Monday Business Roundup

There Izze Nothing New Under The Sun

By Mark Phillips, 10-30-06

I can remember ganging up on on my father to try and bring him in line with then-current fashion trends. We'd make fun of his zip-up boots or his too-wide pants or his preference for 15-year-old ties. He would inevitably relent, go shopping, and return home with...the exact same thing, only newer. When it comes to clothes, proven formulas are a recipe for embarrassed children. In business, however, proven formulas are apparently a key to success. To whit, Crocs heeded analyst advice to diversify their holdings and purchased Italian footwear manufacturer EXO Italia. What does EXO Italia do? They manufacture a unique compound that's used in a variety of athletic shoe applications. While that doesn't sound diverse to me, the market rewarded the purchase bumping the stock a few dollars higher last week.

Item #2: What do you do after you found a healthy soft drink company (Izze) and sell it to a big unhealthy soft drink company (Pepsi)? Something completely different. You start a another healthy drink company. Izze founder Greg Stroh (of Stroh's beer family fame...see? Do you see the pattern?) started Mix1 using the same model that Izze used: get Boulderites excited about it; get Starbucks excited about it; get someone with very deep pockets and a solid stock position excited about it; sell and start again.

For Something Really Completely Different
My favorite local-music store, Bart's CD Cellar sold to an Atlanta based music liquidation company, Value Music Concepts. Thank goodness they're keeping the name.
And indie-record store junkies aren't the only ones being left behind. After 26 years, Spruce Street's Boulder Outdoor Center at is closing.

How about a nice opening to balance out the changing and closing? Habitat for Humanity opened a bargain-priced home improvement store in Longmont last week. Think of the concept as a thrift store for building materials and home improvement items. All funds go to help Habitat for Humanity build affordable housing.

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