By Jackie Rosselli Late last year, the government confirmed what the rest of the country already knew. The United States was in a recession and, in fact, had been in an economic downturn for quite some time about a year. Propped up by questionable housing loans and a nation’s thirst...

By Bernadette Doran It’s true, Officer Friendly has been fired. The smiling, approachable policeman in powder blue and navy, an icon of safety, reassurance and trust during America’s more innocent 1950s and ’60s, has gone the way of the Atari and The Ed Sullivan Show....

By Jackie Rosselli It is perhaps the most coveted prize of any company with goods to sell a product that raises customer demand to a frenzy. A hot product will of course boost earnings, but it can also thrust a business to the next level by enhancing its image, building customer...

By Deb Morais Published by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA), the ANSI/ISEA 107-2004 standard specifies performance requirements for high-visibility safety apparel and headwear. The standard was developed in response...

By Debra Hindlemann Webster Spending time at Zehnder’s is like walking into a Hallmark card: There is no other way to describe it. This is America’s largest family restaurant and second-largest independently owned one. It also sports a 152-room hotel with a 20,000-square-foot...

By Peter Hildebrandt With a mission to improve the quality of life for all in the greater Charlotte, N.C., area, this city’s transit system is proud of both its brand new light-rail service, LYNX, and the distinctive uniforms of the employees. Charlotte has had a transit system since...

By Peter Hildebrandt A long time ago, William J. McRoberts was employed as a coffee inspector on the Brooklyn piers in New York. Being a young entrepreneur, he saw there was a need for cargo protection. Theft was rampant, and the cargo owners welcomed his new security services. Nowadays,...

By Susan Derby One hundred years ago, the American Heart Association didn’t exist. There were no sulfa drugs or penicillin, and “vitamins” hadn’t yet been given that name. In one century, polio rose to the level of outbreak, a vaccine was discovered, and now cases...

By Margaret Buranen Few uniform companies get started on a racquetball court, but that is exactly how Madera Uniform & Accessories began in 1995. Co-owner Susan Levake was then working as a district sales manager for Frito-Lay, a part of PepsiCo. She liked her job but not the long...