Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Friday, August 14, 1998
DBEDT helps distribute isle catalogs in Japan
Hawaii companies have an opportunity to get their mail-order catalogs distributed at a major trade fair in Japan next month.The state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism said producers of made-in-Hawaii goods who come up with at least 30 copies of each catalog by Wednesday will have their catalogs handed out at the Direct Marketing Fair '98 in Tokyo Sept. 16-18.
More than 20,000 people, including owners of small businesses and retailers looking for new merchandise for their stores, are expected to attend the fair, DBEDT said. For more information contact David Nada of the DBEDT product trade branch at 587-2717.
Local small businesses to convene next month
Business issues ranging from privatization of government work to labor, insurance, taxation and trade will be discussed in the 1998 Hawaii Congress on Small Business, to be held at the Ilikai Hotel Nikko Waikiki on Sept. 25.County conferences leading up to it will be held on the Big Island Aug. 25, Kauai Sept. 1 and Maui Sept. 10, the organizers said.
Hawaii delegates to the White House Conference on Small Business in 1995 organized the first Hawaii Congress on Small Business that year, along the same lines as the Washington meeting.
Tim Moore, one of the owners of the Old Lahaina Luau, is co-chair of the 1998 event with Bette Tatum of the National Federation of Independent Business.
For information contact Lisa Dang at the Pacific Business Center, 956-2502, or e-mail her at ldang@busadm.cba.hawaii.edu.
Restaurateur to open Waikiki rib eatery
Honolulu businessman and restaurant operator Fred Livingston has purchased the Pieces of Eight restaurant at 250 Lewers St. in Waikiki. Livingston said he will reopen the business Sept. 1 as Davey Jones Ribs, a barbecue restaurant with a nautical theme.Livingston owns the Trattoria in Waikiki and the Crouching Lion Inn in Kaaawa.
AT&T's new customers to pay minimum fee
NEW YORK -- AT&T Corp. will start charging long-distance customers a minimum of $3 a month in a bid to pare losses from those who don't make a lot of calls.The minimum charge takes effect tomorrow for new AT&T customers who sign up for calling plans, and on Jan. 1 for all current customers who change calling plans covering long-distance calls.
AT&T, the nation's largest long-distance company, said it loses $300 million a year on the 15 to 20 percent of its 70 million customers who spend less than $3 a month on long-distance calls. The company estimates 15 percent of new customers spend less than $3 a month. The costs stem from expenses such as bill processing.
Customers will pay the minimum charge only for those months when their long distance charges amount to less than $3. For example, someone spending $2.50 in a given month would pay 50 cents more to meet the minimum.
GM strikes took big toll on industrial production
WASHINGTON -- The General Motors Corp. strikes propelled the worst back-to-back declines in the nation's industrial production in nearly eight years.Prices charged by producers such as factories and food-processing plants rose 0.2, driven by a drought-induced jump in vegetable prices, the Labor Department said today. The GM strikes caused production at factories, mines and utilities to fall 0.6 percent last month, the second consecutive decline, the Federal Reserve said. With the 1.1 percent plunge in June, it was the worst two-month drop since 1990, at the start of the last recession.
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