Local Business

PAID ADVERTORIAL — Last year, the Sonoma County Library went “fine-free” and eliminated overdue fines for items returned late. In addition, all past fines were waived. In all, more than 80,000 people — 30 percent of all library borrowers — had their overdue fines waived.

SPONSORED – If you live in Sonoma County, you’ve likely seen Food for Thought volunteers collecting food donations at local grocery stores nearly every weekend of the year. And if you’ve ever donated food, money, or time as a volunteer, everyone at Food For Thought thanks you!

PAID ADVERTORIAL — 10 Days of Meal Deals in Northern California’s Wine Country

It’s with an eye toward making the most of that most valuable of assets—parking in Healdsburg—that Mat Humphrey is filling up the available leases on the property at 44 Mills St. one by one, and staggering their prime hours so the lot is productively filled as much as possible. The highest and best use, one might say, to echo the realtor’s mantra.

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.

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.

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.

In this "web extra," we take readers inside the JANE Dispensary. It officially opened last week right next to the Coyote Sonoma, a tasting room for Wilson wines and live music venue (aka the “Coyote Den”).

From Willi’s Seafood to Solful, the place has possibilities The businesses north of North Street in Healdsburg sometimes find themselves left out of the foot traffic from weekend visitors. “It’s a no-man’s land up here, you know,” said Jim Heid, owner of CraftWork in the...

Ramos Shoe Repair is an outlier on Healdsburg Avenue, even in the recently christened “North Makers Arts District” or NoMAD area between North and Piper streets. Neither a clothing store, an art gallery, a bakery nor a tasting room, it’s a shoe repair store, a working-man’s shop.