Union membership holds steady at 11.3%
WASHINGTON — The nation’s union membership held steady at 11.3 percent last year, but losses among state and government workers suggest an ominous trend for the future of organized labor.In a...
View ArticleStarbucks gains as profit tops estimates on holiday sales
Starbucks Corp., the world’s largest coffee-shop chain, advanced the most in almost two months after posting earnings that topped analysts’ projections as pumpkin-spice lattes and other seasonal...
View ArticleNSA’s websites uses cartoons, games to recruit future spies
WASHINGTON – The turtle wearing a hat backward, baggy jeans and purple sunglasses looks just like other cartoon characters that marketers use to make products like cereal and toys appealing to...
View ArticleBuilding a BBQ joint: Behind a business startup
Businesses – even retail businesses – don’t just come to life one day. Months of planning and work precede the grand opening. For Dinosaur Bar-B-Que’s Buffalo location, the fires started burning Jan....
View ArticleFirst Niagara’s profits climb 31 percent
First Niagara Financial Group’s fourth-quarter profits jumped by 31 percent, but analysts were expecting that. What they weren’t expecting was rising expenses taking a bite out of the Buffalo bank’s...
View ArticleFears fuel stock rout
Fear is back in the market.Investors are worried about slower economic growth in China, a gloomier outlook for U.S. corporate profits and an end to easy money policies in the United States and Europe....
View ArticlePrivate colleges get creative as pool of potential students shrinks
Private colleges across the region are facing a new reality.After years of campus growth that buoyed enrollment numbers and led to new construction, the number of potential students coming out of high...
View ArticleSUNY Buffalo State forging ahead with new technology center, enrollment goals
The new Technology Building at SUNY Buffalo State is a symbol of what is happening on the Elmwood Avenue campus.Opened in September, the $36.5 million building at the center of campus houses some...
View ArticleAs the recession wanes, new cars are hot again
Used cars have had an interesting ride since the Great Recession began in 2008. As consumers tightened their belts, they opted to buy used cars instead of new ones, or held onto the cars they had...
View ArticleShea’s restoration is behind revival of culture downtown
A 1926 movie palace that was nearly demolished in the early 1970s and struggled in the last decade has blossomed into downtown’s unrivaled success story in the arts.The 3,019-seat Shea’s Performing...
View ArticleThey call it ‘omnichannel’ retail: blending stores, phones
Welcome to the future.Now that we have all have computers in our pockets, retail is evolving every day.We tap a few buttons on our phones to have whatever we want delivered to our doorsteps. We...
View ArticleMap: Medical Campus facing ‘good problems’
About 2 million square feet of new space – about the equivalent of 11 Walmart Supercenters – is under construction on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. ¶ With the major projects coming online in...
View ArticleUpward mobility has not declined
The odds of moving up – or down – the income ladder in the U.S. have not changed appreciably in the last 20 years, according to a large new academic study that contradicts politicians in both parties...
View ArticleGreat Recession job loss buried hopes, careers
Liz and Bob McLean are on the wrong side of an economic divide.Not so long ago, they would roar out on a motorcycle trip to Yellowstone, or ride a helicopter down the Colorado River. In 2007, Bob put...
View ArticleAs Square considers IPO, rancor from merchants is trouble spot
SAN FRANCISCO – Square came in handy for Camilla Barry in accepting payments at her bed-and-breakfast in the Northern California town of Rumsey – until a guest disputed a room charge in May.That’s...
View ArticleRetailers use visuals to entice shoppers
At the Oakley headquarters in Foothill Ranch, Calif., a goggled, transparent skull with a 15-foot wingspan and glowing blue brain looms over the entrance of the retail area. The performance activewear...
View ArticleMalware threatens small businesses’ data, livelhood
The first thing Mark Wilson noticed was a drag on the computer system that he and five others used at his company.“Everything was just crawling,” said Wilson, president and co-owner of Apex Cary...
View Article7-Eleven upgrades menu to lure food shoppers
It’s not uncommon for Andre Holden to stop for a bite on his way to his job as a bakery worker at an upscale Italian food emporium in downtown Chicago.About three times a week, though, he’s sating his...
View ArticleErie County Real Estate Transactions
AKRON• 10 Jackson St., Herbert C. Graeser; Laura J. Graeser to Brian A. Salmon; Toni M. Schumacher, $152,500.ALDEN• 11466 Cary Road, Beth A. Downing; Craig S. Downing to Ryan M. Bielawa, $167,000.•...
View ArticleNiagara County Real Estate Transactions
CAMBRIA• Plank Road, Gerardo Liermo; James P. Liermo; Gerardo J. Liermo; April E. Smith; Joseph R. Liermo to John M. Jesz; Jeanine F. Jesz, $127,000.• Pekin Town Line Road, Alfred J. Picogna to Mark...
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