Strictly Business

Strictly business: Retailers, show us shoppers you care

The changing colors of late September always make me thankful to live in a region with pronounced seasons, each with its own weather pattern and set of cultural traditions.

Strictly business: BPA, dam changed Vancouver

The Bonneville Power Administration celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, and that makes this a good time for Vancouver to reflect on its own birth as a modern industrial city.

Strictly Business: Stimulus plan may grow jobs

The job-producing project is important, but perhaps not as important as the way it's being funded.

Strictly Business: Apple, Wal-Mart 2 sides of same coin

What do Wal-Mart and Apple have in common?

Strictly business: WSUV has growth potential

Some people scoff at the mere suggestion Washington State University Vancouver's enrollment will one day exceed that of the school's home campus in Pullman.

Strictly Business: Blue-ribbon business opportunity at the fair

Launched in 1868 in Esther Short Park, the Clark County Fair has always been the place for country and city residents to proudly display animals, talents, and crafts. It also has become a vital marketplace for hundreds of mom-and-pop, mostly local businesses that have little money to invest in marketing. For as little as $890 to purchase a booth during the fair's 10-day run, which ended a week ago, small businesses can put their products and services in front of thousands of fairgoers.

Strictly Business: Let's put jobs picture in focus

When you lose your job for the first time and you watch the career you thought you had vanish, it feels like nothing you've ever felt before.

Strictly Business: Teamwork can benefit businesses

When he grew tired of new customers expressing surprise at finding his hardware store in the heart of Woodland, Tom Golik figured it was time to raise downtown's profile. He pulled together a small group of civic-minded citizens, talked to leaders in city government and at the Port of Woodland, and helped launch an organization called Downtown Woodland Revitalization.

Strictly Business: Downtown Vancouver can regain its old glow

Downtown Vancouver hasn't been truly vibrant since the early 1940s, when thousands of people flocked to this city to work at the Kaiser Shipyards.

Strictly Business: Freedom, commerce can create quite a din

I'm OK with the sound of freedom, but do I have to hear it every lunch hour?

Strictly Business: There's much to gain in going small

My 10-year-old niece, Elizabeth, tossed the pebble into the pond, and the ripples it made were impressive.

Strictly Business: Getting tripped up by technology

A buddy in my Saturday morning running group has been sidelined for weeks, and his iPhone is partly to blame. While fiddling with the phone one day, he ran headlong into a fire hydrant. That kicked up an old foot injury that has kept him from his rigorous running routine for the first time in decades.

Strictly Business: Insitu embodies skill, luck

There's something unsettling in hearing that a company's success is tied to tragedies like the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the long conflict that has followed.

Strictly Business: Information can't trump experience

The word "museum" conjures a sense of the static -- a place to look at but not touch, offering little to our nonvisual senses.

Strictly Business: Summer commerce in bloom

Most of us look forward to summer, for all the obvious reasons. We can enjoy the Columbia River Gorge, the mountains, the coast, and the rivers at our doorsteps. The wise among us spend time outdoors hiking or swimming, hunting or fishing, or just enjoying the too-short days of our Northwest dry season.