Local Business

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.

Amy Covin, who parlayed a life-long affection for Boston-style “slush”—a fruity ice confection with drizzles, sprinkles and playful attitude—into a Healdsburg dessert destination, announced over the weekend that she would be closing the flagship shop in early September. “I think we outgrew this facility the...

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.

As Q1 2025 data reveals, Healdsburg’s real estate market is defying conventional wisdom with a 150% surge in luxury home sales while Sonoma County’s high-end market continues to decline. These counterintuitive trends are reshaping our understanding of the local market in ways that might surprise even longtime residents.

Correction: The Parish will serve lunch and breakfast, not lunch and dinner.

James Schuessler replacing the retiring Joe Harrington

Cloverdale location opened in Furber Plaza on Sept. 1

The roof has been razed and the walls have come down on the narrow business space at 113 Plaza St., next door to Duke’s.  Though the applicant, builder and owner won’t answer directly, the restaurant is widely presumed to become a steakhouse; the big Texas...

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.

There’s a widespread sentiment in the wine industry: “It takes a lot of good beer to make a good bottle of wine.” So when Paul Stokeld suggested the name, “Elephant in the Room,” to co-owner KC Mosso for their planned watering hole in Healdsburg, Mosso...