Published August 2001

Business Briefs

Albertsons.com starts Marysville delivery
Albertsons.com is ramping up its presence in Snohomish County. Since launching its Internet service in the Puget Sound area in June 2000, Albertson’s has located a “fulfillment center” in Mill Creek and started its delivery service last month at its Marysville site, said Patrick Steele, the company’s Executive Vice President of Information Systems and Technology. The company also plans to add its Lynnwood store to the network.

The service, which has seen its online grocery orders jump almost 300 percent in the wake of Webvan’s recent closure, enables customers to place orders online (at www.albertsons.com), with the computer routing the order to the nearest “fulfillment center” to their home, based on ZIP codes.

At the centers, trained clerks go through the store, pick the items off the shelves and prepare them for delivery, either to the customer’s door or to their neighborhood Albertson’s store.

While online grocers Webvan and HomeGrocer have gone under, Steele attributes Albertsons.com’s success to its brick-and-mortar roots — and the experience that comes with those roots.

“We have all the pricing, merchandising, knowing what the top-selling items are — we’ve leveraged off that all along.” he said. “It takes a brick-and-mortar presence to make it in this online world.”

Edmonds chamber offers
‘Lighter Side of Economics’
The Greater Edmonds Chamber of Commerce’s chamber luncheon will begin at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 23 at the Edmonds Yacht Club, behind Anthony’s Homeport. Maury Forman, Director of Education and Training for Washington state’s Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development, will speak at the event, introducing attendees to the “Lighter Side of Economics.”

Tickets are $12 per person, and reservations must be received by 5 p.m. Aug. 20. For more information or for reservations, call 425-776-6711.

Port of Everett OKs $1.5 million dredging
Port of Everett officials agreed to go ahead with plans to dredge several waterfront areas despite the fact that the $1.5 million estimated cost is quadruple the amount originally expected.

Commissioners last month authorized staff to solicit bids for the project, which would remove sediment from the marina fuel dock, the public boat launch and channel, and several other areas. The fuel dock work is essential for safety, officials said, because vessels can run aground there.

The higher costs were attributed to an expanded course of work, the use of more environmentally sensitive methods and higher market prices because concerns about fish have narrowed the times when work can be done.

ABC Gifts launches Web site
Everett-based ABC Gifts — Affordable Basket Celebrations has launched a Web site, www.affordablebasketcelebrations.com.

The company has more than 100 gift-basket designs, half of which are priced for less than $35, owner Kim Nolan said. For more information, visit the company’s Web site or call 425-357-1347.

Kinko’s opens in Bothell
Kinko’s has opened a third copy center in Snohomish County, at the southwest corner of the I-405/Bothell-Everett Highway interchange in Bothell.

The center, which employs 18, had its “official opening” July 5 and will have a grand opening from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 15, Branch Manager Matt Walker said. A Palm Pilot III and a digital camera will be given away at the event.

Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the center offers a full line of copying and finishing services, Walker said. Computers, both PC and Macintosh, also are available and loaded with a full-range of software.

Along with the Bothell center, Kinko’s (www.kinkos.com) has facilities in Everett and Lynnwood as well as more than 1,100 branches in the United States and abroad. For more information on the new center, call 425-483-0801.

Frontier Bank opens 37th office
Everett-based Frontier Bank recently opened a branch in Totem Lake, its 37th office location.

The bank, using the services of Kirtley-Cole Associates Inc. of Snohomish, remodeled the former Boston Market restaurant at 12507 116th Ave. NE into more than 4,400 square feet of banking facilities.

Grand-opening celebrations were held the week of July 16.

Masco Corp. acquires
Milgard Manufacturing
Masco Corp. has purchased Milgard Manufacturing, which operates a window manufacturing plant with 171 employees in Marysville as well as 15 others in the western United States.

The move is not expected to affect employees at the Marysville facility, nor will it change the company’s involvement with local charities, a spokesman said. Gary and Jim Milgard will remain as President and Secretary-Treasurer.

Masco, traded on the New York Stock Exchange as MAS, owns more than 50 companies in the building products, do-it-yourself and home improvement markets.

HomeStreet Bank earns
‘outstanding’ rating
HomeStreet Bank recently received an “outstanding” rating under the Community Reinvestment Act, a federal regulation that encourages federally insured banks and thrifts to meet the credit needs of their entire communities, including low- and moderate-income residents.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. evaluated the bank and recognized HomeStreet for lending practices that produced “very positive results for the bank and its communities,” according to a news release.

Investors pump $6 million into Datamarine
Datamarine International Inc., a Mountlake Terrace radio manufacturer, recently received a $6 million cash infusion from investors that will allow it to start rebuilding, company President and CEO David Thompson said.

The deal gives investor High Desert Partners LLP a major stake in Datamarine — 3 million shares of preferred stock at $1 a share, and 6 million shares of common stock at 50 cents a share. The investors also will have the right to nominate four additional people to Datamarine’s current five-member board of directors.

Datamarine has manufactured and sold marine radios for 25 years. In 1992, it received Federal Communications Commission approval to enter land-based 220 MHz radio service, the type of radios often used by dispatching services and delivery companies.

In 1996, however, the FCC decided to reclaim the licenses it had awarded and sell them at auction. The auction didn’t take place for almost 30 months, during which time Datamarine was blocked from adding new customers.

The issue has been resolved, but the delay cost the company about $5 million, Thompson has said.

Solectron recognized
for training, hiring efforts
Solectron Corp.’s circuit-board manufacturing center in Everett has been honored by the state with a partnership award for its involvement in immigrant education, training and employment.

WorkFirst, which assists welfare recipients with finding and maintaining employment, and WorkSource, a joint venture organization that offers resources for business and job seekers, honored the company for a program that for the past three years has provided technology training coupled with English language instruction for immigrants.

Solectron, which employs 600 people in Everett, has hired 60 graduates over the past nine months.

Three area students
receive $1,000 scholarships
The International Longshoremen and Warehousemen’s Union Local 32 and Stevedoring Services of America in Everett have awarded scholarships of $1,000 each to Everett-area residents Justin Berkbigler, Cody Colwell and Jon Hoekendorf to help them further their education.

Everett Clinic installs
second MRI machine
The Everett Clinic recently installed a new Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine into its Gunderson Building on Rucker Avenue — via crane.

“At 5 tons, it’s not like you can just walk it in the front door,” said Barbara Oos, Director of Advanced Imaging at The Everett Clinic. “We had to make some very unusual arrangements to bring this MRI into our clinic.”

Before the MRI machine could be installed, the building’s floor had to be reinforced where the magnet would sit; the room had to be encased in copper sheeting to prevent interference from radio waves, cell phones and other electronic devices; and a skylight had to be installed to provide a large enough opening.

The MRI machine is the second to be installed at The Everett Clinic’s Advanced Imaging Clinic since the department opened in the Gunderson Building in 1997.

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