The era of retail-tainment
If you want to find where the retail meltdown is, take a look at retail real estate investment trusts. A recent article on the Motley Fool website says REITS for malls were down 9.1 percent in 2019 as more people shopped online and some retailers declared bankruptcy. Malls are turning into the haves and have
Don’t take cruise industry for granted
When you think of iconic South Florida industries, its hard not to put the cruise industry at the top of the list along with its broader family of the marine industry. According to Ship-Technology.com, PortMiami was the busiest cruise port in the world for 2017, handling 5.6 million passengers. That was followed by Port Canaveral
Innovation Central
“Innovate or die” is the mantra in today’s world of business. This issue offers an array of examples of the innovation percolating throughout the South Florida economy. But, first, let’s take a little walk down memory lane for a case study. In the mid to late 1980s, I was an assistant business editor at the
Up the River
[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text] To look at the history of the Miami River, is to look at the history of Miami itself. According to historian Jerald T. Milanich, the world “Miami” is a derivation from “Mayaimi,” which referred to the vast size of Lake Okeechobee. (Another interpretation is that Miami
The resilience of golf
I’ve read more than a few articles in recent years that have made me wonder about the future of golf, which is sometimes stereotyped as a game for stodgy old white guys. The story line is that the game is dying out because of changing demographics, such as kids playing video games instead of hitting
Boat show growth
[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text] The Marine Industries Association of South Florida likes to say the economic impact of the Greater Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show is like having a Super Bowl each year. I might add after watching the New England Patriots play the Los Angeles Rams that it’s a
Affordable housing hits the crisis stage
A couple of weeks ago, the topic of affordable housing came up over lunch. I was appalled at what I learned. In South Florida, it’s become so bad that we are now in a crisis, leading the nation in the highest wage-to-housing discrepancy gap. More than half of our workforce cannot afford to pay their
South Florida is hedge fund heaven
A few months back, I was contacted by April Klimley, a financial writer who had relocated from New York City to Delray Beach. With a background of working for major banks in New York and writing for an array of financial publications, she was rapidly scoping out the size of the financial services industry in
No Time For Complacency
It has been 10 years since Hurricane Wilma wreaked havoc on South Florida. That means there are plenty of newcomers here who haven’t been through a hurricane. Even those of us who went through Wilma may not understand the worst case scenario for a hurricane in South Florida. The closest in recent decades was Hurricane
New Generation
One of the things that comes with being a business journalist for so long in South Florida is you get to know multiple generations of family businesses. That’s the case with Jarett Levan, who is on the cover of this month’s issue. Jarett’s father, Alan, has been a familiar figure in the region’s business scene
Tim’s Time
There’s a term in journalism known as “telling details,” the things that really provide insight into a situation or personality. This issue’s cover story on restaurateur Tim Petrillo has a lot of insight, but the fact that he donated a kidney to his brother probably tells you all you need to know about his character.
The Millennial Issue
Welcome to the first themed issue of SFBW, which focuses on the millennial generation. What is a millennial? The age bracket is somewhat loosely defined. One definition is they came to work in the new millennium, which means they were likely born after 1980. Millennials are already the largest group in the workforce, according to
