For this Michigan business owner, wage hikes are tied to price hikes

Oct 16, 2023
Annie Lang Hartman, owner of Wild Lettie, is planning ahead. And one of her biggest concerns is payroll.
"We're kind of settling into fall, which is a little bit quieter for us," said Annie Lang Hartman of Wild Lettie. Above, the interior of one of her shops.
Courtesy Lang Hartman

As inflation rises, this Michigan business owner is taking a chance on a second store

Jul 6, 2022
"I'm taking a very, very big risk opening another retail location," says Annie Lang Hartman, owner of the Michigan retail brand Wild Lettie.
Annie Lang Hartman has opened a second retail store, above, in Suttons Bay, Michigan.
Courtesy Annie Lang Hartman

How this metal foundry grew its business during the pandemic

Oct 14, 2021
Although prices for aluminum and zinc are ticking up, Adam Schaller, vice president of a Michigan metal foundry, says business is growing.
Prices for aluminum base scrap picked up 9.7% from August to September.
Lukas Schulze via Getty Images

This northern Michigan retailer is banking on a summer with lots of foot traffic

May 14, 2021
Annie Lang Hartman, owner of Compass Paper Co., is preparing for a busy post-pandemic season.
Annie Lang Hartman's Compass Paper Co. shop. She says tourists have already come to the area, even though it's still early in the season.
Courtesy Annie Lang Hartman

Canadians in the pot business need to be careful crossing U.S. border

Dec 18, 2018
Crossing to even discuss the U.S. cannabis industry can be considered trafficking.
A woman waves a flag with a marijuana leaf on it next to a group gathered to celebrate National Marijuana Day on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada.
CHRIS ROUSSAKIS/AFP/Getty Images

Michigan State University weighs scandal's financial impact

May 24, 2018
A $500 million settlement with victims of convicted doctor Larry Nassar is just the start.
Moody’s downgraded Michigan State University’s credit rating earlier this month. Above, the Spartan statue at MSU.
Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

Why Trump's solar and washing machine tariffs may play well in Michigan

Jan 25, 2018
A former Democratic state politician says the taxes are one of the few things the president has done that he can support.
President Donald Trump displays a Section 201 action as US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer witnesses, in the Oval Office, at the White House, January 23, 2018, in Washington, DC. The administration is issuing tariffs on imported solar panels and washing machines to protect American manufacturing companies against dumping by foreign countries, mainly China, and including South Korea.
Mike Theiler-Pool/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Inside the sweet business of Zingerman's Bakehouse

Dec 26, 2017
The bakery has an outside-the-box business model, but it works really well.
A sliced Zingerman's chestnut baguette.
Antonis Achilleos/Chronicle Books

Ford is increasing its investment in Michigan

Mar 28, 2017
VP Joe Hinrichs says the 'major investments have been in the works for quite some time.'
"We have to make decisions for decades," says Joe Hinrichs, Ford's executive vice president of the Americas. "So we don't get the luxury of making decisions that are four years in nature."
Carl Court/Getty Images

International students and faculty make 'the world a safer place'

Feb 3, 2017
The University of Michigan's president explains how Trump's travel ban could affect higher education in the U.S.
 
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images