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Coffee Talk
+ Check out on aisle nine: Sweetbay boss moves on
Unless she stays local, the Tampa Bay area may soon lose one of its more colorful and candid chief executive officers.
Sweetbay Supermarkets announced recently that Shelley Broader was leaving June 15 for another position in retailing outside of the grocery business.
Broader couldn't be reached for comment.
It is not often that a young chief executive creates a new brand in an ultra-competitive industry locally and does so with humor and style. But that's what Broader was known for in Tampa.
Broader came to Florida in 2004 to rebuild and revitalize the Kash 'n Karry chain of supermarkets. Since her arrival, all of the chain's 107 stores have been built new or remodeled while being reinvented as the new Sweetbay Supermarket.
"I consider it an honor to have been chosen to help create this new grocery concept," Broader said in a statement. "And although I will be leaving the food sector, I'll always treasure the great spirit and energy the Sweetbay team has shown from the first day we began. The company is in excellent hands, and I know Sweetbay has a bright future."
Sweetbay has not named a replacement yet.
+ Housing comeback
might not be soon
Don Atha might not have the polished resume of well-known Florida housing economists such as Hank Fishkind or David Denslow. After all, he's just a former Laundromat owner who now runs a small blinds-and-curtains shop in Sarasota.
But from his chair at Country Store Interiors, Atha's take on the housing market and its potential rebound has some heft. Atha is on the front lines of the battle to win back customers and so are his two sons who run separate Gulf Coast-based businesses in the curtains and home-furnishing industries.
Atha's take: The market has a long way to come back and some economists pegging summer 2009 as a turnaround year might be a little too optimistic. "It's really tough out there right now," says Atha, who has seen revenues at his 32-year-old store fall from $1.4 million in 2006 to $1.2 million last year.
Atha has reacted to the downturn by cutting costs any way he can. He's only buying supplies in tiny quantities and he's cutting back hours for his staff of 15 employees. He's also slashing his advertising budget from what was once $150,000 a year to just about zero. He has circled the day in October on his calendar when his $5,000-a-month contract for the Yellow Pages expires.
And just like other entrepreneurs who have relied on the residential market, Atha is looking to the commercial side to boost sales. He recently launched a commercial-services division to provide repairs and replacements for blinds and curtains in offices, banks and other retail stores.
Atha tells Coffee Talk the first sign of a market turnaround will be when the backlog of orders at his shop goes up. A few years ago, that backlog was about two months. "Now if you want a pair of drapes," he says, only half-kidding, "we could have them out in the morning."
+ Analyst rates
Chico's a rare 'sell'
Even after all the brokerage scandals earlier this decade, few stock analysts rate the equities they cover a "sell" for fear of incurring the wrath of the management of the companies they follow.
But Citi Investment Research analyst Kimberly Greenberger rated Fort Myers-based Chico's FAS a "sell" May 29, the day after the women's retailer reported disappointing first-quarter earnings that nonetheless beat most analyst expectations.
In a note to clients, Greenberger says consensus earnings estimates for Chico's may be too high this year. "Although new CFO Kent Kleeberger is taking a hard look at cutting expenses in 2008, we believe expense controls will not be enough to mitigate further margin pressure and downside in earnings if [comparable-store sales] continue to trend largely negative," she writes. What's more, Greenberger says, Chico's recent merchandise problems are compounded by the weak economy and mall traffic, high gasoline prices, food inflation, housing pressures and political uncertainty.
Kleeberger tells Coffee Talk he's not offended by analyst calls to sell the stock. In fact, he says it may help by lowering the consensus estimates and make it easier for the company to beat them later. However, Kleeberger also counters that successful companies don't cut their way to profitability.
Chico's stock fell 6% to $7.66 per share the day Greenberger's "sell" recommendation was published. The previous day, the stock rose 14% to $8.14 after Chico's reported poor first-quarter earnings, though not as bad as Wall Street had expected.
+ Peaceful, easy feeling
as Bayshore hooks up park
This one may go down as one of the most interesting projects ever for Tampa-Based Bayshore Technologies, an IT services firm.
The company spent 18 months setting up a $2 million computer network for the staff of the new Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, S.C., which opened June 2 with a concert by the Eagles. The next day, The Moody Blues performed.
"They had us do the design and the layout of the network," says Peter Anderson, chief executive officer of Bayshore, who spoke to Coffee Talk amid the roar of rollercoasters.
Hard Rock invited Anderson and three of his employees up to the park for the grand opening.
"It is certainly a lot of fun when you see it come together at the end," Anderson says. "Things went flawlessly."
+ Growth on agenda
in Sarasota County, again
The pace of growth in Sarasota County is yet again primed to take center stage on Election Day, this time in a race for an open seat on the county commission.
At least that's how it's shaping up so far, now that former Sarasota Mayor Carolyn Mason has filed to run for the District One seat being vacated by Paul Mercier, a Republican, who is leaving the commission after serving two terms. Mason, also a Republican, says she will attempt to balance out the slow- and anti-growth voices that have been dominating the five-member commission the past year.
Even if she wins, Mason would be in the minority on pro-growth votes. Twice in the past year, county voters have approved proposals that have expanded the commission's power on approving developments, once to a 4-1 supermajority and then again to a unanimous vote.
A Sarasota native, Mason was the first black woman to serve as the city's mayor and if she wins in November, she would be the first black woman to serve on the five-member county commission.
Mason's likely opponents in the election are Democrat Jono Miller, the director of the Environmental Studies Program at New College of Florida and John Mullarkey, an Independent. Mason, who switched her party afflation from Democrat to Republican about seven years ago, works in recruitment for Habitat for Humanity.
Mason announced her candidacy at a May 31 rally in Sarasota attended by U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez and Congressman Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key.
+ Bonus commissions could spur more deals
Everyone knows these are not the best days for the real estate industry, but people are taking creative approaches to kick start activity.
For instance, Tampa land broker Bill Eshenbaugh, known as the "Dirt Dog" in some circles, says bonus commissions are starting to be used to make more deals happen.
Example 1: On a $2.4 million listing, he's offering and the client is paying a $200,000 bonus for the buyer's broker, in addition to a 4% gross commission, which will be split 50/50 with buyer's broker.
Example 2. Instead of a 50/50 split, with Eshenbaugh getting half of the commission for representing the seller and the other broker getting half for representing the buyer, the buyer's broker would get 60% and Eshenbaugh would get 40% of the commission.
GULF COAST RETAIL
What the data show: The index of retail activity is constructed to measure personal consumption and it combines the categories of autos, consumer durables, tourism and consumer nondurables. The index's base equaled 100 in 1988. For example, an index of 300 today would have taxable sales equal to three times the base period in 1988, or a 200% increase.
What it means: Despite a relatively healthy tourism season and the Easter holiday in March, retail sales still fell in all areas of the Gulf Coast in March compared with the same month last year. The wealthier Naples area suffered the least while construction-dependent Fort Myers was hit hardest. All areas of the Gulf Coast with the exception of Naples reported a decline in the index in excess of the statewide figure. The reasons are all too familiar: high oil prices, a recession in Midwest feeder markets and the construction slowdown.
Forecast: Slowing airport traffic may mean fewer tourists will travel to the Gulf Coast this summer, as oil prices encourage travelers and locals to stay home. One bright spot is the strong euro relative to the dollar and retailers hope European tourists on summer holidays flock to stores looking for bargains. Pray for lower oil prices.
MARCH RETAIL ACTIVITY INDEX
Index % Annual chg.
Fort Myers 295.7 ‑9.8%
Naples 328.1 ‑5.5%
Punta Gorda 282.5 ‑8.7%
Sarasota 226.6 ‑8.5%
Tampa 222.2 ‑6.9%
Florida 255.6 ‑5.7%
Source: Florida Legislature Office of Economic
& Demographic Research
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