LOCAL BUSINESS
Downtown’s success is topic
The Cleveland-based Urban Land Institute will present a program Thursday on Akron’s success in restoring downtown.
The program will run from 3:30 to 7 p.m. at the Uncorked Wine Bar, 22 N. High St.
The speakers will be Tony Troppe, president of the Everett Group; Eric Johnson, president of the University Park Alliance; and Hunter Morrison, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium Initiative.
The emcee will be Akron attorney David Lieberth, former Akron deputy mayor.
For reservations or more information, call 800-321-5011.
Nomination deadline today
The Greater Akron Chamber said today is the deadline for submitting nominations to its Small Business Council’s Excellence in Business Award.
A business must be for profit and not publicly traded. The award recognizes performance, growth, innovation and community leadership.
Forms are available on the chamber website at www.greaterakronchamber.org under the heading “About the Chamber / Small Business Council.” For more information, call 330-237-1254.
RETAIL
Best Buy teams with Samsung
Best Buy announced plans to create store-within-store kiosks for Samsung products — a vote of confidence from a major consumer electronics retailer that the brick-and-mortar format is still an important way to sell.
The Minneapolis company has battled the “showrooming” effect as more and more people browse in stores and then buy items cheaper online. This has led to fears that the big-box store format is growing obsolete. But Best Buy has introduced an online price matching policy, giving employees extra training, cutting costs and revamping stores.
The latest deal is a sign that consumer electronics retailers are sticking with the chain. The company will offer Samsung dedicated kiosks at 1,400 Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores. Shops will offer the full range of Samsung’s mobile products, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, cameras and accessories.
AUTO INDUSTRY
GM makes investments
General Motors Co. will invest $55.7 million in its Toledo Transmission Plant as part of a broader effort to build more fuel-efficient engines and transmissions, the company announced. In all, GM has committed to spending $332 million across four plants in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana. Toledo will be the first plant to produce GM’s new eight-speed, rear-wheel drive transmission, and the investment will help support implementation of that product. The company also said it will increase capacity in Toledo for its existing six-speed transmissions. The plant currently employs about 1,870, building six-speed automatics for both front-wheel and rear-wheel drive applications.
AGRICULTURE
USDA testing imported meats
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is increasing testing on meat imports to confirm that shipments don’t contain horse meat after products from burgers to lasagna were mislabeled in Europe.
Imports from Iceland, Ireland, Poland and the United Kingdom will be subject to increased species sampling for all types of product.
WALL STREET
Dow Jones climbs 55 points
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 55.76 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 14,606.11. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 6.29 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,559.98. The Nasdaq composite fell rose 6.38 points, or 0.2 percent, to 3,224.98.
Compiled from staff and wire reports