Local Business

If wine is on a holiday shopping list—whether one is the host, the wine-bearing guest or the gift-giver for wine-loving and foodie friends—one may...

When you walk into Downtown Bakery and Creamery on Center Street, the scent of warm scones envelops you in a comforting hug and the familiar sound of the bread slicer rings out as locals line up for their morning coffee.

The coronavirus pandemic is taking a devastating economic toll on Sonoma County’s economy: tourism, once a mainstay, is non-existent; 16,000 local workers have filed for unemployment; more than a thousand small businesses have applied for the federal Small Business Administration (SBA) Payroll Protection Plan (PPP). Meanwhile local governments continue to provide essential public health and welfare services, while their normal revenue sources trickle to near-zero.

A county study on the impacts of congestion, noise, safety and related issues linked to winery and rural tasting room and other special events, has taken so long that the original conditions and concerns that prompted the study in 2016 may now all be changing thanks to the potential post-pandemic business changes anticipated in the local wine industry.

Healdsburg has a new heart; it’s called Little Saint.  In the luminous glass and steel building on the corner of North and Foss streets, which...

Get inspired at the Healdsburg Homes Tour

One month ago, all of Sonoma County’s “public life” was put off limits. No schools, locked parks, barricaded beaches, no dining out or casual shopping trips. Gathering places where conversations and friendships get shared are taboo. Libraries, coffee shops, brewpubs, art galleries and any space smaller than six feet square, are now officially declared uninhabitable.

The welcome mat for Sonoma County’s wine country was rolled up several weeks ago in the midst of the COVID-19 shelter-in-place, and there is no prediction of when it might be rolled out again. Only a little over one quarter (27.8%) of the county’s 7,000 lodging rooms were occupied at the beginning of this month, down from an average occupancy rate of 78% from a year ago.

A new coffee kiosk, Rockin’ A Adventure Café, opened its drive-up windows to Cloverdale earlier this month. The adventure-themed café is located on South Cloverdale Boulevard in front of Renner Petroleum.

Healdsburg’s very own Depot District will soon have another attraction. And even if it’s several years until SMART comes to town, a new business...