Who's News in the Grand Valley Business Community: Jan. 6, 2009

• Way to go, Western Colorado Center for the Arts, for going solar!

The Art Center, as it is affectionately known, now has solar panels thanks to a donation by High Noon Solar. Helped by rebates available from Xcel Energy, High Noon Solar was able to donate and install the 9.02KW solar grid tie at the end of December 2008. The official unveiling and party to celebrate is happening Friday, Jan. 9, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at The Art Center, 1803 N. Seventh St.

The Art Center expects the solar panels to produce about 10 percent of the center’s usage.

• Grande River Vineyards, 787 N. Elberta Ave. in Palisade, just launched two more wines: “Havin’ a Cow,” a Colorado red table wine which blends merlot and cabernet sauvignon, and “Coat D’ Roan,” which is 40 percent syrah, 35 percent cinsault and 25 percent mourvedre.

Thanks to Naomi Shepherd-Smith, manager of GRV, for sending us a couple of sample bottles, which will be meticulously enjoyed. For more information, call 464-5867, ext. 15, or visit granderiverwines.com.

• Jimmy John’s, a national franchise, just opened in the new strip mall center at 25 Road and Hwy. 6 & 50, next to the Verizon Wireless store. They say they have the “world’s greatest gourmet sandwiches.” Well, we’ll just have to see about this.

They offer several different club sandwiches, tuna sandwiches, deli meat sandwiches, vegetarian sandwiches, lettuce wraps and the signature J.J. Gargantuan, which is “huge enough to feed the hungriest of all humans!” Visit jimmyjohns.com to get a look at their mouth-watering menu, and go ahead and place your order online. For your convenience, they are set up to accept online order.

For more information, call 243-1752.

And while we are on the topic of deli-type sandwiches, will someone already please buy the Quizno’s on Patterson Road? I’m not sure if I can live without my “sammies.”

• Benchmark Real Estate has announced an expansion of its professional property management services. Effective January 2009, Benchmark will be accepting new clients in need of assistance with their investment properties.

According to Jim Hoffman, broker, this expansion has been under consideration for a period of time.

“Based on the requests of clients who are real estate state investors, and other Realtors seeking competent management for their investors, the decision to go forth was reached,” Hoffman said.

With more than 30 years experience, Benchmark looks forward to helping those who don’t want day-to-day involvement with rentals. Call Hoffman at 241-2076.

• The Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce is offering small business tools for tough economic times.

Visit http://gjchamber.toolsforbusiness.info and select the link on the right hand column, “Tools for Tough Economic Times.” This will take you to a free workshop, “8 Marketing Tips for Recession Stressed Entrepreneurs,” produced by the FAMEE Foundation, a nonprofit which educates small businesses in effective marketing. For eight days participants will receive a link to a short video that will give practical tips on how to operate during this recession.

“To say that times are tough for small business is an understatement. Reduced credit, wary customers, and longer payment cycles are all causing many small business owners to lose sleep. But the good news is that small business is the most likely group to start the recovery,” said Diane Schwenke, president/CEO of the GJ Chamber.

The Web site also has a link to a free cash flow calculator by MPlans.com where business owners can quickly see how changing their inventory, collections, payable schedule and pricing will affect their cash flow.

These are just a couple of the tools available on the Chamber’s site. Check it out; there’s so much more to discover if you are a small business owner. For more information, call 242-3214.

• Grand Junction Subaru, located at 2496 Hwy. 6 & 50, welcomes LeeAnn Colloty as Internet sales manager. Log on at www.grandjunctionsubaru.com. The Internet store is open 24/7 and includes new and preowned inventory, factory incentives and service coupons. Check out the all new 2009 Forester, Motor Trend’s sport/utility of the year. Call Colloty at 241-2414.

• Grand Valley Hyundai, 2162 Hwy. 6 & 50, wants to offer certainty in uncertain times.

Hyundai is the first automaker to offer a vehicle return program, The Hyundai Assurance program, in the U.S. that allows the consumer to walk away from their loan or lease without having to worry about repossession or negative equity. This allows the consumer to return their vehicle in case of certain life-altering circumstances.

Under the program, customers who lose their jobs or are self-employed and are involved in personal bankruptcy can return their cars. The deal even reaches beyond economic woes, allowing people to return cars in case of losing their driver’s licenses due to medical impairment, becoming physically disabled or accidental death.

The Hyundai Assurance program officially started Saturday, Jan. 3.

For more information, contact Sal Iadicicco at 242-4200, grandvalleyhyundai.com.

• Hey, we at the Free Press want to do our part to help local businesses. If you’ve got a special item, service, deal, etc., going on, send us a picture and some text to tdvorak@gjfreepress.com, and we’ll see if we can’t help jumpstart the new year.

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Community Editor Tracy Dvorak compiles and packages all your local Who’s News business items every week. Reach her at 683-5613, tdvorak@gjfreepress.com.