Business

A little more than two years after the former Kmart store on Freedom Boulevard closed its doors, the space will soon have a new tenant.  Vallarta Supermarket, which has more than 50 locations throughout California—the most recent one in Salinas—will occupy half of the 100,000-square-foot...

Food, gadgets, cars, safety demonstrations and more will all be under one roof, and out in the parking lot, during the annual Business Showcase.

PAJARO—In a factory centered in a rural stretch of Pajaro, a small team of workers and engineers was busy one Tuesday afternoon hand-building a new line of cross-country racing bicycles they hope one day will be used by Olympic athletes. The work was happening in...

After a year of ups and downs, things are looking good for wineries in the Pajaro Valley. That is according to two long-standing wineries, both nestled in the Pleasant Valley area between Watsonville and Aptos. Alfaro Family Vineyard-Winery was first established in 1997 by Richard...

WATSONVILLE—Tony’s Auto Service, nestled in a crunch of busy shops and the ebb and flow of Freedom Boulevard traffic, has been a staple auto repair spot in Watsonville for the past 26 years. If it’s new wiper blades, a smog check or full-blown valve job...

APTOS—In her more than two decades of working with nonprofit organizations, C.J. Runyon spent eight years with Walu International, which among other things helps provide hand-washing stations to rural communities in Papua New Guinea and Nicaragua, where poor sanitation leads to a myriad of...

WATSONVILLE—As the second day of Santa Cruz County’s shelter-in-place order dawned Wednesday morning, Watsonville Yoga, Dance and Healing Arts owner Phoenix Artemisia was busy setting up for class—just not as she normally does. Artemisia’s mat was unrolled on the ground of her studio on Main...

WATSONVILLE—More than two dozen community members at Tuesday night’s Watsonville City Council meeting showed resounding support for the Pajaro Valley Arts Council’s planned rebuild of the historic Porter Building, a City of Watsonville-owned property at the gateway of downtown. And a competing proposal from...

WATSONVILLE—New metal signs were installed Wednesday on the “Welcome to Watsonville” signboard on Main Street.  The move, headed up by the Sons of Italy, the Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture and the Watsonville Woman’s Club, was designed to update the large wood signboard...