Local Business

Colleen Carmichael to seek new calling in trauma teachings and therapy

Camila Salazar and Osmel Gonzalez were already a powerful duo before arriving in Healdsburg. But after two and a half years, they have not only found a community within their working family at Single Thread, but have created one of their own.

It was an unusual sight on Matheson Street at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church one morning last week—Father Rafael Karekatt was dressed in his ceremonial finery, offering prayers and shaking holy water inside and all around a brand new Mercedes Sprinter ambulance, blessing...

Take 401 Piper St. It was a great product, so we priced it at the absolute top end of comparable properties and we found two buyers to bid up the price beyond expectations to sell it in a day. The buyers were out-of-town buyers looking for a retirement place—the perfect buyers.

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 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.

The founder and owner of the popular knitting shop Purls of Joy is retiring at the end of this month and, in an effort to keep the shop going and the friendly store spirit alive, a group of about 50 local knitters are working to form a member-driver co-op to maintain the business.

Oftentimes, when businesses move to a new building, they may paint some walls and bring in new furniture. For the folks at Miserlian Baker Real Estate, starting creating a home for their business — and for themselves — meant starting from the ground up.

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 little store on Powell Street is closed once again. Most recently known as Summer’s Market, it shut its doors for good in early October and has been listed for sale since mid-month. But there's more to the story than just "real estate news" - check it out...