Retail and Business

The Business Record took a look at two area hotels that often host conferences to get a by-the-numbers look at the venues and find out their biggest challenges.

Gateway Hotel & Conference Center in Ames…

The U.S. economy expanded more than previously estimated in the second quarter, reflecting an improvement in the trade deficit and a pickup in household spending on utilities, Bloomberg reported.

Gross domestic product (GDP) climbed at a …

Consumer confidence fell by the most in 10 months this August, Bloomberg reported.

As households grew more pessimistic about their employment prospects and the economic outlook, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index decreased to 60.6 from …

The Iowa Department of Revenue is offering a webinar on Sept. 27 to teach business owners and bookkeepers about Iowa sales and use tax and the local option sales tax.

The webinar includes an overview …

Fewer small businesses are declaring bankruptcy nationwide, according to Equifax’s Small Business Bankruptcy Report. Bankruptcies for businesses with 100 or fewer employees shrunk in the second quarter of 2012, by nearly 17 percent from the …

The Small Business Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will present a series of free webinars on disaster preparedness this September, in conjunction with National Preparedness Month.

The webinars aim to help business owners …

Four Iowa companies landed on Inc. magazine’s annual 500|5000 list, which ranks the nation’s fastest-growing private companies.