Category: Business

Tulare’s factory outlet mall will be getting some competition in the south Valley.The ICSC reports the following:
“Tejon Ranch Company and the Rockefeller Group have agreed to partner in the development of the Outlets at Tejon Ranch, a 316,601-sf outlet project planned near Bakersfield, Calif. The site for the center will be at one of California’s busiest highway junctions, Interstate 5 and Highway 99. The center will serve the 3.2 million residents living in Bakersfield and northwest Los Angeles County’s affluent communities of Santa Clarita, Valencia, Castaic, Lancaster and Palmdale.
The property is interesting: at 270,000 acres, it is the largest single piece of private property in the state of California. To get an idea of the expanse, the movie Out of Africa was filmed there.
“Tejon is leasing up very quickly,” said Lisa Wagner, principal of EWB Development, which is handling leasing on the project. “Bakersfield is oil and gas and beautiful homes and a wonderful lifestyle – it even has the top Starbucks in the country.”
The Rockefeller Group was founded more than 80 years ago to develop Rockefeller Center in New York. The company is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Estate Co. Ltd., which has completed eight outlet centers in Japan with Simon Property Group.”

The unemployment rate in the Tulare County was 15.0 percent in August 2012, down from a revised 15.7
percent in July 2012, and below the year-ago estimate of 16.2 percent. This compares with an unadjusted
unemployment rate of 10.4 percent for California and 8.2 percent for the nation during the same period., There are 2600 more jobs in the county  in August 2012 than in August 2011.

First printed Fresno Business Journal

Silgan Containers will close its can making operation in Kingsburg as Del Monte winds down its fruit processing plant there. City manager Don Pauley confirms the tandem closures resulting in the loss of 53 jobs at Silgan by the end of October.

”Silgan leases space at the Del Monte plant site” says Pauley, “They “were the on-site supplier of the cans for the fruit plant” he adds.

Both Del Monte and Silgan are planning to consolidate their Kingsburg operations elsewhere – Del Monte to Modesto and Silgan to Riverbank although they are temporality laying off their Riverbank crew until January.

“Unfortunately Kingsburg is losing some pretty good paying jobs at Silgan averaging about $50k” adds Pauley.

Silgan started operations in 1899 packaging Carnation Milk at the time. The Nasdaq-traded company today has sales in excess of $2.2 billion.The Woodland Hills California-based firm makes metal containers, metal, composite and plastic vacuum closures and plastic containers. Its products contain some of the world’s best known branded consumer products, including Campbell’s Soup, Del Monte Fruits and Vegetables, Listerine and Friskies Pet Food.

Closure of the Del Monte cannery in Kingsburg is slated for the end of this packing season. The plant employed 1100 seasonal workers and about 70 full time.Some workers have been transferred to other local Del Monte plants.

Optimism

Pauley says Del Monte already has strong indication that their warehouse property will be sold quickly and now there is new optimism that the the old 1920s vintage cannery could get a new user as well says Pauly, reversing earlier pessimism.

“We have to wait until Del Monte clears out to show the space” adds Pauly,but interest in both properties is good.

Pauley says the city also got some good news with building plans filed  for a new O’Reilly’s Auto Parts store and a new hardware store coming to town as well.

California gasoline prices are finally on a downward slide this week well after the traditional Labor Day decline in high summer prices. Across the US, AAA has reported gasoline prices “were the highest ever for September”.

This week, oil prices fell from near $99 to around $93 a barrel while California average retail gasoline prices were falling to around $4.10 a gallon from around $4.15 to $4.25 a week ago according to Gas Buddy.

The California Energy Commission shows gas prices down 2 cents from Sept 10 to Sept 17 at an average of $4.15

Around the S2S reading area, Visalia’s Costco is selling regular for $3.99 and several stations in Tulare are at $3.95 today.

In Fresno, Gas Buddy reports prices as low as $3.87 today and in Bako as low as $3.89. In San Luis Obispo, the lowest price remains $4.09.
The lowest prices in the state are in the Sacramento area falling to as low as $3.83

On Sept 13, AAA reported that following eight straight weeks of increases, gasoline prices in various Southern California regions dipped  only slightly. The state average for that date was $4.169 a gallon for regular – 1.6 cents higher than last week.

“Prices throughout the region dropped very slightly during the past week for the first time since July,” said Auto Club spokesperson Jeffrey Spring.

The average price of self-serve regular gasoline in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area is $4.170 per gallon, which is seven tenths of a penny less than last week, 7.5 cents higher than last month, and 21 cents higher than last year. In San Diego, the price is $4.151, six tenths of a cent below last week, 7.2 above last month, and 18 cents higher than last year. On the Central Coast, the average price is $4.223, down four tenths of a cent from last week, 11 cents higher than a month ago, and 24 cents above last year. In the Inland Empire, the average per gallon price is $4.137, down a penny from last week, 7 cents higher than last month, and 20 cents more than last year.

That slow trend should improve this week.

Keeping A Lid On Oil

With lower oil prices this week CNBC reported that “the White House promise that it could release oil from strategic reserves if prices get too high is keeping a lid on crude prices, already under pressure from slower global growth.

In what appears to be a calculated move to keep oil prices under control, the White House Tuesday reiterated its comment that “all options are on the table” when it comes to the oil market, including a Strategic Petroleum Reserve release.”

Today Reuters reported that “Brent crude oil futures slid to a six-week low on Wednesday, as the market digested comments from the world’s largest oil exporter Saudi Arabia that it would take action to keep prices in check, raising expectations of increased supply.”

Cargo container volumes at the Port of Long Beach climbed in August, the start of the “peak season” when shipments begin arriving for the end-of-the-year holiday shopping season say the port authority.
But nearby the Port Of Los Angles recorded a 4% drop on imports and 10.5% drop in exports compared to August 2011. But on a calendar year to date basis the Port of LA ‘ overall volume is up 5.1%.
At Long beach imports were up 2.9 percent compared to the same period last year. Port terminals handled 274,977 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) of loaded inbound cargo last month compared to 267,198 TEUs in August 2011. The modest rise in August points to a slight recovery during peak season and the second half of the year.
Exports were up too in August, rising 5.7 percent to 128,225 TEUs compared to 121,277 TEUs a year ago.
Overall, container volume through the Port was up 1.4 percent in August. The total includes imports, exports and empty containers, which declined 4.9 percent. With imports exceeding exports, empty containers are sent overseas to be refilled with goods. With the gains in exports, fewer containers moved back to Asia in August.
For the calendar year, overall container volumes at the Port of Long Beach are down 4.6 percent because of the continuing weakness in the economy, and the cutbacks in ship calls by several niche vessel operators at the end of 2011 and early 2012. Imports are down 4.6 percent and exports down 1.2 percent through August, compared to the same period a year ago.
The Port of Long Beach continues to invest long term. It is two years into a decade-long, $4.5 billion program to upgrade its facilities.

From Kristin Eberhard’s Blog,NRDC

“Have you tried parking in Santa Monica recently?  You probably found it helpful to see the electronic signs outside public parking structures telling you how many spaces are available.  But did you know that, if you have a smart phone, you don’t even have to drive by and look at that sign?  An app called SaMo Park lets you see all parking structures in Santa Monica, their prices, and real-time space availability.  How cool is that?
Say you are approaching downtown… you pull up SaMo park and see (screenshot below) that a few structures are already full (the red pins), but many still have availability (the green pins).  (The purple pin means the lot is getting close to full).

You click on a green pin, and the address and number of spaces appears (see below: 556 spaces available at 215 Colorado Ave. – great!).

You then click on the blue arrow to the right of the address and it takes you to a screen showing the operating hours and pricing info for that parking structure.

Now you can go straight to that lot, assured that there is a space and you know exactly how much you need to pay.”
The technology saves time and air pollution, says Kristin.

September 11, 2012 – LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – California’s export trade faced headwinds in July, but beneath the headline numbers were reasons to remain cautiously upbeat about the growth in international trade, according to an analysis by Beacon Economics of foreign trade data released this morning by the U.S. Commerce Department.

The value of goods shipped abroad by California businesses in the year’s seventh month totaled $13.09 billion, a nominal decrease of 0.5% from the $13.15 billion recorded in July 2011. Adjusted for inflation, the real fall-off was 2.3%. However, growth in the 3-month moving average of exports, a less volatile measure, came in above 5% on a year-over-year basis. This is indeed slower than the double-digit growth rates experienced in 2011, but shows that July’s showing is not a cause for panic.

“With much of Europe in recession and with slowing economic growth in even such relatively healthy foreign markets as China and Mexico, July’s numbers come as no surprise” said Jock O’Connell, Beacon Economics’ International Trade Adviser.

California’s exports of manufactured goods edged up by 0.8% from $8.51 billion last July to $8.58 billion this July. Non-manufactured exports (chiefly raw materials and agricultural products) declined by 5.2% from $1.53 billion to $1.45 billion, while re-exports shrank by 1.9% from $3.11 billion to $3.05 billion.

So far this year, however, California’s exporters continue to exceed (by 3.9%) the inflation-adjusted pace they set in 2008, the peak pre-recession year for the state’s merchandise export trade.

“Serial policy fumbling in Europe lies at the root of the current worldwide march toward malaise,” O’Connell said. “Ever since the eruption of Greece’s sovereign debt crisis three years ago, the inability of European Union leaders to craft a decisive solution to the EU’s fiscal woes has led Europe into recession, roiled financial markets worldwide, and denied vital export opportunities to traders globally.”

“The impact is now being manifested throughout much of the world as an ebbing tide of demand for goods and services is lowering all boats,” O’Connell said. “Even Mexico, California’s single largest export market, has lately seen its economy slowing after several quarters of robust growth.”

Arguably, one piece of good news for the state’s exporters is that the dollar has backed off from its midsummer peak by about 5%, making U.S. products generally less expensive for foreigners to import.

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California has had a dry year says NOAA. The map here tells the story with most of the state at or below 70% of average rainfall this  past water year through now. Some parts of the state are at 50%, dark brown on map.
But looking forward, things look more promising, also according to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center – see lower map.
On August 16,NOAA released these predictive maps showing the likelihood of precipitation this coming winter with each map labeled in red covering a 3 month period.
NOAA is predicting an El Nino weather pattern that should strengthen right when California typically gets the most rain. Notice how the green shading in California spreads from the first map covering the entire state by Dec-Jan-Feb map and dark green covering the mid-state by Jan-Feb-March – the rainy period in the state.El Nino should make this a dry year in the Pacific Northwest but wet in Texas. Also note that chances for a wet Spring in the drought-plagued Midwest improve( last two maps).

The Farmersville Planning Commission on August 15 will hear a proposal to build a 20,000 square foot outlet for fast growing retailer Dollar General who wants to build on Farmersville Blvd, behind Jack N The Box.

Dollar General would locate right across the street from the new 8000 sf Family Dollar store in town that opened only last month. Each will now compete with a Dollar Tree retail outlet down the street.

“Looks like the battle of the dollar stores” says city planner Karl Schoettler.

Farmersville is not the only Tulare County town where ‘dollar store wars’ are breaking out.

Tulare now has three proposed Family Dollar locations with permits pending at city hall even as Dollar General now has submitted plans for a store in town. Dollar Tree is already here.

In Woodlake, Dollar General has filed an application to build a 12,000 sf store on Naranjo, Hwy 216 at Pepper – that would replace the old Copeland Lumber quonset hut that now houses an auto parts store,says city planner Greg Collins Also,Family Dollar will open a new store in Woodlake next to First Choice Foods around Aug 9.

Exeter already has a Dollar Tree and 99 cent store, each on Farmersville Blvd. Rumored to be coming to Exeter is Family Dollar as well.

So what’s going on here?

Nationwide dollar stores are luring a lot more customers these days and it is not just rock bottom prices and the recession that is drawing  customers, experts say.

Consider that publicly-traded Dollar General plans to open hundreds of new stores in California this year after building their distribution warehouse at the base of the Grapevine earlier this year.

Analysts say dollar stores that used to be on the shabby side, have upgraded their stores and their merchandise to brand name items customers are familiar with.Dollar stores have proliferated to make it  convenient to shop without piling the family in the car for that longer trip to a Walmart or Kmart.

Some dollar stores like Dollar General are offering more food items – even a line of groceries at their larger stores like the proposed Farmersville store.

The neighborhood dollar store is becoming like the neighborhood drug store,likely to have a wide variety of every day supplies, health and beauty aids,gadgets and whatever.

Meanwhile it is not just families on a tight budget that want a bargain.

Today these stores are upgraded and poised to “have the greatest impact on the food and drug retailers, as the dollar stores’ convenience and competitive pricing gives consumers another option for making convenient purchases,” according to Deborah Weinswig’s Citi report, “Dollar Stores Well Positioned for Success.”

The stores’ popularity explain why their stock is doing well and why management continues a rapid expansion plan. Meanwhile, small towns like Farmersville,Exeter and Woodlake can expect 7 to 15 jobs per store at these upstart chains and these cites can keep more of their tax dollars at home.