The cover of the July 25, 2011, edition of the Northern Nevada Business Weekly.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Each week in 2021, we will feature snippets of stories that published a decade ago to provide readers a 10-year perspective of business news in the region. This week’s stories first published in the July 25, 2011, edition of the NNBW.
$1,600 an ounce gold pinching jewelers
When Jeff Hart began selling jewelry, gold was $300 an ounce. This month, gold cracked $1,600 an ounce, a run-up that is squeezing both jewelers and customers.
Hart, who owns Hart’s Fine Jewelry stores at Independence Square and Shoppers Square, says the price of gold has doubled the cost for both wholesale purchases and retail sales. As a result, sales of gold items such as chains and bracelets have plummeted by as much as 75 percent in the past few years.
Jewelry stores throughout the Truckee Meadows have been forced to raise their prices to offset increased costs from jewelry manufacturers.Jewelers also are being much more cautious about stocking their shelves in order to control high overhead costs as well as to avoid a potential decline in gold prices that would leave them with costly pieces crowding their display cases.
— Page 1, by Rob Sabo
Health Information Exchange moves closer to reality in Nevada
Supporters of a system that will allow hospitals, physicians and others in Nevada to share patient information in real time across digital networks are confident they’ve found the right technology to get the job done.
Now they need to get often-competitive, often strongly opinionated hospital executives, physicians and others in the healthcare industry to break down the walls that have kept them from sharing information in the past.
HealthInsight Nevada, a Las Vegas nonprofit that spearheads efforts to improve quality of healthcare delivery in Nevada, this month launched its community-based health information exchange.
— Page 1, by John Seelmeyer
Crossroads Commerce Center eyed for big industrial facility
One of the largest industrial facilities in Northern Nevada might be built at Crossroads Commerce Center in Fernley.The company, whose identity remains undisclosed, is studying possible construction of a million-square-foot facility, said David Schuster, senior president in the industrial division of Grubb & Ellis NCG, which is representing Sonterra Development Co. LLC, the Reno-based owner of Crossroads Commerce Center.A million-square-foot facility would be in the same class as the International Game Technology plant in South Meadows or the Walmart grocery distribution center at Tahoe Reno Industrial Center — two of the largest industrial facilities in the region.Schuster said the Fernley industrial park also is on the list of finalists as a possible location for a new 416,000-square-foot industrial facility.— Page 3, by Rob Sabo
