Boston Business Journal articles from June 1992

Boston Business Journal archives from June 1992

D.M. Reid under fire for tactics. (furniture store owners complain misleading advertisement by furniture store liquidator D.M. Reid Associates Ltd.)
June 1, 1992... Salem-based D.M. Reid Associates, one of the nation's largest furniture store liquidators, misleads business owners by promising quick cash from flashy going-out-of-business sales but often leaves the struggling retailers deeper in debt or...

Brigham's scoops out a new image. (ice cream parlor chain Brigham's Inc.)
June 1, 1992... Milton Namiot, who became president of Brigham's three years ago, has rescued the 78-year-old ice cream parlor chain with his taste for marketing and appetite for growth. When he was called in as a consultant in 1988 to determine what was...

Housing developers alarmed by new state voucher plan. (proposal to cut Massachusetts' housing subsidies)
June 1, 1992... House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Thomas Finneran's radical proposal to cut state housing subsidies in half next year threatens the solvency of mixed-income housing developments that contain about one-third of the state's 17,000 subsidized...

Banks crash mutual funds market. (Fleet Financial Group Inc., BayBanks Inc. and Shawmut National Corp. enter mutual funds industry)
June 1, 1992... Despite a decades-old law designed to keep banks out of the mutual funds industry, inroads from larger commercial banks such as Fleet Financial Group, and soon BayBanks and Shawmut National Corp., have proved the timeless adage: Where there's a...

PC retailers find fertile ground in suburbs. (personal computer retailers transfer operation from Boston, Massachusetts to suburbs)
June 1, 1992... Alas, PC users: shopping for a personal computer in Boston is going to take more than a few lunch hours. Downtown's two biggest PC retailers, Businessland and Computer Factory, both took down their shingles from Post Office Square this year....

Rubber-stamp maker tries breaking routine. (Inkadinkado)
June 1, 1992... After 13 years of nurturing and watching her little rubber-stamp company mature into a $5 million business, 46-year-old entrepreneur Karen Richards took the money--and stayed. She gave her pink-walled office to an M.B.A. from Dartmouth College...

Competition keeps R&D levels high in Bay State. (high technology research and development in Massachusetts) (Focus: High Technology and R&D)
June 1, 1992... Most Massachusetts public companies reporting R&D expenditures increased their spending in fiscal 1991, a Boston Business Journal study shows. Biotech concerns led the pack in the Bay State, spending an average of $1.75 on R&D for every dollar...

Insurers learn from fire factory in Rhode Island. (fire protection research by Factory Mutual Research Corp. for insurance companies) (Focus: High Technology and R&D)
June 1, 1992... Deep in the woods on the Connecticut/Rhode Island border, a fire broke out May 19 at the base of two storage stacks in a warehouse. It quickly engulfed the building's contents and sent 30-foot flames poking menacingly at the roof. Although the...

Affection for object programming grows. (object-oriented programming being marketed by programming services companies) (Focus: High Technology and R&D)
June 1, 1992... More than a dozen Massachusetts firms are promoting a computer programming method that they and independent experts say will enable software development to catch up with hardware, which has far outpaced it in recent years. Object-oriented...

State Street Boston Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
June 1, 1992... THE BUSINESS Headquarters: Boston Stock Symbol: STBK Market: NASDAQ Annual Revenue: $852,000,000 Net Income: ...

Right technology, wrong timing. (Biosurface Technology Inc.'s low revenues)
June 8, 1992... Four technicians--in white "moon suits" with booties and hoods--scraped what looked like wet tissue paper into petri dishes last Tuesday afternoon in BioSurface Technology's Cambridge lab. In less than two hours, they had packed a refrigerated...

There's gold in them thar laboratories. (economic returns of investing in industrial research)(includes related article on technology transfer programs)
June 8, 1992... Five years ago, two MIT scientists worked nights, early mornings and weekends to invent the world's first bendable ceramic superconducting wire. Their research will soon pay off: Last month MIT won the patent and licensed it exclusively to the...

Business aid sought for the city's new voke-ed plan. (proposed establishment of vocational center in Boston, Massachusetts)
June 8, 1992... Success of a proposed "new vision" for vocational education in the beleaguered Boston Public Schools depends on the business community assuming broad new responsibilities for educating urban youth. The move toward establishing a new regional...

Foxy investors nose CEO Nadaff out of Boston Chicken's coop; new management moves headquarters to Chicago suburb. (Scott Beck and Saad Nadhir; George Nadaff; Boston Chicken Inc.)
June 8, 1992... Boston Chicken quietly moved its headquarters to a Chicago suburb last week, less than six months after a group of nine investors fed the restaurant chain with $12 million in new capital and effectively took control over the company's management....

Analysts see local windfall in computer upgrading. (growth of Stratus Computer Inc. and Sequoia Systems Inc.)
June 8, 1992... As companies move to replace outdated computer equipment in a bid to remain competitive in a global economy, some analysts are betting that two Marlborough-based computer makers are poised to help jump-start the struggling Massachusetts high-tech...

Browsing in the park promised by book fair. (booksellers' exhibitions in Copley Square, Boston, Massachusetts)
June 8, 1992... Approximately 100 publishers and booksellers have signed up to market their wares at Boston's first outdoor book fair, to be held June 12 and 13 in Copley Square. "It will be great for local businesses," said Michael Quinlin, director of...

Downtown Holiday Inn set for $10m face lift. (renovation of Holiday Inn-Government Center in Boston, Massachusetts)
June 8, 1992... When the new Boston Garden goes up, at least one area hotel property will be ready with its own new image. The Holiday Inn-Government Center, the only Holiday Inn property in the city and the only in Massachusetts owned and operated by Holiday...

Boston biotech parks face lengthening odds. (hassles in construction of biotechnology research facilities)
June 8, 1992... The good news about Greater Boston's fledgling biotechnology industry can be found at the 16-acre South End Technology Square (SETS) tract, where a ceremony was held two weeks ago to mark the topping off of the first building in the $300 million...

Shirley incinerator gets singular approval. (construction of refuse disposal facility in Shirley, Boston, Massachusetts)
June 8, 1992... Only a few years after Massachusetts released a plan to halt landfilling and incineration of trash and encourage lofty recycling goals, a waste-to-energy plant is moving forward in Shirley. Last September the project became the first to receive...

Brokers target baby boomers in suburbia. (services of investment advisers for young investors in Massachusetts)
June 8, 1992... As the baby-boom generation hits its peak savings years, more and more investment brokers are setting up shop in the suburbs. These individual investors, according to analysts, have become the main source of new money in the market since last...

Trade groups step up the selling of Boston. (New England-Latin America Business Council, Italy-New England Chamber of Commerce, and International Boston) (Focus: International Business)
June 8, 1992... As attention has focused in recent months on American trade missions and the unification of the European Community, three local associations have formed to promote trade with specific regions or countries and to synthesize efforts by all local...

Investor immigrants consider American visas. (rules for granting immigrant visas to foreign investors) (Focus: International Business)
June 8, 1992... Massachusetts, and for that matter the entire Northeast, lags behind the West in attracting a special immigrant--people willing to invest $1 million in a business and create at least 10 full-time U.S. jobs. But Boston attorneys suggest that the...

Bay State establishes a foothold in Berlin. (opening of Massachusetts' trade office in Berlin, Germany) (Focus: International Business)
June 8, 1992... The Weld administration and Massport have created the state's first overseas trade office in Berlin. State officials say the office will identify opportunities for Massachusetts companies and help them market their products or services in newly...

Accion boosts small businesses in Latin America. (nonprofit Accion International's financing services) (Focus: International Business)
June 8, 1992... While much of the Third World struggles to repay massive debts, individual cobblers, seamstresses, potters and small entrepreneurs in these countries may be the best credit risks around, according to a local nonprofit agency. Accion...

The Mediplex Group. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
June 8, 1992... THE BUSINESS Headquarters: Wellesley Stock Symbol: MPX Market: NYSE Annual Revenue: $236,642,000 Net Income: ...

Keyboard makers on trial: class action cites Wang and others for injuries. (Wang Laboratories Inc.)
June 15, 1992... In what could be a landmark case for the industry, 44 computer users have filed a class-action suit charging that Wang Laboratories and other manufacturers should have warned them that using their keyboards could cause permanent wrist and hand...

Nature Foods turns a healthy profit. (Nature Food Centers Inc.)
June 15, 1992... Ronald L. Rossetti, president and CEO of Wilmington-based Nature Food Centres, would like to set the record straight once and for all: Health food is not a fad business. "We were incorporated in 1929, so how long can a fad last?" he said....

Nelson may reflag Vista Waltham. (Nelson Cos.; Boston Vista Waltham hotel)
June 15, 1992... After surviving what it described as a "coup attempt" by Aetna Life & Casualty on three of its Waltham office buildings just days earlier, the Nelson Cos. last week placed its remaining Waltham and Newton properties under Chapter 11 bankruptcy...

Suites see room to grow. (Guest Quarters Suite Hotels; Homewood Suites Inc.)
June 15, 1992... Two nationwide hotel chains are banking on upticks in the suites and extended-stay markets to spur their separate development plans. But the difficulties facing the industry in New England, which are only beginning to abate, may stall plans...

Hancock ad gets brickbats from speech groups. (John Hancock Financial Services Inc.; American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Stuttering Foundation of America)
June 15, 1992... Officials of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the Stuttering Foundation of America last week demanded that John Hancock Financial Services stop airing a television commercial portraying a youngster who stutters and begin...

High tech keeps New Balance jobs in U.S. (New Balance Athletic Shoes)
June 15, 1992... While other American sneaker manufacturers insist that the only way they can compete in the industry is by making their products in the Orient, local factories for New Balance Athletic Shoe have proved that the United States can consistently turn...

Health care providers prepare for OSHA regs. (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
June 15, 1992... With another deadline gone by on new federal regulations aimed at controlling the spread of disease in medical facilities, health care providers are under increasing pressure to comply with the new rules or face fines ranging in the thousands of...

Blast magazine aims to fill new generation gap.
June 15, 1992... Offering what its publishers call "long-awaited relief from the baby-boomer media monopoly," Blast magazine is planning for a November liftoff as "the voice for a new generation: twentysomethings." At a time when publications are more likely...

Peter M. Small: shining through. (chairman of Spaulding and Slye Colliers)
June 15, 1992... Peter Small is fond of saying that he would like a simple epitaph for his business career: "He ran a pretty good company." No problem there. In the 26 years that Spaulding & Slye Colliers has been in business--15 with Small as head of the...

Investor clubs win by playing it safe. (Focus: Banking & Finance)
June 15, 1992... There is a $550 million U.S. corporation with more than 1,200 representatives and 60 offices in the city of Boston that few people downtown have ever heard of. It is not listed in the phone book, and it has no headquarters in the financial...

Bankers worry about impact of revisions to capital rules. (Focus: Banking & Finance) (Industry Overview)
June 15, 1992... New standards for capital requirements may bring changes to banks in New England and across the country. Bank regulators must come up with guidelines to be implemented by December of this year. Some observers caution that the new standards,...

Rising IPO tide has lifted big-name law firms. (initial public offerings) (Focus: Banking & Finance) (Industry Overview)
June 15, 1992... The initial public offerings (IPOs) market appears to be slowing down. But as IPOs rose to new heights last year and early this year, some of Boston's big law firms received a much-needed boost in corporate business. The initial public...

Computer Identics Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
June 15, 1992... THE BUSINESS Headquarters: Canton Stock Symbol: CIDN Market: NASDAQ Annual Revenue: $20,641,086 Net...

Lifetime execs use stock to back up $15M personal loan. (Lifetime Corp.'s vice chairman Michael Sinclair and CEO Anthony H. Reeves)
June 22, 1992... Finnish lender will dump 733,332 shares if payment is missed Stock in Lifetime Corp. has taken a nose dive on Wall Street, thanks in part to the dealings of its vice chairman, Dr. Michael Sinclair, who put up 8 percent of the company's stock as...

Edison mulling Pru move. (Boston Edison Co.; Prudential Center)
June 22, 1992... Boston Edison Co., one of the Back Bay's largest and oldest tenants, is considering a move from its longtime home at the Prudential Center, officials for the utility giant confirmed last week. The company, which currently leases 265,000 square...

Prognosis mixed on Bay State. (Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association's acquisition of financially ailing Bay State Health Care Insurance Co.; Massachusetts)
June 22, 1992... With the announcement last week that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts will merge with financially strapped Bay State Health Care, the mystery of who would be tapped to save the crippled Cambridge HMO from extinction has finally been...

Ed franchises make a business of learning. (educational; Futurekids Inc.) (Company Profile)
June 22, 1992... Eleven-year-old Ann sat composing a piece of music as her sister Tam, 9 years old, quietly colored the neck of a dinosaur purple. Instead of a piano or coloring book, the girls' tools were computer screens, keyboards, a mouse and imaginative...

Agreement on state bank insurance is likely. (Mutual Savings Central Fund)
June 22, 1992... Bankers, legislators and managers of the Mutual Savings Central Fund, which provides private insurance for state chartered banks, have been arguing for nearly seven years over whether and how the deposit coverage should remain mandatory. But...

Vicor feels the sting of fickle stock investors. (electronic power supplies manufacturer)
June 22, 1992... The beating that Andover-based Vicor Corp. has been taking on Wall Street shows that investors, many of whom were pouring money into small, growth companies over the past year, have finally figured out that what goes up, sooner or later must come...

Maker of human tissue finds California partner. (Neomorphics; Advanced Tissue Sciences Inc.)
June 22, 1992... A California biotechnology company plans to acquire Neomorphics, a futuristic start-up whose technology could spawn banks of grown-to-order tissues to reconstruct any part of the body. Lexington-based Neomorphics is a four-year-old shell...

City tries to jump-start stalled recycling drive. (Boston, Massachusetts' call for a materials recycling facility)
June 22, 1992... With participation in Boston's newspaper collection program still low and plans to expand recycling stymied by budget constraints, city officials are renewing the call for a materials recycling facility (MRF) in Boston as recycling's only hope....

Dial-A-Mattress is rousing lazy bed buyers. (Dial-a-Mattress Franchise Corp.) (Company Profile)
June 22, 1992... Who shops for bedding at 2 a.m.? Robert Klein, president and co-owner of Dial-A-Mattress, thinks the question instead should be: Where can you get a brand-name mattress for bargain prices delivered to your door in two hours? He and Geoffrey...

Leonard M. Fuld. (owner of Fuld and Co.) (Company Profile)
June 22, 1992... No secrets Don't call him a gumshoe and never refer to him as a spy--corporate or otherwise. Leonard M. Fuld, who prefers the euphemistic title of "competitor intelligence professional," is a pioneer in an increasingly popular business...

Challenges to state sprinkler law flare up. (Massachusetts General Court's rule on installation of fire sprinklers in high-rise buildings) (Focus: Real Estate)
June 22, 1992... Leaders of the state Legislature's joint Public Safety Committee expect this month to begin revamping a 5-year-old law that requires owners of older high-rises to retrofit them with fire sprinklers. Rep. Paul Caron (D-Springfield), the...

Tenant rights clash with bank foreclosure laws. (cases filed against Dime Savings Bank of New York) (Focus: Real Estate)
June 22, 1992... For residential tenants, a lease is often the ticket to having a sense of security--the rent won't double next week and the furniture won't have to be carted out to a moving van. As bank foreclosures have skyrocketed in Massachusetts, however,...

Troubled properties eyed for low-income housing. (Focus: Real Estate)
June 22, 1992... Boston's community groups would like to turn foreclosed and troubled residential properties into low- and middle-income housing. For now they're working mainly with the Resolution Trust Corp. (RTC), but they also hope for the cooperation of local...

Nynex Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
June 22, 1992... THE BUSINESS Headquarters: New York Stock Symbol: NYN Market: NYSE Annual Revenue: $13,228,800,000 Net...

Hub hospitals make $134 million in '91. (Boston-based hospitals) (Performance vs. Pay) (Industry Overview)
June 29, 1992... Boston-based hospitals enjoyed a highly profitable year during 1991, according to figures filed this month at the state attorney's general office. Of the 14 facilities surveyed, all but two ended their year with multimillion dollar surpluses,...

Nesson tops in CEO pay. (H. Richard Nesson, Brigham and Women's Hospital's CEO) (Performance vs. Pay)
June 29, 1992... With an announced salary of $403,576 for 1990, H. Richard Nesson wasn't thought to be one of the hospital CEOs using a state loophole to hide their total compensation packages from public scrutiny. And as expected, the closing of that loophole...

Pier 1 party plans sunk by Massport. (Massachusetts Port Authority closes East Boston's Pier 1 during festivities)
June 29, 1992... The Massachusetts Port Authority has ordered East Boston's Pier 1 closed to visitors during Fourth of July and Sail Boston festivities in what tenants say is typical of a bureaucratic policy that's driving them out. "It seems to me that...

Surplus puts BC at the head of the class. (Boston College)
June 29, 1992... As other higher-education institutions close the books on a difficult year of enrollment declines and painful cutbacks, Boston College is quietly celebrating fiscal 1992 as the strongest of its 129 years. "The balance sheet's stronger than it's...

Wholesale giant faces opposition in Waltham. (construction of retail and office building by Costco Wholesale Corp. opposed by specialty store owners in Waltham, Massachusetts)
June 29, 1992... The Waltham Zoning Board of Appeals stopped Costco Wholesale Corp. from constructing a 132,000-square-foot retail and office building earlier this month, claiming that the company needed to provide almost double the proposed 749 parking spaces....

Budget money exchanger opens Hub office. (Ruesch International starts business in Boston, Massachusetts)
June 29, 1992... The city of Boston plans to generate some heavy-duty international business in the months and years ahead thanks to Sail Boston, World Cup Soccer and, if Mayor Flynn has his wish, the Summer Olympics. Enter Ruesch International. The...

Gloria Cordes Larson: against the grain. (Secretary of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation) (Personnel File)
June 29, 1992... Gloria Cordes Larson loves to tell the story of the governor's inauguration, as she did recently before a gathering of lawyers and insurance company officials. The story goes like this: Rushing into the State House, late for the ceremony,...

Grande dame hotel enjoys a new coming out. (Eliot Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts) (Focus: Business Hospitality)
June 29, 1992... Make a list of your favorite hotels around the world. The Connaught in London, the Ritz in New York, the Bristol in Paris, the Eliot in Boston. The Eliot? Improper Bostonians have known about the Eliot Lounge for years as a place to share a...

Depressed hotel prices cause headaches for banks. (Focus: Business Hospitality)
June 29, 1992... As the lodging industry muddles through what by all accounts is a prolonged and painful period of adjustment, loan restructurings and workouts are expected to gain greater favor with lenders that want out of the hotel business. Lenders are...

Tourist industry harbors high hopes for Tall Ships. (200 ships to participate in the Sail Boston 1992 celebration in Boston, Massacusetts) (Focus: Business Hospitality)
June 29, 1992... Sail Boston 1992 has remained buoyant through a stormy spring, weathering questions about financial improprieties and navigating under cannon shots fired between the city and state over security and cleanup costs. Despite the rough seas, 200...

United Asset Management Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
June 29, 1992... THE BUSINESS Headquarters: Boston Stock Symbol: UAM Market: NYSE Annual Revenue: $226,588,000 Net Income: ...