Cathie Anderson

Russell Breton sounds like an evangelist as he talks about how his Sacramento-based company, Vision Launchers, helps clients define concepts, develop brands and tell their stories.

Watch where you step in the sooty debris that litters the former home of the Party Concierge. Four walls surround you, but the roof is almost gone. Look up, and you'll glimpse the red roof of the nearby building that will become a new home: 601 N. 10th St.

A relentless Marylon Rose called or visited 3,000 vendors before she started the Sacramento Antique Faire under the W-X freeway about eight years ago. One hundred and forty-three accepted.

As 2008 began, Mariel Black served eight children at her day care and preschool in Elk Grove. When the year ended, there were only two.

The party just keeps rolling on for David Rivera, the Sactown cabbie better known as Taxi Dave.

Penryn's Rich and Nancy Colwell teamed with an olive grower in Corning back in 2006 to produce cooking oils flavored with the Satsuma mandarins and Meyer lemons from their Thundering Herd Ranch.

Moms think that texting will land their teenagers in a fatal automobile crash. Dads, on the other hand, believe that drinking and speeding will be the cause.

Maria Vargas was bald at this time last year. Fighting breast cancer for a third time, she wanted just one more birthday.

Dance found Barnaly Pande, although she was born to an Indian caste that didn't encourage it.

One can't help but root for franchisee Anil Yadav to hit a grand slam.

The modest brown clapboards on the facade of Hampton's on Sutter fit its old life as a former lawman's home. This is the place built by Folsom's first constable, James Donnelly, in 1894.

If Eric Burdon appears willing to stay up half the night sharing stories about the Animals, the Beatles and the British Invasion, break out the whiskey.

A couple of years ago, Tom Sykes stumbled into an emerging industry that helps online shoppers score donations for their favorite charities.

Intel Corp., Otto Construction, The Niello Co. and other big local companies pay Robert Scherer thousands of dollars to train top managers in leadership, communication, teamwork and other skills.

People are looking for a shopping experience, that value-added experience of feeling good about paying more.

Sacramento's Paratransit Inc. moved into the car sales business without a hitch earlier this year, hiring industry veteran Richard Rosebush to find affordable vehicles for the disabled.

One Rancho Cordova company designs, engineers and produces thermostats that run the heating and cooling systems in tens of thousands of area homes, but the home's owners probably don't have a clue.

The housing downturn made it seem as though Folsom city officials would have to wait a long while before seeing their vision for new residences south of Highway 50 come to fruition.

Picture yourself winning a jackpot at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Alexander Lowe is certain you'll want to capture this moment.

For three hours this Monday, you can get penthouse views of the Sacramento Valley at a bargain-basement price.

The phone rings every day at California Capital, the small business lender on O Street in midtown Sacramento, with calls from people who want money to start or expand a business.

Los Angeles schools serve something like 500,000 meals a day, Ann M. Evans told me, so if they put a California fruit or vegetable on their menu, it can be a game changer for state farmers.

Susan Tiesing "kind of snuck out" of her Tres Chic boutique at 2228 J St. in May, quietly closing the doors on the store where teenage girls found prom dresses for 18 years.

Small, organic farmers around the region focus on "innovation" and "savvy marketing" just as much as the folks over in Silicon Valley.

A new generation of food shops is emerging across the West with an old-fashioned focus on local, artisanal food, but at Taylor's Market in Sacramento, this approach has been a tradition for 50 years now.

Sharyn Holland, who lives near Town & Country Village, trilled an "O-o-h" of delight when I told her that Bed Bath & Beyond, Ross Dress for Less and T.J. Maxx are expected to take spaces at the shopping center near Fulton and Marconi avenues.

Art and Marianne Ellis and about eight other Bee readers have called or emailed for an update on the remodeling of the beloved Town & Country Village shopping center over at Marconi and Fulton avenues in Sacramento County.

If you believe that, in this capitalist nation, competitors couldn't care less if a rival's business goes down in flames, then you won't be able to fathom what's happened to Susan and Lawrence Crane.

Media mogul Arianna Huffington offered advice on how to succeed in business at Thursday's Perspectives 2012: Get some sleep.

The next time you walk into a store or a salon or a restaurant, take a moment to consider the lighting. Kelly Cunningham does it all the time.

Savory banh mi, acupuncturists, bean curd paste, colorful saris, carne for roasting – all can be found in Terrence Johnson's Stockton Boulevard business district.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein doesn't survive, but her creature and his story inspired an idea that the Sacramento Theatre Company is keeping alive.

The $70 million south wing of Marshall Medical Center in Placerville won't officially open for business for four to six weeks, but this Saturday, you can be among the first to see its new birthing center and emergency room.

Two discount retailers wanted to lease the space in North Sacramento where Dan Friedlander once housed his Limn furnishings store.

The Sacramento International Airport will land a second international tenant when Mexico's second-largest airline, the low-cost carrier Volaris, arrives in the market on Nov. 15.

If a coffee roaster wants customers to get the best cup of java, then he has to find the best beans. That sounds simple, doesn't it? Jon B. Rogers can tell you that it's anything but.

Donna Natsoulas recently took the reins of the store at the Crocker Art Museum as its manager and buyer.

P ity the staff of 34 at the Nossaman law firm. They've just moved into the penthouse of Sacramento's U.S. Bank Tower at 621 Capitol Mall and welcomed clients Tuesday evening to an open house.

Swedish clothier H&M continues its rapid U.S. expansion with a second store in the Sacramento region opening Sept. 6 at Folsom's Palladio at Broadstone, the outdoor center on East Bidwell at Iron Point Road.

Under Tuesday's hazy sky, Elle Huftill-Balzer was snipping leafy green basil and fragrant purple sage to send to the farmers market at Cesar Chavez Plaza.

The YouTube revolution made stars of the comedy duo known as Smosh, Carmichael's Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla, back in 2005.

The staff of the Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau unveiled a new brand image at its annual luncheon Thursday, and before it was over, about 50 people asked how they could get the T-shirt. Inside: Outdoor Heritage tournament link and video.

The maker of Bearpaw footwear, based right over in Citrus Heights, is finding The Summit store that it opened on Sylvan Road last December to be the ideal place to test out new lines of shoes.

As Clear Channel, Cumulus and other radio giants have slashed their stables of on-air talent, Chris Rice and hundreds of other DJs nationwide have either chosen to exit the business or been shown the door.

Not all the magical moments of Music Circus happen in Wells Fargo Pavilion. No, the magic starts in a hotbox of a warehouse, intentionally tucked away in an obscure industrial park.

The largest McDonald's in the world, inside London's Olympic Park, gives new meaning to the word "super-sized," with seating for 1,500 and predictions that it could serve 50,000 Big Macs before the Games end Aug. 12.

The retail store at the historic Panama Pottery will close as soon as the last piece in its inventory has sold, general manager Carol Honda said Monday. She's reduced prices by 25 percent to get items moving – not that she welcomes the end.

Chops steakhouse on L Street will reopen for weekday lunches starting Monday, now that owners Denise Fleming and Geoff and Trisha Flynn have launched – very quietly – a second restaurant in Folsom's Palladio outdoor shopping mall.

Some of my readers have been doing something naughty in the morning, savoring the richness of San Francisco Bay French Roast made in their Keurig single-cup brewing system.

If you'd like to put your money in one of the 359 safest banks in America, you've got only one choice in Northern California: The Merchants National Bank of Sacramento.