Fresno's midstate location has again enticed a business to the area.
White House Custom Colour, which serves professional photographers, selected North Pointe Business Park in south Fresno because it can reach most of California with one-day delivery, said Ethan Smith, an industrial specialist at Grubb&Ellis/Pearson Commercial who worked on the deal.
White House takes professional photographs and prints them as greeting cards, announcements, books and other products.
It leased 27,000 square feet in the new business park. White House, based in Minnesota, has a printing plant in Texas but wanted one in California to accommodate substantial growth in the West, said Mike Hanline, co-CEO of White House.
Geography "works very well for you guys," he said.
Press operator Rafael Tello works on a digital press printer at White House Custom Colour in Fresno.
The Economic Development Corp. serving Fresno County has been successful selling the region's central location to businesses using UPS and other shippers.
White House expects to do more than $50 million in revenue this year and has about 225 year-round employees. That number usually grows to about 400 in the busy holiday season, he said.
The company employs 12 in Fresno, but that could increase to between 40 and 45 over 18 months.
Webb White, a studio owner, founded the company in the 1970s because he could not find reliable photo finishing in Minneapolis for his growing retail wedding studio.
White House Custom Colour was in demand as a lab, serving local wedding photographers. Over the years, the business served photographers in a four- to five-state region, and then really took off when the industry went digital in 2001-2002, Hanline said.
"The Internet levels the playing field," he said.
From one city to another
Seven months after closing, the former Circuit City building at Blackstone and Barstow avenues has re-emerged as Furniture City.
The new owner was attracted to the layout, 40,000-square-foot size and visibility, said the store manager, Riyad Saed.
The building is large enough to allow Furniture City to offer "package" deals, where it can furnish entire rooms or an entire house.
The company is expanding when many competitors are falling by the wayside in this recessionary environment.
"They are going down left and right," Saed said. "But we're doing OK."
That's in large part because the owners are experienced operators, with stores in other states, including New Mexico and New York, he said.
Zipping along
Fresno shoppers are getting a little help from a new Internet-based company called Zippee.
The Los Angeles-based upstart company works much like a personal shopper. But in this case, consumers use Zippee's Web site -- zippee.com -- to help find what they are looking for.
For example, shoppers go to the site, type in the product or service they are looking for, and Zippee sends that request to businesses in the area. If the business has it, Zippee notifies you via e-mail or text message.
Zippee spokeswoman Sarah Ray-Hayes said Fresno is being used as a test market. "Fresno is a big little city," Ray-Hayes said. "And it's the perfect place to test something like this."
If Zippee proves successful, the company will branch out into other areas.
Ray-Hayes said the site has the potential to benefit busy shoppers and local businesses.
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