North Bay Business Journal

CORTE MADERA — Sporting goods retailer Sports Authority plans to open one of its first new high-end activewear stores, called S.A. Elite, this spring in Town Center Corte Madera.

SANTA ROSA – San Rafael-based musical instrument and equipment dealer Bananas at Large Inc. early next month plans to open a store in downtown Santa Rosa, the retailer’s first additional location in its nearly four-decade history.

NORTH BAY – Target Corp.’s decision to close all its gardening departments will include five of the nine stores in the North Bay.

SANTA ROSA – The Smoked Olive, a tiny startup gathering lots of kudos from foodies is looking to grow its operation, according to founder and partner Al Hartman.

LRG Capital Group’s lease-option acquisition last week of the 66,100-square-foot Fair-Anselm Plaza shopping center and offices in Fairfax is an example of the type of creative deal-making called for when both tenants and financing can be scarce, according to Roger Smith, an agent with Cornish & Carey Commercial who has been marketing the Fairfax property for the Friedman family for years.

SONOMA – Dean Biersch, owner of HopMonk Tavern in Sebastopol, announced plans to open a second location in Sonoma this summer. The new tavern will be in the old Deuce/Emmy’s Restaurant location at 691 Broadway.

NAPA – The Napa Farmers Market will open in a new location this year in the northeast parking lot of the Oxbow Public Market at 610 First St. in Napa. It will be open Tuesday and Saturday from 7:30 to noon May 1 through Oct. 30, offering locally grown, farm-direct produce, gourmet food and handmade crafts.

NOVATO — Whole Foods Market’s new store at 790 De Long Ave. will open on Thursday, April 22. The location will feature a wide range of products from more than 200 North Bay farmers and producers.

NOVATO – Three years after opening its first bakery cafe in Larkspur, Rustic Bakery plans to open a second one here this summer to accommodate its growing wholesale business.

SAN RAFAEL — Up against a mid-April deadline to submit an amended project application for its planned 137,000-square-foot store in Shoreline Center, Target Corp. on Thursday filed the document with three minor changes. The retailer wants to open the store by March 2012 and expects to employ 250 to 300 people, mostly from the surrounding area of the city.

San Francisco-based apparel giant Gap plans to test whether followers of its Petaluma-based Athleta online brand want to be able to “get physical” with the athlete-oriented women’s activewear before they purchase.

SANTA ROSA – The Sonoma County Fair board is holding a public meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 16 on the plans for a permanent year-round public market at the fairgrounds inspired by Pike’s Place Market in Seattle, Wash.

SANTA ROSA — Members of the Sonoma County Fair board will hold a public meeting March 16 on plans to create a permanent public market year-round at the fairgrounds.

Also: Yountville’s Bardessono earns top LEED award

KENTFIELD — Woodlands Market owner Don Santa announced today an agreement to acquire the historic Ross Grocery from longtime owner Don Ahrens.

WINDSOR — A year after starting in a small northwest Santa Rosa shop, WineWood Products is expanding to a much larger facility in Windsor in anticipation of orders of its bags of barbecue smoke chips made from wine-soaked oak barrels.

SACRAMENTO — Large scale importation of bulk and bottled wine helped boost total U.S. shipments by an estimated 2.1 percent last year, but wineries heavily impacted by shifting consumer demand may have to wait until 2011 for significant market improvement, an expert said at a major industry symposium here this morning.

SANTA ROSA — For close to 80 years, Traverso’s Gourmet Foods & Liquors was an institution in downtown Santa Rosa. It has found a second life at Fountaingrove Village.

COTATI — After 17 years in the same Rohnert Park location, sportfishing retailer Outdoor Pro Shop plans to pick up four times as much sales space and consolidate three Sonoma County locations in a move to a 24,000-square-foot building in Cotati at the end of this month.

NOVATO — Target acquired the Smith & Hawken brand and other intellectual property from the lawn-and-garden retailer owned by Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. The Novato-based retail chain had announced last July that due to the economy and a “lack of scale” it would close its 56 stores, including the one in Marin County employing 100.