Category: Business

A number of Vancouver realtors believe a significant decline is happening in Metro Vancouver house prices, through official statistics are so far providing more muted signals. The number of detached homes selling in Metro has been dropping for more than six months, but only recently have there been signs of easing of the city’s stratospheric prices. Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board figures for all residential properties still show modest price gains over last year, but prices stopped rising in June. Then, in July, prices slipped 0.6 per cent from the previous month. The Metro real estate board uses its own home price index to show price changes. It calls the… Read More

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in cabin design, says Jennifer Volland, who helped curate the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Cabin Fever exhibition, which runs until Sept. 30. Speaking from her home in Long Beach, California, Volland notes that the appeal of cabins is intertwined with ideas of escapism and simplicity, which seem to be more appealing than ever. “That urge to return to something simpler, more down-to-earth values,” she says. “I think the cabin fulfills that need for people: the need to escape.” Cabin imagery has been used in everything from U.S. presidential campaigns to the marketing of Fisher-Price toys, Volland says, and today we see… Read More

Imports of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to the Lower Mainland increased significantly over the first half of 2018, helping to pad record cargo volumes through Vancouver’s port for the period, according to the Port of Vancouver. Oil exports have increased in 2017 and the first half of 2018 from record lows in 2016, said port CEO Robin Silvester, but it was imports that drove its increase in cargo volumes. “We’ve seen a 1.2-million-tonne increase (in petroleum shipments), and within that, 900,000 tonnes or so is inbound rather than outbound,” Silvester said, “and the inbound is almost all stuff we use as consumers.” The port’s oil exports flow from Kinder… Read More

Vancouver’s Red Truck Beer Company has entered the American market by opening a brewery, tasting room and diner in Fort Collins, a Denver college town with a population of 160,000. It’s not as random a plan as it might seem. The company could have chosen a city like Seattle or Portland, both at the forefront of the craft beer revolution. But, said Dodds: “We were looking for a place that would fit our brand, a feel of a lifestyle that includes being outdoors and music. Fort Collins is big into the bike scene and is a mecca for craft beer. There are some 23 breweries here,” said Jim Dodds, Red… Read More

You sit down to lunch and unfold the top of the brown paper lunch bag. Peering down into the papery depths, you spot … a piece of pie? Believe it our not, the flaky, pastry-packed dishes can be the perfect, packable option for back-to-school menu planning. “They make very easy meals,” Jenell Parsons, the owner of The Pie Hole in Vancouver, says. “You can bake them from frozen — and not only will your house smell amazing with fresh-baked pies, they are filled with locally sourced organic meat, fresh veggies and everything made in-house from scratch.” Hand pies are in progress. The mini pies make perfect packable options for school… Read More

SAN FRANCISCO — More than a thousand Google employees have signed a letter protesting the company’s secretive plan to build a search engine that would comply with Chinese censorship. The letter calls on executives to review ethics and transparency at the company. The letter’s contents were confirmed by a Google employee who helped organize it but who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the debate. The letter says employees lack the information required “to make ethically informed decisions about our work” and complains that most employees only found out about the project — nicknamed Dragonfly — through media reports. The letter is similar to one thousands of employees…

TOKYO — Asian shares made moderate gains early Friday after U.S. stocks jumped on news China is preparing to resume trade discussions with the U.S., the first negotiations in more than a month. KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 index added 0.4 percent to 22,275.67, while the Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.4 percent to 2,694.52. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 0.6 percent to 27,254.14 and in South Korea, the Kospi gained 0.3 percent to 2,246.79. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 picked up 0.2 percent to 6,339.30. Shares were higher in Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore. WALL STREET: Energy and metals prices and shares of industrial companies turned higher. The S&P 500 index climbed… Read More

Brad Westwood, public historian for the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts, left, and Clint Schelbitzki, assistant vice president of Western region public affairs for Union Pacific, watch as Gov. Gary Herbert shake hands with Nathan Anderson, director of public affairs for Union Pacific, during a press conference at the Union Pacific Intermodal Facility in Salt Lake City on Thursday. The railroad announced a $1 million-plus donation to help Utah celebrate the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad, which was commemorated by joining the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads with a golden spike at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869. Added to $1 million allocated by… Read More

LEHI — Ask any entrepreneur and you’ll hear that growing a new company from scratch is an uphill battle, regardless of your product or service, and the adage that success is “1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration” is one that has sprung directly from the struggles of the startup world. For Utah’s Podium, one can only imagine the work behind its growth rate over the last three years, a staggering 13,645 percent, that has landed it in the No. 13 spot on the just-released Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News Employees walk walk through the lobby at Podium’s headquarters in… Read More

Feeling overwhelmed by debt is like being in a toxic relationship. You can feel sick to your stomach, find yourself walking on eggshells or repeating old patterns, and be unable to sleep. That’s how a national organization is framing its new report released this week. The hope is people will be more open about how “dysfunctional” debt makes them feel if they think of it like being with a bad romantic partner. “People can relate to the idea of being in a typical bad relationship. You are in and out of it,” says CEO of Credit Canada Laurie Campbell. “It can be an eye-opener to think of being in debt… Read More