Business & Tech
Athleta's Big Holiday, Goodwill Grows and Tangram Teams Up
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It seems like it’s never too early to celebrate the holidays, especially if a good portion of your business is generated via online Christmas shopping. , the Petaluma-based women’s athletic apparel company, is set to have a big holiday season, according to a holiday preview in the financial journal Barron’s.
Online sales and lower-priced items, like niche fashion, will be hot during this holiday season, mainly due to the prolonged recession, according to the story. Athleta does most of its business through online sales.
Gap Inc., which bought Atheleta for $150 million in 2008, is taking notice of niche trends, like women's apparel, and will be opening four new Athleta stores in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Washington, D.C, by the end of November. That will bring the total number of locations up to nine, according to the company’s website.
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Gap will look to grow this holiday after sales remained essentially flat for the first nine months of the year compared ot 2010. During both periods, Gap generated about $9 billion in sales.
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While Athleta looks for potential sales, Goodwill has been seeing marked growth compared to last year.
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Sales for the Petaluma store were up by 7.4 percent compared to last year, well above the regional average of 5 percent for the nonprofit organization, according to Anne Martin, vice president of retail and operations for Goodwill Industries of the Redwood Empire, which covers Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Lake, Trinity and Humboldt counties.
"We are doing very well in this economy," Martin said. "People these days are trying to stretch their dollar, and Goodwill is the place to shop for high quality at low prices."
Martin expected a good October as well, as the month usually generates the highest volume of sales for the year, from customers buying Halloween costumes.
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Petaluma-based Tangram Insurance Services teamed up with Santa Rosa-based ProSight Specialty Insurance to bring workers compensation benefits to the nonprofit and social services sectors, according to a statement from the company.
Businesses that can purchase the insurance from ProSight, through Tangram, range from drug treatment center and food banks to theatres and musicians.
“Tangram is proud to team up with a dedicated partner like ProSight and looks forward to a long term relationship serving nonprofits together,” said John Shea, Tangram’s senior vice president and chief underwriting officer.
Tangram oversees the programs and will manage policies, while ProSight will put up the bulk of the financial backing for the policies. ProSight writes about $140 million in insurance premium per year, according to figures from A.M. Best. Neither company could be reached for comment.
