BY LISA BIANK FASIG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The owners of Servatii Pastry Shops like how the dough is rising, so they're expanding their Choice Harvest Bakehouse to a third store, this one in Harper's Point in Symmes Township. Bill Gottenbusch, president of Choice Harvest, said the store is scheduled to open this month.
"For us, a retail baking business, I think it's a plus because we're not specializing," Mr. Gottenbusch said.
"The most critical thing is to get qualified personnel," he said.
Choice Harvest entered the local artisan bread fray a year ago, and more such stores are following. Among them: Atlanta Bread Co., downtown, and Panera Bread Co., in the developing Kenwood Pavilion. The industry represents one of the latest specialty retailers. According to Modern Baking magazine, multistore specialty bread bakeries experienced 15 percent growth annually in the 1990s. By 1996, the most recent year for which data is available, there were almost 400 units.
The magazine in 1997 estimated that the category had risen to a $6 billion dollar industry.
Servatii opened its first Choice Harvest on East Court Street, downtown, in July 1997. The second store opened at Forest Fair Mall in October.
"It's going to very interesting to see how the market is turning around," Mr. Gottenbusch said.
Goodwill opening Loveland complex
Goodwill Industries today is opening its expanded store and donation center in Loveland.
The site, at 330 Loveland-Madeira Road, is a few blocks from the old store and comprises a 13,869-square-foot store and 4,949-square-foot walk-up donation center. Like other Goodwills, it sells apparel, furniture, toys and housewares.
Goodwill in August 1997 expanded and renovated its store on Mount Moriah Drive in Beechmont. That was the organization's first expansion since 1991.
School-gear costs: $60 to $136 a child
A recent telephone survey shows that $60 to $136 will be spent on retail goods for each child this fall in preparation for the school year.
The July survey, conducted by the School and Home Office Products Association, indicates that the highest amount will be spent on college students -- $136.40. Elementary schoolchildren are the least expensive, $62.20.
Also found from the telephone survey of 700: Households in the West spend the least on back-to-school items, averaging $102.60. The Midwest had a mean spending of $118.20.
Preschoolers are expected to command $65.60 a head; middle-schoolers, $74.30. Almost $85 is thought to be spent on each high school kid.
Online site sells men's underwear
The Internet is appealing to male shoppers with a specialty location that few retailers have been willing to put brick-and-mortar to: underwear. A Web site, www.underneath.com, sells men's undergarments by designers Calvin Klein, Joe Boxer Sauvage, etc.
Developer of the site, Atlanta-based Innovative Internet Ideas Inc., said the site makes sense because men's underwear doesn't require a fitting prior to purchase. Why not buy electronically? Shoppers can pay by credit card. Items are shipped the next day.
Just off the rack
Roberds Inc. posted declining sales again in July. The Dayton, Ohio-based parent of Roberds Grand said sales at stores open at least a year declined 8.2 percent in the month. Total sales dipped 10.1 percent, to $26.1 million in July 1998 from $29 million in July 1997. . . . Duck Creek Antique Mall in Oakley is celebrating its fifth anniversary. Since opening in 1993, it has doubled its size.
