| Sears Holdings makes offer for Restoration Hardware
Sears Holdings Corp. is making an offer to buy out Restoration Hardware Inc., a home furnishings and catalog company, at a price higher than a previously accepted offer from a private equity firm. In a regulatory filing Monday, the operator of Sears and Kmart stores said it is prepared to offer $6.75 per share for Restoration Hardware (NASDAQ: RSTO), the Corte Madera-based chain with more than 100 retail and outlet stores nationwide. The bid tops an accepted $6.70 per-share offer from the private equity firm Catterton Partners. However, as of Friday, a special committee of Restoration Hardware's board had rejected the advances from Sears, declining to provide confidential information about Restoration to the Hoffman Estates, Ill., retailer for due diligence, according to a letter included in Monday's U.S.
Work always comes before dinner concerns - Marcia Pledger, Business Etiquette
Reporter Marcia Pledger dishes out advice on office manners. Q: At a recent business lunch I sent back an appetizer but asked the server not to mention it to the chef or to take it off my bill. Then the wrong entrée arrived. To make matters worse, the server's napkin brushed on top of the entrée, getting sauce all over the napkin. I didn't say anything, because I didn't want to further interrupt our business conversation. I brought it to the general manager's attention the next day. But should I have immediately said something to the server? A: That's a tricky call, with no definitive answer. I can see why you decided to wait until the next day to say something to the general manager. If you were in a serious business meeting, the food is secondary and there is no reason to divert attention from a possible deal with talk about bad service.
Civil Rights Chairwoman Ignores Gov's Request, Moves Forward With Maternity Leave Changes
The Ohio Civil Rights Commission won't honor the governor's request to delay a hearing on a requirement that companies with four or more employees allow women 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave. Chairwoman Barbara Sykes, appointed to the job by Gov. Ted Strickland in August, said Friday she won't try to stop a legislative hearing Dec. 3 over the requirement. Kent Markus, Strickland's top office attorney, asked Sykes on Tuesday to delay the hearing to make sure small businesses have the chance to voice their concerns about the proposal. Sykes said she asked the other members of the five-person commission their thoughts on Markus' request. The majority declined to go along, she said. "It is the position of the commissioners that we should proceed," Sykes said.
Retail spaces with a wow factor and an ego boost
IN the past, setting up an office was a simple matter. If your company is small, you can have an office in a traditional shop office; and if you needed bigger space and a better image, an office building in a good location may be necessary. However, with so many traditional-type shop offices being built over the years, people are looking for better designed offices as well as retail spaces that can give that �wow� factor not only to their customers but also boost the business owners' ego. So these days you have the new-look shop offices (like Uptown 37 featured in the previous column) featuring a refreshing concept. YTL Land's freehold d7 Sentul East, Kuala Lumpur, is another winner. All 100 units of the phase one d7 were snapped up in just an hour of pre-launch sales on Sept 8.
His Lucky Day
Have you seen the movie Lucky Day? It was created, written, and directed by Clintonian Adam Russell, 22, who recently moved to Los Angeles. The movie, at 19 minutes long, is classified as a short film and was completed for his senior thesis film class at Temple University. The film is featured in the Connecticut Film Festival that runs through May. The Harbor News recently spoke to Russell about his film and his new career in L.A. as a production assistant for MRB Productions, founded by a Madison native. You wrote and directed a film called Lucky Day–can you tell us a little about it? Lucky Day is a drama about a man named Louis Pritchard who has fallen on hard times. His wife has recently passed away making him sole owner and operator of their local corner store. The neighborhood where he lives and works is slowly deteriorating and he can barely make the rent on his home, let alone pay for his store.
Kenya: Floating Hotel a Novel Idea Sure to Be a Big Hit With Tourists
Necessity is the mother of inventions, so the saying goes. And as the demand for and cost of land especially in Coast province rises by the day, so do people get smarter and more innovative in the lucrative and competitive tourism industry. One such person is Gerard Johnson who has developed some of the most exotic tourist resorts in Lamu. He knew only too well that for a piece of the local beach - if he found it - he would part with millions of shillings. So he decided that ingenuity would work the magic. .
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