The cover of the May 11, 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 May 9, 2011, edition of the NNBW.Web fulfillment boom takes another step
Urban Outfitters, which will construct a large internet fulfillment center in Stead, is only the latest in a recent string of major retailers that have given Northern Nevada the nod for new fulfillment facilities.
Those decisions were spurred in part by the ability of a Reno location to provide quick delivery service for Western states customers, says Paul Kinne, business development manager for the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada.
In addition to Urban Outfitters, Toys “R” Us and GSI Commerce Inc. in recent weeks announced plans for new Internet fulfillment centers in Northern Nevada. They join large-scale operations already in existence: Barnes & Noble operates nearly 1 million square feet in South Reno, and Amazon.com conducts business from a large facility in Fernley.
— Page 1, by Rob Sabo
EDAWN media tour touts region’s renewable energy resources
The Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada this week will invest about $3,500 in a whirlwind tour to show off the region’s presence in renewable energy to three journalists who write for national publications.
The potential return on the investment? “Priceless,” says EDAWN’s Chuck Alvey, taking a page from MasterCard’s marketing.
During a two-day stay, the journalists will hear about green energy research at the University of Nevada, Reno; tour the geothermal facilities at The Peppermill; visit with Gov. Brian Sandoval and other state officials; visit the wind-energy facilities developed by the City of Reno; tour an Ormat Technologies geothermal plant at Galena and the factory of ElectraTherm Inc.; and visit with geothermal industry executives who have set up shop in Reno.
— Page 1, by John Seelmeyer
A fresh start for Jet Ranch
Steve Lewis thinks big events — a new freeway, an ongoing shift in demographics and changes at the major airport in Reno — will get the Jet Ranch hangar project at Carson City Airport back on track.
But in the short term, Lewis says, the corporate project has an even stronger selling point — aviation fuel prices that are more than 15 percent lower than those in Reno. And he’s hoping that’s enough to get the attention of even the wealthiest owner of a private jet.
Jet fuel was selling for $5.25 a gallon at Carson City Airport last week, compared with $6.29 a gallon at a fixed-base operator at Reno-Tahoe International Airport.For the owner of a Gulfstream jet that burns close to 500 gallons an hour, that amounts to a difference of more than $500 an hour — or more than $213,000 a year for the average Gulfstream that’s in the air 410 hours annually.
— Page 4, by John Seelmeyer
