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Bakers Footwear Group said Thursday that its fiscal 2010 second-quarter sales fell just under 1 percent to $43.3 million from $43.7 million in last year’s period.

The company said its same-store sales for the quarter ended July 31 grew 0.2 percent, compared with an increase of 0.7 percent for the second quarter of fiscal 2009.

Same-store sales measure stores open at least one year or more.

For the four-week period ended July 31, net sales grew 5 percent to $11.9 million, compared with $11.3 million in the same period last year.

Same-store sales for the July 2010 period grew 7.8 percent compared to a decrease of 5.5 percent in the comparable period last year.

For the four-week period ended Aug. 21, net sales fell slightly to $11.1 million from $11.2 million in the same period last year.

Same-store sales for the four-week August 2010 period grew 0.9 percent compared to a decrease of 10.3 percent in the comparable period last year.

“Our second quarter sales results included a sequential improvement in our comparable store sales trend as the quarter progressed with comps turning positive in July, driven by increased promotional activity in sandals,” Chairman and CEO Peter Edison said in a statement. “Our comp trend continued positively in August, with a good early response to our fall assortments particularly boots, dress shoes and casual footwear.”

Edison said the company expects to deliver “comparable store sales growth for the fall season fueled by the strength of our trend-right fashion assortments and the introduction of new brands, as well as easier comparisons to the prior year.”

Last Friday, Bakers was delisted from the Nasdaq stock market after failing to meet the minimum level of shareholders’ equity required for continued listing. The company’s stock (OTCBB: BKRS) closed at $1.03 per share on Wednesday.

Also on Aug. 27, Bakers sold 20 percent of the company to Steven Madden Ltd. for $5 million in debt and equity financing. Madden bought more than 1.8 million shares of Bakers’ stock.

Bakers agreed to pay the money back at 11 percent interest and Edison said at the time that the investment has no financial covenants or governance conditions.

Bakers said it plans to use the net proceeds from the Madden investment of $4.6 million after closing costs for working capital purposes.

Bakers Footwear Group Inc. is a national, mall-based, specialty retailer of footwear and accessories for young women. It currently operates 237 stores nationwide.

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ISTS Worldwide Inc. on Wednesday named Akash Jain its first president.

The company, which has U.S. headquarters in Fremont, focuses on retail and payments technology.

In this new role, Jain will be responsible for growing the business in rest of the world outside of North America, strategy and development of IP, heading India business and delivery operations high risk personal loans.

ISTS said Akash has more than 22 years of professional experience in the software services industry, working with companies including MasterCard and Reliance.

Click here to read the press release.

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TetraLogic Pharmaceuticals completed a $32 million private stock sale Tuesday, the proceeds from which will be use to advance the clinical development of the biopharmaceutical company’s experimental cancer treamtments.

The series C venture capital financing was led by San Francisco-based Clarus Ventures, a new investor in the company.

Also participating in the financing were new investor Hatteras Venture Partners and existing investors Amgen Ventures, HealthCare Ventures, Latterell Venture Partners, Novitas Capital, Philadelphia-based Quaker BioVentures and the Vertical Group.

Malvern, Pa.-based TetraLogic’s lead drug candidate for the treatment of cancer, TL32711, is designed to neutralize the activity of proteins that block tumor cell death payday loans. The compound is in early clinical testing as a potential treatment for patients with solid tumors and lymphoma.

“The support from our premier group of investors further validates our enthusiasm for the potential of TL32711 to treat cancer,” said John Gill, TetraLogic’s president and CEO.

Gill said the financing gives the company the resources to complete the ongoing phase-I study of TL32711 and complete a separate phase I-II study of the compound.

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An independent panel charged with studying the Columbia River Crossing has told Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire that construction should begin on the project as soon as possible.

The Independent Review Panel, assembled earlier this year after the governors raised questions over bridge design and funding, also offered recommendations that could provide a “roadmap” to help move from the bridge’s design to completion.

The recommendations include resolving several issues regarding interchanges leading to and from Hayden Island. The report also provided technical analysis of the currently proposed bridge type.

“This report delivered what we needed – a status report on this critical transportation project from an independent panel of national experts, as well as guidance on how best to advance the project in a timely, fiscally and environmentally responsible manner,” said Kulongoski in a statement.

The recommendation comes two days after the Metro regional government released a study about the impact of bridge tolls on growth in Portland and Southwest Washington. The study concluded that a $2 rush-hour toll on an expanded bridge would have negligible impact on population and employment growth in Clark County, but could boost jobs in North Portland.

The Columbia River Crossing project would expand the existing bridge to 10-to-12 lanes and include a light rail line and tolls. The bridge is expected to cost about $3.6 billion.

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LaBarge Inc. said Tuesday it received a $4.9 million contract from United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of the Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., to continue making complex wiring harnesses for the Atlas V rocket.

Production on the new contract is taking place in Berryville, Ark., and is expected to continue through late 2013.

For the past 17 years, LaBarge has made wiring harnesses and select hardware assemblies for the Atlas family of launch vehicles, which take satellites into orbit.

ULA's Atlas, along with the Delta IV and Delta II, provides launch services for Air Force, NASA and National Reconnaissance Office missions payday loans. NASA recently awarded ULA a $6.7 million contract to develop an early detection system as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Development Program for human space flight.

St. Louis-based LaBarge Inc. (Amex: LB), led by CEO and President Craig LaBarge, manufactures electronics for various industries. The company has operations in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.

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A year ago, California dealt with its budget crisis by handing out hundreds of thousands of IOUs to contractors and taxpayers. This year, it’s threatening to cut state workers’ wages to the bone.

Most of California’s 240,000 state employees could see their salaries temporarily cut to the federal minimum wage because government officials can’t reach agreement on a new fiscal-year budget for the financially troubled state.

It’s the latest manifestation of state budget dysfunction, and workers have found themselves caught in the crossfire as the state’s Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, tussles with the Democrat-led legislature.

With no end in sight to the impasse, Schwarzenegger’s administration last week moved to to cut 200,000 state workers’ wages to $7.25 an hour unless a budget is reached soon.

The salary reductions would cut across all job types and pay scales — from a lifeguard who makes $16 an hour to an accountant who nets $6,000 a month. The average California state worker’s salary was $65,484 last year.

Affected workers would receive back pay when the budget is passed. But state employees have already gotten the short end of the stick. Some have been forced to accept furloughs that have decreased their salaries by an average of 14%.

To help close the $19.1 billion budget shortfall for the fiscal year that began July 1, Republican lawmakers have proposed severe cuts to state social services such as welfare and Medicare, instead of hiking taxes.

By contrast, Democrats oppose the program cuts and instead want tax increases on industries like oil production. They have also proposed a delay to some corporate tax breaks.

Workers will at least receive minimum wage thanks to a 2003 California Supreme Court ruling, which said the state can withhold salaries during budget impasses as long as it complies with federal law payday loans. (Read ‘Stimulus: The big bang is over.’)

Controller sues over cuts: State Controller John Chiang has refused to carry out the cuts, saying he would wait until he completes an appeal of another court’s ruling on a similar pay cut order from 2008.

Schwarzenegger’s office sued Chiang on Tuesday, seeking an injunction to force him to make the cuts. Chiang promptly filed a cross-complaint alleging the order violates federal and state law.

"Withholding pay from state employees until a budget is enacted does nothing to solve the budget deficit, but will only make it worse," Chiang’s office said in a separate statement. Chiang has also said the payroll computers aren’t equipped to make the pay cuts.

A spokesman for Schwarzenegger said that an appellate court ruling on Friday upheld a trial court’s decision that Chiang must enact the cuts. "That’s the law here, and despite several courts’ rulings, he’s still going to defy the law," the spokesman said.

The Service Employees International Union, the largest union of California state workers, said in a statement that the cuts will only add to the state’s budget crisis. The union claimed that it negotiated an agreement last year that would have saved the state some money, "but the governor walked away from that deal." 

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Treasury prices rose Friday after the government said economic growth was weaker than previously estimated and a major overhaul of financial regulations cleared a legislative hurdle.

What prices are doing: The benchmark 10-year note was up 10/32 to 103-11/32 and its yield fell to 3.11% from 3.12% on Thursday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The 30-year bond rose 26/32 to 105-15/32 with a yield of 4.06%. The 2-year note gained 2/32 to 99-31/32 and its yield was 0.66%.

What’s moving the market: Economic growth for the first three months of the year was revised lower, to an annual rate of 2.7% from the previous reading of 3%. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected growth to remain unchanged at 3%.

Separately, an index of consumer sentiment rose in June to the highest level since January 2008 no teletrack payday loan. The Reuters/University of Michigan’s Surveys of Consumers rose to 76 from 73.6 in May. Economists expected the index to remain steady at 75.5.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in the House and Senate finalized negotiations on a bill that would overhaul the financial system. The agreement, which came after marathon talks that ended early Friday, paves the way for a final vote in July.

Treasurys were on track for a weekly gain as investors remain nervous about the economy. The Federal Reserve issued a more cautious outlook earlier this week, raising concerns about housing and the outlook for growth.

In addition, the U.S. sold $108 billion worth of Treasurys this week, including 2-, 5- and 7-year notes.  

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For more than two decades, Ashwin Patel has been bringing Indian and Pakistani grains and spices — as well as the latest Bollywood movies — to St. Louis through Seema Enterprises, his grocery business.

Patel can often be found behind the cash register at the store, at 10635 Page Avenue. He knows most of his customers by name, some of whom come from as far away as Columbia, Mo., and Carbondale, Ill., to stock up on groceries every month.

Inside his stores, customers can find a couple of dozen types of rice — parboiled, kerala, ponni, Basmati and so on. It’s also one of the only places St. Louisans can find gongura and methi leaves, lychee and green mango juices, Indian-style frozen hot pockets, henna, toothpaste made with neem herbs, and shelves full of teas from the region.

Patel immigrated to the United States from India in 1978. In 1985, he and his wife, Raksha, took over Seema Enterprises after the store’s former owner passed away.
The Page store, which first opened in 1977, was one of the first Indian groceries in the Midwest, according to Patel.

In 1991, he expanded to a second location to Manchester Road, wanting to be closer to the nearby Hindu temple and the growing South Asian population moving into west St. Louis County.

In the last two years, he’s nearly doubled the size of both stores so he has more space to display the ever-expanding variety of South Asian frozen and dried goods that are increasingly available.

Over the years, Patel has also helped fill a void in the community by sponsoring movie screenings and musical performances by some of Bollywood’s biggest musical stars including the likes of Asha Bhosle, Sonu Nigam and Jagjit Singh, to name a few.

How has your business changed in the last 25 years?

It’s a big change. In that time, there were not that many things available, just rice, flour, dals (lentils). We didn’t have frozen food and ready-to-eat meals then, which are becoming much more popular with this new generation. … At that time, there were only one or two kinds of rice: long-grain or jasmine. Basmati was hard to get back then (and it was so expensive and hence, less popular.) Now we sell almost 25 different kinds of rice. Tamil people eat a different kind of rice. Telugu people use a different rice. …

With the popularity of Indian cooking, are more of your customers non-South Asians? Or is your core business still South Asians?

We have non-South Asian people — they are at least 15 percent of our customers. They mostly come here looking for spices and rice.

A lot of the non-South Asians are becoming vegetarian. So they come to Indian grocery stores to see what they can cook. … And these days, more people are becoming samosa-lovers.

You sponsor a lot of movie screenings of Bollywood movies in area theaters. When did you start that and why?

We started doing that in 1994 … I love Indian movies. When I was growing up in India, I used to watch the first day, first showing of new movies. When we came here, we were out of touch with Indian movies for 15 to 20 years. … Then distributors started to bring the movies to the big cities in 1993-94. So we tried it. … Bollywood has become so popular …

Movie rentals used to be a big part of your business, too, right? Do you still do that?

At one point, movie rentals were 25 percent of the business. But we discontinued that about seven months ago.

Nobody rents anymore. The Internet is bringing more mischief with the piracy thing. … We were paying more money to the distributors and less people were renting them or going to the theaters. Nowadays, many people have Indian satellite channels. About 75 percent of South Asian households have a satellite TV. And they can watch 24 hours of shows and news in their own native languages. …

We also used to sell audio CDs, too. But nobody buys it anymore. They just download it.

Are you worried about the future of your business as the first generation of South Asian immigrants ages and there are more second and third generation South Asians?

The kids who are born here, they are not going to be coming here as much. … I think it might survive but in a different way.

With them, items like Indian hot pockets and naan pizza are really popular. It won’t be the same, but we’ll be OK for at least 10 to 15 years. … But it’s going to be changing.

The kids who were born here, they still have roots. But the newer generation, we don’t know. My son likes Indian food. But the next generation?

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The Denver City Council late Monday unanimously adopted the city's first new zoning code in more than 50 years.

The council bill that will place the new zoning code into law, passed 13-0, next goes to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper for action. If Hickenlooper signs the bill, as expected, it will be published by the city clerk and take effect.

During a public hearing several hours long before the p.m. vote, several speakers as well as council members expressed mixed feelings about the new code, saying it's not perfect and will need tweaking over time.

Inconsistencies in code policies and practices will be addressed, said David Roberts, the city's chief services officer.

"It will always be changing," District 4 Councilwoman Peggy Lehman said of the new code.

But speakers and council members also said the new form- and context-based code is a needed improvement over the outdated, 54-year-old existing code, and will sustain Denver's future growth.

"Calling the new code form-based doesn't do it justice," Denver developer Mickey Zeppelin of Zeppelin Development Co., said at the hearing. "It's really a value-based code, reflecting the values of the community."

Council President Jeanne Robb, District 10, called the new code an affirmation of Denver neighborhoods and, while it may not necessarily be simpler than the existing code, it is more organized and an example of the public process, which is "what makes our city great."

Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz, District 2, said she still has problems with how downzoning is handled in the new code, and the loss of property value it could cause, but allowed many of her concerns that the updated code would hinder development were resolved over the last six months.

Other worries expressed about the revamped code at the council hearing ranged from concerns about upzoning, how the South Platte River will be protected and accessory dwelling units to making sure property owners get the sunlight and building heights they want.

City planning department staffers ― including planning chief Peter Park as well as planners Tina Axelrad and Tyler Gibbs ― answered questions from council members and private-sector speakers. Park said his department will present a report to the council, evaluating the new code's performance, after its first six months of use.

Monday's meeting was held at City Council Chambers at the Denver City & County Building, 1437 Bannock St.

The council, city planning and development department, and a public/private group called the Zoning Code Task Force have spearheaded the creation the new zoning code for more than five years. Updating the code is part of city growth plans, including the Comprehensive Plan of 2002 and Blueprint Denver in 2002.

The main idea behind the new code is to better manage Denver's future growth, through form- and context-based zoning. Creators of the new code also have worked to make it more user friendly than the old one, and hope it will help stimulate economic recovery by encouraging development.

Over the years, the current code has become a patchwork of incongruous zoning regulations and it's outdated, according to real estate experts and the city.

Authors of the new code initially hoped council members would vote on the new code by the end of 2009, and then in February of this year, and then in April.

Votes have been delayed to provide more time for public comment about the code and changes to it based on some of that comment.

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The regular lunch crowd waiting to enter Crown Candy Kitchen at North 14th Street and St. Louis Avenue may soon find another reason to visit the block.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for July 29 to launch the fully renovated Crown Square, a residential and commercial development in the 2600 and 2700 blocks of North 14th.

The development, offering 80 residential units and 35,000 square feet of commercial and retail uses, spans 27 buildings and 2½ acres of green space.

The developers, two nonprofit community groups, are optimistic the $35 million project will bring more traffic to that once-booming north St. Louis neighborhood and help lead a renaissance for the area.

"This is the biggest project that we’ve ever been involved with," said Sean Thomas, executive director of the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group, which teamed up with the Regional Housing and Community Development Alliance.

"It is very close to being ready," Thomas said. "Work to reopen the street is the last component to be finished."

In fact, those two blocks of North 14th will be reopened to vehicular traffic for the first time in 33 years. The buildings there had fronted on a failed pedestrian mall since 1977, when urban planners believed that was the best way to attract business to the neighborhood.

However, prospective shoppers and clients of businesses along what was called the 14th Street Mall didn’t like parking behind the buildings and having to walk around to the front doors.

So most businesses along the pedestrian mall eventually closed.

In 2005, the Regional Housing and Community Development Alliance and Old North St. Louis Restoration Group decided to partner to redevelop the mall, which had become an eyesore.

The buildings were acquired over almost two years, from late 2005 through summer of 2007, for about $2 million, developers said.

Funding for the project came from a variety of sources. The development alliance provided a $2 million predevelopment loan. Another $12 million came from state and federal tax credits, and the rest through individual and institutional contributions.

Thomas said he was especially encouraged about the development’s prospects because nearly 70 of 80 housing units in the redevelopment area already have been leased to tenants.

"The challenge now is in leasing out the commercial spaces," he said. "But we have been getting a lot of interest. We want to get them out here to see it and look at the possibilities."

At least one restaurant and some retail businesses are in discussions with real estate agents for the developers, Thomas said.

Two new businesses already have moved into Crown Square, even as the work continues outside on the street. Norah Ryan has opened her law office there, and Therapy, a women’s clothing store, is preparing for its grand opening soon.

Ryan said she was happy about deciding to move her office from Clayton to Crown Square.

"There’s a wonderful sense of community, and a lot of things are going on here," she said.

Ryan, who was familiar with the neighborhood, said the full impact of the redevelopment struck her while taking a friend on a driving tour of the city last fall. "I thought, ‘Wow! That’s pretty neat.’"

And she said her new office was just the right size for her law practice, at about 900 square feet of renovated space.

Thomas acknowledged that a fear of crime has kept some businesses and clients away from the neighborhood for years. But he noted that crime rates in the area had gone down in recent years, and that many of the area’s residents were actively involved in Neighborhood Watch and other programs to keep the area safe.

Thomas said he could foresee a day when the development would rival the neighborhood’s heyday of the 1920s through the early 1950s. In addition to small businesses, that stretch of North 14th once had the first J.C. Penney store in the St. Louis area, he said, adding that the area also had Woolworths and J.J. Newberry’s five-and-dime stores.

"You could argue that this was the main street of a small town, and it could become that way again," he said.

E.M. Harris Construction Co., based in St. Louis, began work on the residential part of Crown Square late in 2007. Restoration of the commercial buildings began in 2008. The project was named in honor of Crown Candy Kitchen, which has anchored the neighborhood for years.

The buildings in Crown Square date from as old as 1860 to the 1920s. Developers restored each building to the era in which it was built, Thomas said.

"This project reflects what cities actually look like — they evolve and change over time," he said.

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