Business Journal: Golden Road Brewing, Costco, Goodwill, Swim Schools

It looks like a Southern California beer maker is getting closer to opening a site in midtown Sacramento. The Sacramento Business Journal's Digital Editor Sonya Sorich says Golden Road Brewing has submitted plans to Sacramento's building department.

"This is the Los Angeles-based brewer. They plan to bring a beer garden to the former City Suds laundromat site in midtown. And Golden Road would use shipping containers for that midtown location," says Sorich.

Golden Road was acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2015 and that's triggered debate in the beer community about corporate ties and local breweries. The former laundromat - City Suds at L and 18th streets - was recently demolished.

Retail warehouse giant Costco may soon be opening a site in Loomis. Sorich says the store could open by the 2018 holiday shopping season.

"It would be on the southeast corner of Sierra College Boulevard and Brace Road," says Sorich. "And even though there are other Costco locations in the Sacramento area, this could be a huge gain for Loomis since officials expect that the store would get lots of shoppers from Interstate 80."

Loomis town officials this week were looking at potential companies to conduct an environmental impact report of the building site. There's no official word from Costco yet. A representative says the company does not comment on potential future locations.

Goodwill is getting ready to open its 31st thrift store in the Sacramento Valley and Northern Nevada. It'll be in the former Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op building on Alhambra Boulevard. Sorich says the store will be similar to Goodwill's midtown site on L Street.

"It's supposed to have a neighborhood store format," says Sorich. "Basically those involved in Goodwill say it's a combination of both the boutique format and the traditional format. This new store will have an urban feel and it will be geared toward midtown shoppers."

The store is expected to open in late September. Secondhand stores got a lot of new customers when the economy was struggling. But even though the economy has improved, many of those shoppers have stuck around, including young people.

If you're thinking about taking swimming lessons, you'll have a lot of schools to choose from in the Sacramento area. Sorich says the indoor swim-school industry is booming.

"At least three of these businesses are in the works locally," says Sorich. "We have Little Whale Swim School on El Camino Avenue, SwimLabs in the El Dorado Hills business park and SafeSplash Swim School in Elk Grove."

The number of businesses offering indoor swim lessons is apparently growing nationwide too. A trade publication attributes the growth to: more people trying to stay healthy and avoiding the risk of drowning. And since many of these schools are franchise chains, entrepreneurs see them as a lucrative business opportunity.