Movers and Shakers, Dec. 15

Open houses, market closing, donations and more|

Market leaving: The two-story building currently occupied by La Morenita Market 2 at 17400 Sonoma Highway is available for lease. There is retail space downstairs with an office/storage upstairs and an elevator. The listing says “this opportunity is located along the highly traveled Sonoma Highway, the gateway road into the prime Wine Country. A large school is directly behind this market which can bring in plenty of customers. It is ideally located within a large residential neighborhood with plenty of foot and vehicular traffic.” The building owners run the market and seek a tenant to take over the space.

Open house: Sonoma Roadside shops are hosting a holiday open house on Saturday, Dec. 16. Sondra Bernstein’s Rhone Room will be serving and selling wine, the Fig Rig will be serving food and both the Fat Pilgrim and Harvest Home will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Springs building for sale: The Highway 12 building that once housed Universal Auto Repair has been spiffed up and is now for sale for $1.2 million. The .3-acre property at 16903 Sonoma Highway has a 1,400 square foot house on it as well as the office and garage space.

Retail space on Broadway: The space formerly occupied by Sonoma Valley Cyclery is now up for lease. Formerly a hardware store took up the entire block but the site was renovated in 1995 to accommodate up to three retail tenants (one of whom is Cafe Mac). Available for lease is the bicycle store’s two units totalling 3,100 sq. ft.

Westom leaving: Jonny Westom, executive director of the Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau, is leaving the SVVB, and resigning his board positions with Sonoma County Tourism and the Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance. Westom has accepted a new position as executive director of Visit Dana Point, California. Westom, his wife and young son are relocating to Southern California. Gary Saperstein will serve as interim executive director while a replacement is sought.

Realtors helping: The local chapter of realtors in Sonoma Valley has long been a supporter of education. In addition to providing scholarships to graduating seniors, the group this year has donated $5,000 to the performing arts programs at Sonoma Valley’s two middle schools.

Fire donation: Mary’s Pizza Shack has donated $47,778 to the North Bay Fire Relief Fund at Redwood Credit Union. On three Tuesdays in November, Mary’s held fundraisers at all of its 19 locations, where 15 percent of total sales went to North Bay Fire Relief efforts. “It was great to see such a strong community response,” said Vince Albano, Mary’s grandson and CEO of Mary’s Pizza Shack. In addition, through Dec. 31, whenever a guest spends $50 on gift cards, Mary’s Pizza Shack is donating $5 to the North Bay Fire Relief Fund as well as giving the purchaser a $10 gift card. To assist in local food pantry needs, Mary’s also collected canned good donations in each of its 11 Sonoma County stores.

Safeway donation: After the fires, the Redwood Empire Food Bank (REFB) offered drive-through distribution sites throughout Sonoma County. The REFB received a $500,000 donation from the Safeway Foundation to strengthen this emergency response. Safeway has also been collecting register donations to benefit local disaster relief organizations, and in 20 days Safeway and its sister stores, Vons, Pavilions and Albertsons, helped raise more than $5 million in donations, and its Foundation matched the first $500,000 donated by customers. Safeway is also partnering with Hormel Foods to donate 1,000 fresh hams to the REFB for distribution to those affected, just in time for the holidays.

Raceway event: Hundreds enjoyed Sonoma Raceway’s Laps of Appreciation on Dec. 12. The event, which was highlighted by rides in emergency vehicles around the raceway’s 12-turn road course, was designed to give the community an opportunity to thank public safety personnel involved in the response to October’s fires. The fundraiser generated more than $72,600 for the Sonoma County Resilience Fund and the Redwood Valley and Santa Rosa Community Recovery Fund.

Send business news to lorna.sheridan@sonomanews.com.

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