ColoradoBiz articles from December 2005

ColoradoBiz archives from December 2005

Credit Owens' fiscal foresight.
December 1, 2005... WHEEW! More than a million people voted in the Nov. 1 election over Referenda C&D, and even they were effectively split down the middle. But just enough of Colorado voters--perhaps because of the deep involvement of Colorado business in...

Graebel: technology transforms the international relocation business.(SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION)(Advertisement)
December 1, 2005... Over the past 55 years, Graebel has grown from the legendary one man, one truck operation to the largest, privately held relocation company in the world. Graebel has continually leveraged technology to distinguish itself as the premier...

!Argentina! the people of Argentina make it a great place to visit and to do business.
December 1, 2005... LAST MONTH I WENT TO A SOCCER GAME IN ARGENTINA. The game was to be huge! The winner to advance to the final four of the South American Cup. It was going to be between Velez, the Champion of the Argentine league, and America, the top Mexican...

SCORE for your business: nonprofit volunteers offer cheap advice on how to become profitable and thrive.
December 1, 2005... * "I HAVE A GREAT IDEA; I WANT TO START A BUSINESS but I don't know where to start!" * "My business is growing, and I need advice on how best to move to the next level." * "How do I get the money to get my new business going?" ...

Downtown Denver doubles up on Hyatts.
December 1, 2005... It seems counterintuitive--two hotels, same company, similar names, two blocks apart. Chances are if you've driven through downtown at all recently, you've noticed the new 38-story tower nearing completion adjacent to the convention center at...

Western outfitter turns 100 in Steamboat.
December 1, 2005... F.M. Light & Sons has been selling Western wear in Steamboat Springs since 1905. It started out selling suits as well as ranch wear, weathered the Great Depression, and caught an upswing in Western-wear demand when the movie "Urban Cowboy" came...

Hold on to that fruitcake, it may be a winner.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Don't toss those fruitcakes--yet! Wait until Jan. 7 to toss them around Manitou Springs. The December mail is always loaded with the fruit of early Christmas postings by those people who must get a jump-start on the holiday. ...

CEO of the Year: Jeff Potter: Frontier Airlines' 'informal nice guy' piloted company through turbulent times.(Cover Story)
December 1, 2005... Editor's note: Jeff Potter is ColoradoBiz magazine's CEO of the Year, chosen for our December issue to cap what sometimes can be a long, hard year of business. Four finalists in our competition are profiled on page 22. The choice of CEO was...

Ranks of the professionals: largest firms in a dozen categories reflect improved economy.
December 1, 2005... Last year, ColoradoBiz took a different path in its annual ranking of the state's top professional-service companies, as we asked readers to vote for their preferred firms in 10 industry categories. In past years we ranked companies by...

Taking stock of Colorado's vines.(Editorial)
December 1, 2005... The journey to publish Colorado VINE began with a drive from Denver to Grand Junction last July. Robert Schwab, editor of Colorado Biz, and I stopped at Dolce Vita, a watering hole and great Italian eatery on Main Street, Grand Junction's...

The Oxford Hotel--a luxury landmark.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Celebrating 114 years in business, The Oxford Hotel is a Denver landmark and one of its ultimate retreats. From its old-world ambiance and world-class service, to its exquisitely designed and remodeled guest rooms, the Oxford is a centerpiece...

Denver's Union Station.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... For more than 120 years trains have been chugging through Denver's Union Station, transporting millions of people. Today, a variety of travel options are available for residents, tourists and commuters. Board the Rio Grande Ski Train for a...

Rockmount Ranch Wear.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... From cowboys to movie stars, Rockmount Western wear is rocking the apparel markets. Jack Weil opened Rockmount Ranch Wear in 1946, with the creation of the first Western shirt with snaps. Today, it is a third-generation business, and at 104,...

The Oxford Club.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... If you're in need of a pampering "spa day," the Oxford Club is rejuvenation headquarters. This 18-year-old spa is the largest and oldest in Denver. The European architecture and soothing ambiance are beautiful backdrops for the plethora of...

Tattered Cover bookstore in LoDo.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... You won't want to leave once you enter the Tattered Cover and see the racks of books, fire-places, coffee bar and over-stuffed chairs. Nationally acknowledged as one of the best independent bookstores in the country, the LoDo location has the...

Colorado's budding wine industry puts down roots.
December 1, 2005... Combine a passion for wine and some of the country's most beautiful country and you've got a recipe for one of the nation's fastest growing wine industries. What's happening in Colorado is gaining a reputation among wine aficionados even if it...

Recommended wines.( )
December 1, 2005... SUTCLIFFE VINEYARDS, COLORADO PETIT VERDOT, 2003 WINE EVALUATION: A clear ruby color is complemented by spicy apple and a slight cedar nose along with a floral character. Fruit carries into the mouth along with citric acidity and balanced...

Colorado beef comes naturally: state's cattle ranchers making a comeback.
December 1, 2005... It must have been a rancher who coined the phrase "labor of love." Because ranchers are faced with changing market conditions year-over-year, weather extremes, backbreaking labor, and perennial breeding challenges, you know the ranching...

Colorado's newest flagship market: Whole Foods' Belmar store breaks new ground for food shoppers.
December 1, 2005... Whole Foods Market opens Dec. 7 in the new, fashionable Belmar Shopping Center in Lakewood. It is a sprawling 64,000 square feet of retail space, and instantly becomes the Austin, Texas-based food chain's flagship store in Colorado. The...

Colorado craft brewers warm to the season with limited-release beers.
December 1, 2005... Colorado's beer lovers have extra reasons to celebrate the holiday season. This time of year, the best of Colorado's 83 craft breweries are unveiling limited-release brews made just for cooler weather. Like Beaujolais Nouveau's for wine buffs,...

Colorado wine industry faces challenges.
December 1, 2005... If I walked up to you at a wine bar and said, "I had a great wine from, oh, something valley." Would you think Napa, Grand or Elk? I'm betting on Napa Valley, an appellation with far more name recognition than Grand or Elk valleys (both...

Legal briefing 2005: business advice from Colorado's top law firms.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Operating a business within the constantly evolving boundaries of business law can be an overwhelming and often neglected challenge amid an executive's more immediate concerns: generating profit, making wise hiring decisions, keeping an eye on...

The global work force here at home.(EMPLOYING THE NEW GLOBAL WORK FORCE)
December 1, 2005... Over the past 20 years, the number of individuals seeking to live and work in the U.S. has reached historic levels, making the U.S. the largest importer of international labor. While the U.S. constitutes only 20 percent of the industrialized...

Get with the (IP management) plan.
December 1, 2005... If your company is like most, it probably has not realized maximum value from its intellectual property ("IP") assets. If so, this may be because your company has not committed to a formal IP management plan designed to foster innovation,...

Enforcing non-competes against former employees in Colorado.
December 1, 2005... The recent court battle between Microsoft and Google over Google's hiring of a former Microsoft executive has brought the issue of employee non-compete agreements to the forefront. Microsoft's suit alleges that if its non-compete agreement with...

The new deferred compensation rules: an increasingly complex solution to a relatively simple problem.
December 1, 2005... In October 2005, the Internal Revenue Service issued proposed regulations that provide further guidance regarding the deferred compensation rules in Section 409A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. The Proposed Regulations add 238 more pages...

What the law means for small businesses.
December 1, 2005... Now that the ink has dried on the new Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, many are discovering that the changes go well beyond simply trying to prevent consumer bankruptcy abuse. The new law contains several...

Local Matters Inc.(Tech Startup of the Month)(Company Profile)
December 1, 2005... INITIAL LIGHTBULB Perry Evans has a solid record of bringing utilitarian Web-based technology to the masses. He founded MapQuest in 1995, Jabber in 2000 (ColoradoBiz's Tech Startup of the Month in May 2003), and Aptas the next year. He...

Outlook up-tempo: ColoradoBiz Top Company panelists look for good year as long as high interest rates and fuel prices don't act as drag on economy.(Panel Discussion)
December 1, 2005... CLIFF BROWN AND RUSS FARMER OWN and run ADA Technologies Inc., a Littleton company with 35 employees. ADA has grown steadily at a 30 percent per-year clip since 2000--straight through the national recession of 2001 and through the Colorado...

Aurora's waterfront: developers target reservoir's shores.
December 1, 2005... It's a blustery day on the shores of Aurora Reservoir about four miles east of E-470. Wind whips out from Kansas across grassy plains blocked by maybe two or three trees and half as many houses before it reaches Aurora's supply of drinking...

Small-biz index puts spin on dismal science.
December 1, 2005... SINCE 1997, ECONOMIST JEFF THREDGOLD HAS PUT together a monthly Colorado Small-Business Index that even he admits is counterintuitive. For instance, a drop in state unemployment sounds favorable from an overall economic standpoint and is useful...

Mountain Boy sleds.( )(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Brice Hoskin skis, but he's a sledder at heart. "Sledding is much more visceral," he said. "You're lying down with your face six inches from the snow, and no matter how fast you're going, it feels like lightspeed." Hoskin moved to Silverton and...

Sky River Ranch furnishings.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Jeff Bates' creations are for the most part pure West. "If it's not the Old West, it's the New West," he said. "I have a difficult time describing what I do." Here's crack at it: Bates takes rugged raw materials like rough-hewn logs,...

Rumley Arts Guitars.(Colorado Cool Stuff)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Because Denver-born brothers Bill and John Rumley "grew up in the arts," said Bill, "we are of the arts." No kidding. Their father was a professor of performing arts at DU. John is a Denver musician of serious renown and also a craftsman with...

Tutela Handbags.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Jill Mustoffa and Christiane White, "sewing soulmates" since the 1980s, went into business together in 2002. The self-described "fabric junkies" love all things retro, which shows in their stylish handbags and backpacks. "It's like carrying a...

Barney Feinblum: a natural for the natural-products industry.(Executive Edge)
December 1, 2005... Coffee. Tea. Milk. Sodas. Juice. Wine. While that might sound like the beverage-cart offerings on a major airline, they actually are components of Boulder businessman Barney Feinblum's natural-food industry career that began in 1976 when he...

A minor miracle.
December 1, 2005... TYLER TYSDAL SHOWED A KNACK FOR WORKING THE business side of baseball early in life. As a teenager in North Platte, Neb., he hired neighborhood pals to tear through packages of bulk-order baseball cards, separating out marquee players. ...

The eco movement is a myth.
December 1, 2005... NOT LONG AGO I WAS WATCHING SOMETHING ON television concerning the ever-higher prices of gasoline for cars and natural gas and electricity for home consumption. Someone was berating the energy companies for price gouging. Gas companies were...