Medical equipment supplier opens retail outlet in Fresno

Written by The Fresno Bee
08/31/09 08:25:47

G7 Medical, a supplier of medical equipment, has opened its first retail outlet.

The 3,000-square-foot store is at the northeast corner of Fresno Street and Alluvial Avenue, across from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fresno.

"If the doctor tells you that you need something, you can come to us, and we'll discuss it and work with the insurance and the doctor," said Travis Godden, chief executive officer. "We want to position ourselves to be the place to go for medical equipment."

G7 competes with The Bone Store, Ray Fisher Pharmacy, MedSupply and others in the Fresno area.

G7 (named for seven principles of business) also has a warehouse behind Lowe's in Fresno, and offices in Hawaii and Virginia to handle insurance forms.

Shanna Wender, G7 Medical customer service representative, ties balloons on a scooter at the company's first retail outlet across from the Kaiser hospital in Fresno.

The business sells everything from hospital beds to compression stockings (which many basketball and football players buy to aid circulation in their legs) and diabetes testing equipment.

Godden said medical-equipment suppliers must balance the needs of patients with the requirements of insurance companies, and that was part of the reason he recently traveled to Washington, D.C., with a contingent of smaller medical-supply providers.

There, they lobbied against a bidding program created by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

A different hat

The Straw Hat Express restaurant that opened in a Shell station in northwest Fresno recently may bring up memories for many Fresnans.

Straw Hat Pizza had several stand-alone restaurants in Fresno and surrounding areas until the 1980s. Much of the chain disappeared when the locations were sold to Pizza Hut.

A few locations outside of Fresno remained, and the San Francisco-based company recently began a major expansion. Straw Hat restaurants continue to operate in Exeter, Lindsay and Huron.

And now the company has opened its second Express franchise in the state in a convenience store at Nees and Ingram avenues. This Straw Hat is a quick-service restaurant focusing on pickup and delivery orders, said company President Jonathan Fornaci.

A Visalia Straw Hat closed four years ago, but the company is trying to reopen it. The company is in negotiations with landlords regarding five more locations in the Fresno area, he said.

During Straw Hat's heyday, the restaurant had five locations in the area, including at the Pizza Hut location that remains at Blackstone and Cambridge avenues.

Total bliss

A local family has opened Bliss Boutique in Clovis.

The shop sells women's clothing and accessories and men's clothing. It opened in August near Herndon and Fowler avenues in the same shopping center as Save Mart.

Opening the boutique was a dream of Melissa Gotelli, 19. She is a business management student at Fresno State and partnered with her mother, Kathy Gotelli, and brother, Steven Gotelli, 21. Her brother also is an entrepreneur and runs a van-rental business in Visalia.

Melissa Gotelli and her mother originally started the business with a Web site, which is no longer in service. The boutique -- selling everything from rhinestone jeans to purses -- joins a handful of independently owned shops in the area that compete with larger clothing chains.

Melissa Gotelli said she knows the store opened during a time when people are cutting back on their spending. The low rent rates, however, helped persuade the family to open.

And the economy played a role in keeping prices low, she said.

"We made it like an upscale, elegant boutique, but then you take a look at the prices and they're unbeatable," she said.

More senior housing choices

Autumn Ridge, a new assisted-living community in Kerman, is beginning to receive occupants. The first ones moved in last week, even though a ribbon cutting and grand opening is planned for Sept. 22.

The 15,500-square-foot building can accommodate 34 residents. Employees from The Harvest, a sister facility in Fowler, are training staff members, said Barry Byers, a principal in both projects.

Autumn Ridge will employ about 20 part-time and full-time employees when hiring is finished. RM Covington Properties was the general contractor.