Show 4wAi40"- - o4 & - 'z 1 Gait T7)ezrb t i I I $ ti I 1 t 1 Business Desk: 237-205- 4 t S Tritvl JLJiU I altri-ribun- SUNDAY July 21 1 D13 - 1991 I V t i I I I I v t't T - --- - By --- - t k I 11 N - 11'11 r --- 0‘t --- t- ? ) tr 1 - - - A- t A ' t i INt N a 1 ' 4 1 ) 4 t 1 1 '""1) ir 1 '' t A 1 4 - I I i 1 i 1 1 1 I I 1 I fi -- I t Nik i i I 1 ' 1442 i I 1 t I i ) I N tl q - 1 I 1 i i t t 1r 4i4'-- ' I” pl - i 41 - I - 1 1 i" 1 4 ' t'1 — VO Paul Intermountain FarMers Association Presi- frauhtun 1 e Salt Lake I nboae customer base and proding of the uct mix a trend that began in the 1960s co-op- dent Robert W Turley supports broaden 's Diversification Pays Off for Co-O- p By Joe Rolando THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE Like the old gray mare Salt Lake Intermountain Farmers Association "ain't what it used to be" But Robert W Turley its president and chief executive officer doesn't wax nostalgic noting the has experienced some definite growth patterns during the last 15 years WA was formed 68 years ago as the Utah Poultry Producers Cooperative Association to help a group of Gunnison farmers sell their eggs WA evolved by the 1950s into a whose general farming sales last year increased about 7 percent to about $65 million While 62 percent of IFA's sales continue to be animal feed crop fertilizers and chemicals and seed since the 1960s has been the making a daring transformation — broadening its retail-storofto more attract ferings and urban shoppers Mr Turley explained those customers are important because they spend money creating cash flow for the when farm buying slows "When you have overhead and capital invested in stores you " need revenue coming in said Mr Turley WA owns and operates 31 retail censtores and seven ters which sell large amounts of City-base- d co-o- p co-o- p co-o- p co-o- p e non-far- year-roun- d co-o- p year-round- farm-servic- e fertilizer in Utah Idaho Nevada New Mexico and Colorado Twenty-one of the retail stores are in Utah Les Spencer IFA's advertising stores manager said the carry about 6000 retail products This variety makes the December Christmas season one of IFA's best seasons — a time when crops are the furthest thing from most farmers' minds A walk through IFA'c 12500- Salt Lake City store at square-foo- t 1147 W 2100 South reveals that not only farmers mill around the check-ou- t counter "How about this?" said Mr Spencer pulling out a pink designer horse halter hanging next to the more traditional styles Large sacks of dog food sit in piles inside the front display window The store said Mr Spencer sells one ton of dog food every co-op- 's co-op- 's week He explained IFA's strategy of continuing to offer more retail items this way: "You come in here to buy a bag of dog food You look around and think 'Well maybe I ought to get some peas for the garden or I ought to look at a shirt jeans or overalls' The WA store's most popular item aside from feed seed and fertilizer is clothing said Mr Spencer "The advertising people call me up and say 'What are IFA's demo graphics?" said Mr Spencer "I tell them 'Man anything from 20 years old and up' The only demographic group we don't cater a lot " to is the For its and urban customers the store offers home and garden products in quantities smaller than farmers buy Last spring Ink opened up a center at selected stores along the Wasatch Front Shoppers at WA become a members entitling them to receive "patronage refunds" every February or March that totals 20 percent of what they spent the previous year The member also gets the remaining 80 percent back after the company uses it for 12 to 15 years IFA's market niche fits nicely with other discount shopping centers Denver-basePace Memberwhich acquired Warehouse ship Price Savers Salt Lake Membership Warehouse in December "exists quite well" near like WA said Pace Vice President Tom Vander Ark "We have a little different cusdoes tomer base than the and our customers have a little bit different buying patterns" 1FA's sales have increased each of the last four years a trend Mr Spencer attributes to a broadens retail products and ing of advertising which began in late teen-agernon-far- lawn-andgarde- n co-o- p d City-base- By John Keahey THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE A technological explosion in the telecommunications industry and increasing competitiveness in what was once a monopoly service will forever change the way telephone rates are set a top US WEST executive predicts Some states like Utah are just taking longer to restructure the way regulators for decades have set those rates says A Gary Ames Denver president of US WEST Communications operations over 14 states "The industry is exploding from a competitive standpoint" Mr Ames told The Salt Lake Tribune in an interview last week in Salt Lake City This means regulators must be willing to regulate the price people pay for telephone service and not regulate the profits a company makes he said He agrees with a colleague's comparison that most buyers of an automobile want a fair price a quality car and good service -Do I as that buyer care if General Motors is making a lot of money?" he asked The same should be true in the telephone business Mr Ames said He believes customers only care about the quality of the service they receive and whether they are paying a fair price Traditionally Mr Ames believes utility commissions op I - PAW-- - - k - u4 A e I Sinidgle Farruly 1990 1991 Percent Chan2s 2981 3397 1396 372 490 92 38 314 3172- Condominium Duplex Apartment Building Lots summer- -buying season jumped almost 14 percent over the same period a year ago Contributing to the boom is lower interest rates which make it easier for buyers to qualify for a home or condo said Dough Richards president of the Salt Lake Board This combined with a relatively low number of homes on the market also make agents' jobs easier he said "The increase in homes sales in the first half of the year comes on last year's first half which was a high up 15 percent With mortgage-interes- t rates expected to remain under 10 percent through the end of the third quarter Mr Richards expects the quarter to show continued improvement About 416 more homes were sold through the MLS in the first half of 1991 compared to the same period in 1990 This is allowing more buyers to qualify for a home Another sign the area's economy is improving was the 3 percent increase in the average selling price of a home during the first half or $85920 That compares to $83393 a year ago —nal may not sound like a dramatic change but when you realize that prices basically held steady for a long long time it's a change worth noting" Mr Richards said It means sellers are actually selling homes closer to the asking price and in a shorter period of time "These are all signs that we have a healthier market one with a far better balance between supply and demand" Mr Richards said Total residential-propertsales during the half — homes condominiums duplexes apartments and building lots — was up 1612 percent with all but apartment sales showing gains from the previous year 83 48 236 - 1084 -- 208-1 A 3305 OP oN real-estat- e record-breakin- r 55 1980s In the first six months of 1991 sings-famil- y home sales through the Salt Lake Ludt d tors Multiple Listing Service after a strong 0 1: g 10-ye- d co-o- co-o- p co-op- 1986 y hE r-- v 10111111111111 11111111111 The Salt L6te Tribune Graphit Condominium sales were up almost 32 percent from 372 to 490 so far this year and the average selling price climbed 372 percent from $62000 to $64400 Duplex sales were up 11 percent from 1990 with the average duplex selling price was also up almost 11 percent increasing from $57700 last year to $64000 The number of building lots sales were higher this year but the average price fell 3 percent to $35140 Apartment sales dropped by 10 with a decline in the average sale price from $105700 down to $99100 The board also notes sales figures for June continue to show continued strength in the market with double-digi- t improvement in most categories compared to June 1990 Even apartment sales managed to hold steady with eight sold in June of both years Home sales were up 19 percent Companies Cash In on Workers' Suggestions By Steven Oberbetk baum spokesman for Chicago's National Association THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE 900-memb- The day of the suggestion box on the office or factory wall may be long gone but a number of companies are finding that employee suggestion programs can save them considerable cash In the Utah area alone Hercules Inc employee suggestions resulted in some $29 million in savings and improved efficiencies last year The Salt Lake business unit of Palo Alto Varian Associates saved $500000 And Geneva Steel which recently launched a suggestion pror gram is anticipating cash savings in the tens of thousands Businesses are increasingly recognizing that employees can be tapped for hands-oknowledge about company operations "Last year our member companies saved $23 billion by adopting some of the 1 million employee suggestions" said Alan Appel Calif-base- d first-yea- n of Suggestion Systems Though cost savings and a healthier bottom line remain at the core of most programs em- ployees are often rewarded for ideas about increasing efficiency improved safety or identifying new revenue sources "Not all of the $29 million in suggestions that we received last year went to the bottom line" said Cherrie Nelson a Hercules program administrator Some suggestions just had to do with better more efficient ways of doing things she pointed out Today most companies offer monetary rewards to employees who come up with cost-savin- g ideas Mr Appelbaum said 62 percent of NASS's members offer such monetary incentives At Utah Power's parent PacifiCorp the company looks for ideas that will increase revenues said spokesman Dave Eskelsen The company tops its awards at $10000 which was what Darrell Reece of Portland Ore got last year for his idea to provide financing for upgrading elec- trical paneling in homes His idea evolved into a payment plan for homeowners and a inspection program Hercules' basic employee suggestion program recognizing that the majority of ideas do not result in thousands or millions in savings provides more modest rewards from $1250 to $50 But if an employee should come up with a substantial idea other award programs kick in to give an employee more Varian last year received about 700 suggestions from its 850 to 900 local employees "Our program will award a maximum of $2000 to an employ- ee The awards are based on 30 r saypercent of the net the to ings company" said John ' Gray human resources manager low-co- st - st home-wirin- g money-sayin- ' g :- - first-yea- Toys Games Hit Shelves But Buyers May Not Play Us WEST Exec Says Rates Reflect Quality Service erate from the premise that if a utility has good earnings prices must be too high To meet future telecommunications challenges commissioners should instead concentrate of setting fair prices for good service and leaving profits alone just like any other industry in America he said This is the issue that is rankling the Utah Public Service Commission and US WEST US WEST wants profit incentives to encourage its shareholders to invest in service and equipment improvements in Utah the commission wants to return most excess profits to customers in the form of lower rates or credits on their bills The fight is expected to lead to the Utah Supreme Court and back to the commission before its over Despite the regulatory war being fought over the company's desire for profit incentives Mr Ames believes US WEST will eventually reach accommodation with commissioners "We took a contentious approach during the mid- - to late 1980s to get forms of deregulation within our various state jurisdictions" he recalled saying company officials went around regulators and directly to legislators to get utility laws changed "Now we feel its better to work with regulators" he said - A : first-tim- e 4 N 1' ' tilitt- 0 t Salt Lake Valley - Wasatch Front realtors smiling like June brides and grooms say home sales in the Salt Lake City area are reminiscent of the boom days of the early '' I 1 TR Dowell THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE 1 1 11 Salt Lake Home Sales Jam p f 11 By Joyce Rosenberg THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK — The summer of 1991 is turning out to be a season of uncertainty for toymakers ' I The products they introduced at Toy Fair the industry's major annual trade show are just now making their way into stores but no one knows yet if they'll score with children Even if the kids like the new toys their parents are showing few signs of going on spending sprees anytime soon To throw a few more unknowns in Nintendo and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the toys that dominated the market the past few years look like they're beginning to fade Other toymakers are hoping to pick up some of the business these two giants are losing but there are no guarantees they will No matter how it all turns out industry analysts are not predicting a banner year John Taylor an analyst with - A LAI Alton & Co said sales of traditional toys — excluding video games — will probably be somewhat lower this year If you take Nintendo and other video games into account "It's more of the same Flat sales would be a decent scenario" Taylor said All is not bleak Earnings for the i t nation's toymaker Mattel Inc were up 20 percent during the first quarter while No 1 Ilasbro Inc posted a 5 percent second-larges- Steve GritttaThe Salt Lake I rtbune Gary Ames president of US WEST Communications Denver believes that traditional utility regulation is undergoing a transition to meet modern telecommunications concerns 0 "W gain But there are plenty of others struggling like Lewis Galoob Toys Tnc whose chairman was forced to resign Iasi month Sales at the Tonka Corp divisions recently acquired by Hasbro continue to slump Toymakers have been hurt for two big reasons: the recession and the huge success of Nintendo and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turties The recession taught toy companies and retailers a hard lesson: Their business is not exempt from hard economic times No one thought parents would scrimp on their children but toy sales were sluggish at Christmas and have stayed that way The nation's largest specialty toy retailer Toys R Us Inc had a disappointing holiday season and first quarter The company which r rewill announce sults later this month declined to discuss how sales are currently faring Alfred Verrecchia chief operating officer at Hasbro agreed that the recession has aversely affect- ed the business "But I think the toy industry has been much more impacted by Ninsecond-quarte- tendo" he said Nintendo and the Turtles drained billions of dollars of sales from other toys Nintendo rang up $34 billion in sales in 1990 while Playmates Toys Inc sold more than $500 million of the Turtle figures There also were hundreds of millions of dollars in sales of Turtle clothes books and games But these phenomena may have Last year while Nintendo sales were up 26 percent from 1989 they failed to reach the $41 billion the company projected 1 |