Business

WATSONVILLE—When the home of the former Second Street Cafe in Watsonville became available last year, business partners Lacey Dent and Greg Bobeda saw an opportunity. The two had originally meant to expand their business, Corralitos Coffeehouse, into another space on the first floor of the...

SANTA CRUZ—REI, an outdoor retail business with 168 stores in 39 states, plans to open a location in Santa Cruz, the company announced on Feb. 18. The 22,622-square-foot store will be located at 1660 Commercial Way, the giant warehouse that formerly held Toys “R” Us....

Though they’ve reduced their square-footage from 23,000 to 3,000-square feet, owner Debbie Baker said a blend of longtime repeat customers, word of mouth and new clients continue to pay the bills and keep her showroom floor full of modern appliances and furniture.

WATSONVILLE —  For more than 30 years Nicholas Diaz spent long workdays buried in the back of televisions and other broken appliances. He was living his dream of being a neighborhood repairman. That dream came to a horrific close Sept. 1 when he died in a car...

El Pajaro Community Development Corporation's Commercial Kitchen Incubator, 412 East Riverside Drive in Watsonville, will celebrate its fifth anniversary with Tacos and Tapas on Aug. 23 from 6-9 p.m.

Farmers Insurance Matthew Jones Agency, 106 Airport Blvd. Suite 101 in Watsonville will host a Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture mixer on Aug. 9 from 5-7 p.m.

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...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on May 11 voted unanimously to delay a 25-cent fee for disposable cups at businesses in the unincorporated parts of the county until January 2022. County officials crafted the ordinance to reduce the amount of disposable...

George Couch was an ambitious 25-year-old when he came to Watsonville in 1973 and negotiated a deal to purchase a small Anheuser-Busch distributorship. It would not stay small for long. His company Couch Distributing, which he runs with his brother Geoff, has since 1973 delivered...

A crew from Vacant Property Security installs one of several traffic blocks in the parking lot of the former Kmart on Freedom Boulevard. On Oct. 12, the Watsonville City Council started the process of declaring the abandoned property a public nuisance due to illegal...