Bill Daniels, the force of nature behind United Markets in Marin, has checked out at age 75.
Daniels died shortly after Thanksgiving. With stores in San Anselmo and San Rafael, Daniels competed well with big chains in the grocery business, a segment with historically thin profit margins. His San Rafael store was part of the “Triangle” in the Mission City, where United, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are all located within two blocks of each other.
Change is hard, but not for the Marin Economic Forum. The nonprofit organization’s website says it “strives to provide information and opportunities for improving Marin County economic vitality, while seeking to increase social equity and environmental protection.” Which is pretty worthy stuff, but the forum is only able to chase that objective when it isn’t seeking CEO candidates, which is a fair amount of the time.
As Santa sizes up his list of good and bad folks, gift hunting in Marin is even more serious than normal, which is saying something in a county where shopping is sometimes a contact sport.
One day the SMART train will blow though San Rafael on the way to its southern stop point Larkspur, but for now that extension is nothing but heartache for a few businesses along Francisco Boulevard West. The city has closed the road to accommodate the construction that must take place, and the closure will stretch into 2019.
Marin loves it animals. Whether it’s a prized parakeet or a beloved basset hound, pets are treated not like family but more like members of the royals. Designer organic food abounds and water bowls overflow with filtered H2O.
It’s summertime, and the living is uneasy, at least for 46 percent of Bay Area residents.
The annual poll from the Bay Area Council, a public-policy shop backed by business interests, shows that almost half of the folks who call the nine-county Bay Area home, are thinking of moving in the next few years; backing up the truck with all of their worldly possessions, except for that creepy painting by Uncle Earl of the horse with the eyes that follow you, and getting the hell out of here.
People say change is hard. They also say change is good.
I say you go first.
Journalism in our country is transforming, and some of those adjustments can be seen at our local daily, the Marin Independent Journal.
The IJ has been around since 1948, the love child of a coupling between the Marin Journal and the San Rafael Daily Independent, though the Journal had been around since 1861.
Ultrgenyx Pharmaceutical, the Novato-based rare disease specialist is on fire. The company earned approvals for two different medications within six months from the Food and Drug Administration, a feat that Big Pharma companies four times the size of Ultragenyx can\\\'t boast.
“I don’t want to grow up, I’m a Toys R Us kid.” That, of course, is the jingle for the most well-known toy store in the country.
The ubiquitous toy retailer has finally called it quits, and will close its stores including the San Rafael outlet on West Francisco Boulevard alongside Highway 101.
The chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last September and in January announced plans to close 200 stores.
Marin is taking a cautious approach when it comes to the cannabis business. San Anselmo is a great example of how a slow the pace is and what the issues are.
It was only a matter of time. Sears in Marin is toast. Anybody who spent time in the Sears store at San Rafael’s Northgate Center knew the retailer wasn’t long for the world, the Sears brand has been on the ropes for years. It was taken over by hedge funder Eddie Lampert in 2005, who failed to invest in the retailer allowing the stores to become outdated as retailers were going digital. Lambert controls ESL Investments, the hedge fun he founded. ESL and Lambert own close to 30 percent of Sears and Lambert is chief executive officer.
It was 2000 and I ran across the news that someone had purchased what was then known as Sonoma magazine. Since all things printed had already been declared DOA, I sent along a note of congratulations on the deal and wished them well.
Merlone Geir Partners, which owns the Northgate Mall in San Rafael, would like to know how you feel about the place?
More to the point, they would like it if you felt the shopping center was a place you could call your own, a place for everyone to hang out.
The investment firm that bought the mall in January did a survey to help them “elevate” the mall and since the mall is a neighbor and I am a neighborly type of person, I took the survey. It covered some standard areas, how often you visit, why and what do you buy.
North Coast Land Holdings, which bought the old 126-acre Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary site in Strawberry Point for $84 million in 2014, submitted plans to the county to put a grad school on the site, along with replacing 198 living units and building an additional 93 units.
Author: Bill Meagher Columnist: Bill Meagher Jun, 2016 Issue
While there are a number of ways for businesses to lose its following in Marin, one that's guaranteed would be to claim you're "all natural" when you aren't.
Marin is a special place for lots of reasons, not the least of which is its public meetings, where you can hear a non-lawyer resident ask for a little 'quid pro quo.'"
A glass of perfectly chilled champagne to toast a milestone is one of life’s rituals, and pharmaceutical products are crucial for managing pain. While alcohol and prescription drugs have value...
In the pop culture of the ’60s, tie-dye attired hippies gathered in San Francisco’s Haight-Asbury district to smoke pot, protest the war in Viet Nam and advocate for civil rights. And th...
What has 100 trillion members, can make you feel exuberant or depressed, are as unique to you as a fingerprint and weighs less than four-and-a-half pounds? Give up? The colony of microorganisms, or ...
