Cover page of the Nov. 7, 2011, Northern Nevada Business Weekly.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week, we feature snippets of stories that published a decade ago to provide readers a 10-year perspective of business news in the region. This week’s stories first published in the Nov. 7, 2011, edition of the NNBW.
State begins to push to increase exports by small companies
Days of grinding work by three interns who made hundreds of phone calls helped set the stage for Nevada’s push to increase exports by small businesses.
Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki stood before TV cameras in Carson City last week to introduce the initiative, which is largely financed by a $239,318 grant from the Small Business Administration. Much of the money will be used to help small businesses offset the costs of marketing into export markets, said Alan Di Stefano, director of global and trade and investment in the Nevada Office of Economic Development.
The state is moving quickly to find companies that can tap into the marketing funds because applications are due Dec. 1. Companies must spend at least $5,000 to promote exports, and the state will reimburse half of the expense. The maximum funding request is $12,500.
— Page 1, by John Seelmeyer
First trash-to-energy project nears completion at landfill
When a guy somewhere in Northern Nevada turns on his coffeemaker a few weeks from now, he’ll be using electricity generated from a byproduct of the decomposition of the used coffee filter he tossed in the trash earlier this year.Waste Management is nearing completion of a plant at its Lockwood Landfill east of Sparks that will use methane gas produced by decomposing garbage inside the landfill to drive two electrical-generation units.
And a much-larger garbage-to-energy facility at the Lockwood Landfill is just over the horizon. When the methane-to-power facility that’s nearing completion comes online, it will generate about 3.2 megawatts of electricity — enough to provide power to more than 1,900 homes in the region.
— Page 1, by John Seelmeyer
3 decades and counting, Bizarre Guitar perseveres
Greg Golden continues to show off his chops as a rock ‘n’ roll guitarist in the televised commercials for the Bizarre Guitar store he’s owned in Sparks since 1973.
But not many seconds into recent TV spots, a couple of guitar-playing young women make the first of several appearances in the commercial. Their appearance marks one aspect of a subtle change in the marketing of Bizarre Guitar, but the change has been enough to help the landmark retailer weather the recession.
Long known as the sort of store where touring rock ‘n’ roll musicians could find precisely the right screw to repair the pick guard on a guitar, Bizarre Guitar has been cautiously widening its focus.
The effort requires some careful balance, says Shanda Golden, whose guitar-playing husband leads the Greg Golden Band when he’s not running Bizarre Guitar and its sister store next door, Bizarre Guns.
— Page 4, by John Seelmeyer
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