog – whose Krog Corp. in Orchard Park is one of the area’s leading developers of...
View ArticleAllstate closing Amherst claims office
Allstate will close an insurance claims office in Amherst and combine the operations with a location in Rochester.Its Essjay Road location, which has 48 employees, is expected to close by Dec....
View ArticleDiNapoli touts pension fund's investments in N.Y.
ALBANY – At a time when entrepreneurs and start-up companies are having a hard time raising funds for their business ideas, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said the state’s giant pension fund is...
View ArticleOn the Record / Sept. 18, 2013
Hires/Promotions/Honors SweetWorks appointed Larry Schiavone production scheduler. Schiavone previously was a senior planning analyst at Goodyear Dunlop Tires North America in the Town of Tonawanda....
View ArticleLending continues to rise through SBA program
Small-business lending in Buffalo and Rochester through a government-guaranteed program continues to grow.Loans originated through the Small Business Administration’s core 7(a) program in the...
View Article