What’s new under the now shining sun in the Los Altos business world? We’re keeping your …Knows in Business.
Between a rock and a good place …
is Amy Young, whose mother, Mari Young, is Earthworks’ May 7 diamond-drawing winner for one-third-carat earring studs valued at $1,500. So why is Amy so happy?
“She’s graduating and she’s going to Stanford,” Mari said of Amy. “So the diamonds are just perfect for her.”
A Mountain View resident and longtime customer, Mari was one of more than 600 people who came into Earthworks’ 290 Main St. location or visited the store’s Web site to enter the Hearts-on-Fire drawing, strategically planned for the Friday before Mother’s Day.
“It’s a great way to get people involved and to come in,” store manager Nina Ehrsam said.
It was an even better way to brighten a dull day and get over the notion she’s never been lucky, Mari said.
“I have never won anything in my life,” Mari said. “I got a call at work and I screamed.”
Moments after the afternoon drawing, sales assistant Nancy Planchon called Mari.
“She asked how my day was going, and I said, ‘Not so great,’” Mari said. “She asked, ‘Do you want me to make it better?’”
Planchon did.
“I took off early from work,” Mari said.
Today, Amy’s ears are studded with studs worth a lot of money, and she’s hard to miss on a sunny day.
“Friends say they sparkle a lot,” she said.
But Amy didn’t wear the diamond earrings to her senior prom – she went with danglies.
There’s another reason to visit Earthworks …
the announcement that store owner Claudia Sullivan Paullus has sold the family jewels … aka Earthworks – to Ellen Davis and Mary O’Neal. But the fine crafts and jewelry gallery stays all in the family – Davis is Sullivan Paullus’ sister.
What started as a store featuring hand-woven baskets, leather goods and ceramics in 1979 by Sullivan Paullus and partner Arnie Feldscher has evolved into a showcase for fine American crafts and jewelry.
Earthworks hosted a small greeting party Saturday for fellow merchants to meet the new owners.
“Although I no longer own the store, I will still be a part of Earthworks to ensure a smooth transition,” Sullivan Paullus said.
If Nielsen’s 1 Hour Martinizing …
is as quick with moving as it is with clothes cleaning, then it should be a hop and a skip for owners Jin and Kathy Lee to relocate their business at 230 First St. across the street. With the city of Los Altos in exclusive negotiations with Jeffrey A. Morris Group Inc. to sell the property at the corner of First and Main streets, the Lees aren’t waiting for the writing on the wall to be downed by developers.
Instead, they have leased the buildings at 227 and 235 First St., former home to Applewood Pizza and Togo’s, according to property manager Anne Wilbur.
Construction crews have hammered a hole between the two spaces and last week installed those thing-a-ma-jigs that carry clothes to the cashier.
There’s no confirmed moving date – the Lees are as fast at ducking Deep Nose as they are at one-hour martinizing.
And going for the gold …
instead of the diamonds, several locals are pocketing kudos in lieu of rocks. The Wall Street Journal recently placed Los Altos resident Sonu Ratra’s Sunnyvale-based company, Akraya Inc., on its third-annual top 50 Fastest-Growing Women-Led Companies in the country. Ratra’s company ranked No. 35.
To make the list compiled by the Women Presidents’ Organization, companies must be privately owned, women-owned or -led, must have generated $500,000 in annual income in 2004 and had an annual revenue of at least $2 million by the end of 2009.
Founded in 2001, Ratra’s Akraya boasted an annual income that soared from $12 million in 2004 to $20 million in 2007 and $32.3 million in 2009. Akraya provides staffing services in the IT, engineering and marketing fields and was rated the No. 10 best place to work in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times for 2010.
Not to be outdone in the ranks of being ranked is Alex Atkins of Los Altos Hills, president of Palo Alto-based Alexander Atkins Design Inc. Atkins designed “The Happy Body Book: The Simple Science of Nutrition, Exercise, and Relaxation” (Jurania Press, 2010), written by Woodside residents Aniela and Jerzy Gregorek. The book has garnered five awards in the health, exercise and fitness categories, including the 2010 National Indie Excellence Award and the Best of Expo Gold Award. In the literary world, this beats a diamond – in the rough or otherwise.
Contact Mary Beth Hislop at [email protected].
