Briefly

Forum addresses downtown vitality

Three of four Americans under the age of 28 first pick a place to live and then find a job. How cities like Spokane can use this new “live first — work second” ethic to build a vital downtown will be addressed during a daylong session Thursday at the Hotel Lusso.

Presenting the session is Rebecca Ryan, of Next Generation Consulting, based in Madison, Wis. Ryan has become a national speaker on ways urban centers can become cooler and attract businesses that appeal to young urban professionals.

Ryan’s biographic material includes this description: “A former professional basketball player in Europe, Rebecca drinks her coffee from a mug that says, ‘Well-behaved women rarely make history.’”

The Thursday event is one of two sessions sponsored in Washington by the state Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development. Susan Kempf, the Olympia-based event coordinator, said the Seattle session Wednesday has sold out. Seats are still available for the Spokane session, Kempf said.

Registration costs $50 and must be made before the session. For information or to register, contact www.downtown.wa.gov or (360) 725-4056.

UW plans ‘Minority CEO’ seminar

A branch of the University of Washington Business School will hold its first “Minority CEO” seminar in Spokane on Thursday.

The seminar includes talks by UW Business School faculty and by financial planners, plus a resource fair with information from local and state offices that serve minority-owned businesses. It’s targeting “the largest, fastest growing and most promising minority-owned businesses in Northeast Washington,” the school says.

It’s one of three such seminars the UW’s Business and Economic Development Program will host this year.

The event costs $100 a person and will be held at the Doubletree Hotel Spokane-City Center, at 322 N. Spokane Falls Court. For more information call Wil Tutol at 206-616-1216.

‘Bon’ name to be dropped next year

Cincinnati Federated Department Stores Inc. said Monday it will drop the “Bon” from the name of its Bon-Macy’s department store chain early next year.

Federated will do likewise with the names of its other regional chains.

Federated started the transition last year by adding one of its names to its regional groups, such as Bon-Macy’s, Lazarus-Macy’s and Burdines-Macy’s.

“This is a bold and exciting step toward fulfilling our vision of Macy’s as ‘America’s department store’,” said Terry J. Lundgren, Federated’s chairman, president and chief executive. “By focusing all of our efforts on Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, two of the world’s best known and most formidable retail nameplates, we will be able to maximize the incredible potential inherent in both of these brands through distinctive, consistent and far-reaching marketing initiatives.”

Federated’s regional groups are Bon-Macy’s in the Pacific Northwest, Burdines-Macy’s in Florida, Goldsmith’s-Macy’s in Tennessee, Lazarus-Macy’s in the Midwest, and Rich’s-Macy’s in the Southeast.

The 184 stores converting in January to the sole Macy’s name will join the 239 department stores that already operate under that name in 19 eastern and western states, Guam and Puerto Rico.

Store is now Spokane Furniture Co.

Ziegler’s Oak Furniture has renamed itself Spokane Furniture Co. in honor of a company that used to occupy its building at 1901 N. Division.

Spokane Furniture Co. was founded in 1906 at that location and went out of business in 1970, Ziegler said in a news release.

Ziegler leased the building and opened Ziegler’s Oak Furniture there in 2002. When he discovered that the location once had been a furniture store, he decided to adopt the old name and logo, Ziegler said. He has remodeled the exterior to recapture its early-20th-century look, he said.

Retail gas prices fall for third straight week

Washington The retail price of gasoline declined for the third week in a row, falling to an average of $1.85 per gallon, the Energy Department reported Monday.

The government survey said the average price nationwide of regular-grade gasoline dropped 0.4 cent last week to $1.846. Prices are 14.9 cents higher than a year ago.

Average nationwide prices peaked at $2.06 a gallon during the week ending May 22.

Pump prices are highest on the West Coast, averaging $2.025 per gallon, and cheapest on the Gulf Coast, averaging $1.744 per gallon. In the Midwest, gas averages $1.803 per gallon.

One of the key factors behind the high price of gasoline is the soaring cost of oil, the result of terrorism fears, strong demand and supply concerns.

The price of light crude for October delivery rose by $1.06 to settle at $43.87 a barrel Monday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The nation’s supply of commercially available gasoline is about 5 percent higher than last year at 204.1 million barrels, according to the Energy Department. Crude inventories stand at 285.7 million barrels, or 2 percent higher than last year.

Sony-led group to buy MGM for $3 billion

Los Angeles A consortium led by Sony Corp. has agreed in principle to acquire famed Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. for nearly $3 billion, MGM said late Monday.

The company said it received a cash deposit of $150 million on Monday from Sony, along with private equity companies Providence Equity Partners Inc., Texas Pacific Group and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners.

MGM said its management will recommend the deal, which it called a “proposed merger” to its board by Sept. 27.

Sony has agreed to pay $12 per share for MGM, 45 cents more than MGM’s closing price of $11.55 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.