Latest news with #Roseville-based
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Rescue center receives record number of animals following Thursday storms
A wildlife rehabilitation nonprofit says it received a record number of animals following Thursday's storms in the Twin Cities. The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota says it received 257 new animals on Thursday, marking a new record for the center. The Roseville-based facility says it anticipates more animals being dropped off on Friday, including squirrels and birds that fell from trees during the storms. Severe weather rolled through the Twin Cities and western Wisconsin Thursday, prompting a tornado warning in Minneapolis. While a tornado didn't materialize in Minneapolis, one was produced just across the Wisconsin border between Hammond and New Richmond. Before bringing an animal in, WRC encouraged people to make sure the animal is obviously injured. The center also recommends filling out an admit form in advance.
Time Business News
07-05-2025
- Business
- Time Business News
How Does SEO Work in Small Cities?
Many small business owners think of SEO as something for big cities and giant companies. But in reality, local SEO is often more effective in smaller markets. People in places like our hometown Roseville, California still rely on Google to find services, whether it's an auto repair shop, a roofer, or a family dentist. The difference is that the competition is usually lighter — which means it's easier (and cheaper) to rank if you do it right. At our Roseville-based SEO agency, we've seen firsthand how a well-optimized website and Google Business Profile can drive dozens of monthly leads, even though it's under 200,000 residents. Let's break down how SEO really works in small towns and what steps local businesses can take to start showing up. Local SEO focuses on helping your business show up when someone nearby searches for a product or service you offer. For a city like Roseville, that means targeting searches like 'electrician Roseville,' 'best hair salon near me,' or 'auto repair in Roseville, CA.' Unlike traditional SEO, you're not competing with the entire internet — just other local businesses. The core elements of local SEO include: Google Business Profile (GBP): Your free listing on Google Maps — critical for visibility. Location-based keywords: Adding city names to your service pages and metadata. Local content: Writing blog posts or FAQs that mention landmarks, neighborhoods, or local events. Consistent citations: Making sure your business is listed (accurately) on directories like Yelp, Nextdoor, and YellowPages. Customer reviews: Arguably the most powerful ranking factor for local trust and visibility. Take a Roseville roofing company as an example. With a well-optimized GBP, clear service pages, and a few solid reviews, they can start ranking in the local 'map pack' within weeks — even with just a few competitors. Search habits don't change just because a city is smaller. People still use Google daily to find everything from plumbers to pediatricians. What's different is the search volume. A keyword like 'emergency plumber near me' might only get 70–100 searches per month — but those are high-intent users ready to call now . In small towns, people often search using: 'Near me' terms: e.g., 'tire shop near me' e.g., 'tire shop near me' City-specific keywords: e.g., 'Roseville car detailing' e.g., 'Roseville car detailing' Time-sensitive modifiers: 'open now,' 'same day,' or '24 hours' Mobile usage plays a major role too. The majority of local searches are done from phones, and Google often prioritizes results based on proximity. That means a well-optimized business right down the street has a strong chance of showing up first. A good example is a Roseville-based HVAC technician. By optimizing their GBP and including phrases like 'AC repair in Roseville' on their homepage, they can win a top spot in both Google Maps and the standard organic listings. One of the biggest misunderstandings we see from business owners is overestimating how much traffic they need . In small cities, the total number of searches is lower — but that doesn't mean SEO isn't worth it. The key is understanding that small numbers can still lead to real results. Let's say your website gets 150 visitors a month from Google. That might not sound like much. But if 25 of those people call you, and you close 8 of them into paying clients, that's a significant return — especially for service-based businesses with high ticket prices. What to expect from SEO in a small city: Lower traffic, but higher intent Slower growth, but better long-term ROI Fewer competitors, so easier to rank More personal connections — reviews and referrals carry weight We've worked with a local home contractor in our city who went from zero traffic to ranking on the first page within 90 days. Even though their keyword only gets about 80 monthly searches, they now receive 3–5 qualified inquiries per week — all organic. You don't need to hire anyone to start seeing results — just a bit of time and consistency. Here are simple steps any small-town business owner can take: Add photos, services, hours, and a solid description. Make sure the business name, address, and phone (NAP) are consistent everywhere. Write a separate service page for each major offering (e.g., 'Deck Repair in Roseville'). Use your city name naturally in headings, page titles, and meta descriptions. Submit your info to free platforms like Bing Places, Apple Maps, Angi, Yelp, and others. Use a citation tool if you want to speed up the process. Reach out to happy customers and ask for Google reviews. Just five good reviews can make a visible difference in rankings. Post updates about local events, showcase projects you've completed in your area or answer common local questions. We helped a painter grow their web presence simply by adding three location pages, cleaning up their citations, and gathering a few five-star reviews. Within two months, they began appearing on the first page of Google — without spending anything on ads. Small cities like Roseville may not get the same traffic as Los Angeles or San Francisco, but that's exactly why local SEO works. With fewer businesses investing in optimization, you have a chance to stand out — often with just the basics done right. If you're a local business owner wondering whether SEO is worth it for your small town, the answer is yes. And you don't need to go all-in right away. Start with your Google listing, build out your website, and ask your best customers for reviews. The results may come slower than ads — but they'll last much longer. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
Business Journals
24-04-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
EnergyAid acquires Sunworks' customer lists after bankruptcy
Santa Ana-based residential solar service company EnergyAid has acquired the customer lists and intellectual property of solar power installers that had a long presence in the Sacramento region before going out of business. Santa Ana-based residential solar service company EnergyAid has acquired the customer lists and intellectual property of solar power installers that had a long presence in the Sacramento region before going out of business. EnergyAid, which only does service on solar systems, acquired the intellectual assets of Sunworks Inc., a solar installer founded locally in 2002 that filed for bankruptcy in January this year. EnergyAid is offering services 'to customers who have been abandoned by their installers,' said Bryan Jackson, vice president of sales and marketing with EnergyAid. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events EnergyAid already had a Sacramento office, where 15 of the company's 100 employees work. The company has seven offices in California and one in Arizona. Sacramento is its second-largest office, Jackson said. In 2021, Roseville-based Sunworks bought Solcius, a Utah-based residential solar installer, in a cash deal valued at $51.8 million. Solcius worked in 12 states. Sunworks later that year moved its headquarters to Utah, but it still had installers in Sacramento until the bankruptcy. Sunworks, when it was still a publicly traded company based in Roseville, installed the solar photovoltaic system on what is now Sutter Health Park, home of the River Cats and now the Athletics. Several times, Sunworks was one of the region's fastest-growing companies. It was the fourth-fastest-growing in 2016. 'A lot of unfortunate things have been happening in the solar industry,' Jackson said. The solar install business has been difficult in recent years because high interest rates have made installations less affordable. Also, permitting cycles from local governments got longer with the pandemic and remain so today. And some installation incentives have expired or just gone away. In California, the net metering rules changed in 2023 to make the value of electricity sold to the grid less than what it had been for the previous decade. Also, equipment and labor costs have escalated with increasing competition, he said. EnergyAid started up in 2014 to service residential solar systems, many of which came with warranties from installers that have now gone out of business. EnergyAid didn't buy any hard assets from Sunworks, and it didn't pick up any employees through the bankruptcy purchase, Jackson said. He declined to say how much it paid for the intellectual property. Between home ownership changes and failing installers, many homeowners don't know who to turn to for service, Jackson said. EnergyAid can help homeowners find out if they have a warranty from the panel or equipment manufacturers, and the company does work to update technology on residential solar systems. Many older systems run on 3G cellular networks, and they are no longer supported by carriers, which means that they aren't optimized, and the monitoring of the system may no longer work. The panels in a photovoltaic array tend to be the most reliable component. If there are no immediate problems, they tend to last a long time, Jackson said. They do, however, need to be cleaned. The wiring, connections and inverters tend to be longer-term trouble spots. EnergyAid's business model is that it will become a trusted service provider, and then as people upgrade and expand their system over years, it will be able to help those customers add more power, battery backup and support power and install electric vehicle charging.
Business Journals
24-04-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Wizix Technology acquires Standard Business Solutions
By submitting your information you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy and User Agreement . Join the Sacramento Business Journal to unlock even more insights! Roseville-based office technology company Wizix Technology Group Inc. has acquired Standard Business Solutions, a 45-year-old San Jose office technology company. The acquisition gives Wizix more customer connections and contracts in its largest market, said Eric McIntosh, senior vice president with Wizix. 'At Wizix we believe in building strong relationships, both with our customers and within our company. As a family-founded business ourselves, we deeply respect the legacy that the Foley family has built SBS into over the past 45 years,' said Wizix CEO Gary Johnson, in a news release. 'This acquisition allows us to continue their legacy while expanding our service capabilities and their product offerings in the Bay Area.' GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events The Standard Business Solutions team in San Jose will now work out of Wizix's existing office there, which services the Silicon Valley up to San Francisco, McIntosh said. 'It's a pretty cool company. It's a family business that was started by Ed Foley in 1980 repairing commercial typewriters. Then his sons took it over,' McIntosh said. The owners of the business are retiring, and the five employees are staying on under Wizix, McIntosh said. 'The customers are good to get, but the experienced employees are also important," he said. "Good employees are hard to find." Wizix now has just around 100 employees, he said. With the new San Jose deal, Wizix has now closed nine acquisitions since its founding by Johnson in 2017. Three of those acquisitions have been in the past eight months. Wizix does not disclose the value of transactions, McIntosh said. In the early 1990s, Johnson started Zoom Imaging Solutions in Roseville, which he sold in 2012 to Global Imaging Systems, a subsidiary of Xerox Corp. Johnson stayed on with Global Imaging until 2016. In 2017, Johnson started Wizix and then expanded it with a string of acquisitions of independent sales and service shops The office technology business is dominated by copiers and duplicators making print items for businesses or schools. 'We're extremely bullish on print,' McIntosh said. 'People are talking about going fully digital, but they still want print.' In the past few years, Wizix has also expanded to installing and servicing EV chargers across California and Nevada. Wizix was the region's 47th-fastest growing company in 2024, based on three-year growth through 2023. It ended 2023 with revenue of $16.2 million, up 23% over three years.
Business Journals
21-04-2025
- Business
- Business Journals
Retail closures create opportunities for expanding businesses
By submitting your information you are agreeing to our Privacy Policy and User Agreement . Join the Sacramento Business Journal to unlock even more insights! From party supplies to apparel, recent retail bankruptcies and consolidations have led to liquidation sales across the Sacramento area. From party supplies to apparel, recent retail bankruptcies and consolidations have led to liquidation sales across the Sacramento area. That's good for consumers looking for a deal. But on the surface, it doesn't sound like encouraging news from a real estate standpoint. The resulting vacancies are significant. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events Party City closed its six stores in the Sacramento area, ranging in size from about 9,000 to 18,800 square feet. Fabric and crafts retailer Joann Inc. is also closing six local stores, ranging from about 12,000 to 35,000 square feet. That's in addition to the eight recent Big Lots closures in the area, and 11 local closures of 99 Cents Only Stores. Not to mention the growing list of drugstores and apparel chains that are also shutting stores. Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M) recently closed sites in Citrus Heights and Downtown Sacramento, while Kohl's Corp. (NYSE: KSS) closed a location near Arden Fair mall. At press time, Forever 21 was winding down operations in Arden Fair after closing a site in the Folsom Premium Outlets. But the situation might not be as dire as it seems. "It's challenging, but weirdly enough, it hasn't quite hit our vacancy numbers yet," said Garrick Brown, vice president of research for Roseville-based Gallelli Real Estate. That's because several types of tenants — from discounters to indoor entertainment centers — are still expanding and are ready to fill big-box vacancies. Locally, some of those leases have already been inked. Here's what could fill other spaces vacated by big-box retail chains — and what might derail those plans. What makes an empty big-box space appealing Some signs point to empty big-box spaces getting filled quickly. Brown cited a slowdown in new retail construction. In the Sacramento area and beyond, there aren't a lot of new retail centers being built. So it's natural for expanding companies to look at existing spaces. Location is also a major factor. Sometimes, retail chains close clusters of underperforming stores, which often operate in less-than-ideal locations. Recent closures from Party City and Joann Inc. played out differently. As part of a national series of closures, party supply retailer Party City closed all its stores in the Sacramento region, including locations in prime retail centers such as Folsom's Broadstone Marketplace. The same is true for fabric and crafts retailer Joann, which is shutting its six Sacramento-area stores as part of a national series of closures. Many of those sites are also in high-traffic locations, including the recently redeveloped Sunrise Village retail center in Citrus Heights. A lack of new retail construction, combined with available space in some busy shopping centers, creates a business opportunity for tenants. Many are ready to take the leap. expand Joann Inc. is closing its six Sacramento-area locations, creating an opportunity for expanding retailers. Sonya Sorich | Sacramento Business Journal Companies likely to fill big-box retail spaces Looking at the retail landscape, Brown said he's not worried about spaces of 20,000 to 30,000 square feet getting filled. That range is consistent with many of the former Party City and Joann spaces in the Sacramento area. Multiple off-price apparel chains are in expansion mode, according to Brown, who cited Burlington (NYSE: BURL) as an example. That retailer has already confirmed plans to fill a former Big Lots space in the area. Burlington will replace Big Lots in Watt Towne Center in North Highlands. The store at 3615 Elkhorn Blvd. is expected to open in July, the Business Journal previously reported. Outdoor goods retailer Sierra is another off-price apparel retailer that's expanding, Brown said. It appears Sierra, which is part of the TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) portfolio, is planning stores in Roseville and Davis. Though the company hasn't confirmed those locations, leasing materials show Sierra will fill a former PetSmart space in Roseville and a former OfficeMax space in Davis. Other types of discounters are also scooping up recent retail vacancies. In a recent liquidation sale, two discounters — Five Below Inc. and Dollar Tree Inc. — claimed lease rights for some local Party City sites. Five Below (Nasdaq: FIVE) could fill a former Party City space in Woodland and Dollar Tree (Nasdaq: DLTR) could fill former Party City spaces in Folsom and Roseville. Dollar Tree also filled two former 99 Cents Only Stores locations in the Sacramento area, and is planning to fill a former Walgreens space near Placerville. Though the specific brand isn't known, a discounter is also slated to replace a former Rite Aid store in Cameron Park. Brown said small-format grocery chains, such as Trader Joe's and Sprouts Farmers Market, are expanding as well. Trader Joe's filled a former 99 Cents Only space on Fairway Drive in Roseville. Brown cited health-related tenants as other possible candidates to fill retail vacancies. He listed veterinary clinics, dialysis centers and plasma donation centers as examples. Florida-based CSL Plasma recently opened a location in a former Dollar Tree space at 1895 Howe Ave. in Arden-Arcade. And despite the challenges they faced during Covid-19, gyms are still growing, according to Brown. expand Dollar Tree could fill the former Party City location in Folsom's Broadstone Marketplace. Sonya Sorich | Sacramento Business Journal More candidates for big-box spaces — and some obstacles Other big-box spaces across the Sacramento area are getting new futures, too. Harbor Freight Tools is moving forward with plans to fill a former 99 Cents Only space on Douglas Boulevard in Roseville, according to city records. Owners of separate Latino grocery stores bought two other former 99 Cents Only locations in the region. Meanwhile, various operators still see an opportunity for entertainment-related businesses in former retail spaces. Brown said he understands why those concepts are expanding. "People need a place to socialize," he said. A supersized example: Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) is bringing its Dick's House of Sport concept to the former Sears anchor property at Arden Fair in Sacramento. Unlike the company's typical retail stores, Dick's House of Sport locations include immersive elements such as a rock-climbing wall, batting cage and golf simulators. Late last year, Altitude Trampoline Park — an entertainment chain from Texas — opened in a former Walgreens building in Folsom. A different trampoline park, known as Fun City, plans to fill a former 99 Cents Only space in Rancho Cordova and a former Big Lots site in Citrus Heights. Ace Pickleball Club has announced plans to open in a former Big Lots space in Folsom. Expected to open in the fall, it will be the first local site for the franchise chain from Georgia. But some entertainment-related businesses come with risks, including expanding too quickly, according to Brown. "Something gets hot and we just overdo it," he said. In addition, Brown said tenants such as indoor playgrounds might ultimately be drawn to "quasi-industrial" areas rather than big-box retail spaces — because the rent might be cheaper. While tenants are lined up for several recent big-box vacancies, plans for the remaining storefronts are still unclear. Nate Giwoff, CEO of GQNorth Real Estate, said a deal is in the works for the former 99 Cents Only space in Folsom. Giwoff handles leasing for Walmart Central, the retail center on Riley Street that includes the space. He didn't elaborate on the potential new tenant in Folsom. Even as Brown listed retailers that are expanding, he said there are factors that could impact those plans — chiefly, uncertainty surrounding the national economy. Observers have said an economic slowdown could lead to reduced retail leasing activity. "Chaos comes with a price," Brown said. expand Altitude Trampoline Park has opened in a former Walgreens space at 1100 Riley St. in Folsom. Sonya Sorich | Sacramento Business Journal
