D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
June
2009
For the Birds — and More
Wild Birds Unlimited offers wildlife supplies and gifts for nature lovers of all breeds. Plus: AT&T buys Alltel customers, Flowerings owner transplanted, two car dealers get bad news and more business developments.
"One of our customers told us that we changed her life. In a way it's just birdseed and stuff, but it's more than that, too," says Kristi Lane, co-owner with her husband, Wes, of the Wild Birds Unlimited nature shop in Las Cruces.
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Kristi and Wes Lane pose with their dog near some of the bird-lover
merchandise in their Wild Birds Unlimited store in Las Cruces.
(Photo by Donna Clayton) |
Wes Lane chimes in, adding, "It's about the customers. Our customers are the best. They come in and tell us the most amazing, amusing stories about what's going on in their backyards. We really get to know our customers."
Standing amid a plethora of bird feeders and bird houses, bags and bags of birdseed and colorful gift items, the Lanes talk about the business they opened on Lohman Avenue in August 2007.
"Well, we were looking for something low-stress and fun," says Kristi. "And we sure as heck found it!"
Wild Birds Unlimited is a nationwide chain with nearly 300 stores across North America. The Lanes bought their WBU license, laid in their customized stock, and today employ three staffers as well as themselves.
"It's a very successful operation and they give you a great formula, their years of experience and research. But everything is customized to what we want it to be — what kind of birds and wildlife are in our area, what we want to focus on," she adds. "We are focused on our desert location, our weather, our trees and native birds."
Most of their customers are local, they agree, coming from all over southwest New Mexico and western Texas. Some come from quite a bit farther afield — and the Las Cruces WBU has goodies that will be useful in their backyards back home, Kristi says. But Wes says it's the locals who show up week after week to buy more seed, drink coffee and chat with other backyard birders about their feathered visitors. A whiteboard in one section of the store allows customers to record their nature sightings, what kind of birds they've recently seen.
"It gets to be a social thing," Wes adds with a smile. "People love to talk about the birds that are coming to their yards, what they put out to attract them."
He says he's happy to stand behind the quality of all the WBU products his store sells, especially the lines of seeds and feeds. "It's all clean, fresh seed," he says. "We get a new shipment each week. I know it's the best stuff around."
Kristi walks around the huge pile of 20-pound bags stacked in a circle at the front of the store. Small sample trays give the customer a look at the components in each specially blended mix.
"I ask people, 'What do you have in your yard now and what do you want to see?'" she says. Too many doves? Get a seed blend without milo. Doves and those common sparrows will eat milo, causing them to flock to the feeder, but other birds cast out milo as waste. Cut out milo and your feeder will draw other, more interesting and colorful birds and cost you less to keep the feeders full, as well, with less seed going to waste.
A bag of hulled sunflower seeds might seem pricey, at first, but then Kristi points out that you're not paying for the hulls and the seed will go further. The sunflowers also will not germinate, eliminating mess.
There also are spiral wire feeders that look like holiday wreaths. Filled with peanuts still in the shell, the feeders provide a special treat and challenge to jays and entertainment to the backyard birder, who gets to watch the birds' antics as they pull the shelled nuts through the wire loops.
And, of course, hummingbird feeders abound at WBU.
"We have so many wonderful hummingbirds here! Such variety!" Kristi exclaims.
Wes Lane points out a new product, "Jim's Birdacious Bark Butter," developed by WBU's founder, Jim Carpenter. A blend of beef suet, peanut butter and corn, the stuff can be smeared right on the trunk or branch of a tree or slathered into specially drilled hanging feeders made from tree branches. The powerhouse food attracts chickadees, nuthatches, catbirds, cardinals, mockingbirds, wrens, woodpeckers, towhees, brown creepers, grosbeaks, robins and more.
Kristi pulls one after another of the store's wide selection of birdhouses off the wall, extolling the special features and virtues of each. She opens a side panel of one designed to draw and house northern flickers.
"There's sawdust in here because they like to excavate their area, so this give them a head start," she says. All the birdhouses have panels to open for easy cleaning.
The store also sells lots of backyard and nature-themed gift items, like rain gauges, thermometers and yard decorations. WBU offers all-natural odor-neutralizing products by Fresh Wave, and a line of natural pet food products — a lot of nature lovers also have domestic pets, Kristi points out.
The store also sells a wide array of birdbaths, many with solar-powered fountains built in. And a colorful selection of plush toys and other gifts for kids are designed to cultivate a love of nature.
"It's a wonderful hobby, and very life-enhancing," Kristi says of birdwatching. She reflects on the customer who credited the Lanes' store with changing her life.
"She'd lost her husband and was feeling depressed," Kristi recalls. "She came here and got some seed for her mother, who was living in assisted living. Then she started putting it out at her own home, and she started noticing the birds. It created something for her to look forward to, to see the birds come back and enjoy them.
"Hearing that story made me so proud of what we do and what our products can do for people."
Wild Birds Unlimited, 2001 E. Lohman Ave., Suite 130, Las Cruces, 523-5489.
Open 9 a.m-6 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays.
Goodbye, Alltel, Hello, AT&T
If you're an Alltel customer in Grant County, get ready to be switched to AT&T. As first reported on the Desert Exposure Web site, in a multi-billion dollar deal expected to close by the fourth quarter of 2009, AT&T Wireless acquired 1.5 million former Alltel customers in 18 states, including New Mexico. The switchover will ultimately mean new rate plans and new phones for current Alltel customers, since AT&T uses an incompatible technology. On the upside, Grant County customers will gain access to AT&T's 3G data network and be able to use the popular Apple iPhone. The deal was a spin-off from Verizon's acquisition of Alltel, in which Verizon was required to jettison certain Alltel assets for competitive reasons. The transaction adds customers and enhances network coverage and is expected to deliver substantial long-term stockholder value. During the transition to AT&T, Alltel customers will remain on their existing rate plans. Verizon subscribers who were customers prior to the acquisition of Alltel can relax — you won't be affected.
Going, Going, Gone
Flowerings, the florist and gift shop on Yankie Street in Silver City, has closed. The shop is empty and a For Rent sign is posted. Vickie Sexton bought the business just over a year ago. Last this reporter heard from Sexton, she and her husband were moving to Albuquerque, where he hopes to get into radiology school. Sexton says she liquidated most of her inventory and donated her floral cooler to Gila Regional Medical Center. She had hopes to sell her hospital route but was tight-lipped due to negotiations still in process last month. Sexton reported that she retained the legal rights to the company name, "holding the door open to reopen the business under that name in a couple of years if things work out that way." 215 W. Yankie St.
Two local car dealerships are affected by the nationwide restructuring of the auto business. Scott Nichols Motors in Silver City is losing its General Motors affiliation, as reported in The Albuquerque Journal. The dealership says it will continue in business as a Toyota dealer. And Sandoval Dodge in Las Cruces is being closed by Chrysler after 40 years.
Although management at Pat Goff's Appliance and TV Warehouse in Las Cruces announced last month that the business was remodeling for an inventory downgrade, remaking itself into a strictly discount appliance outlet specializing in "scratch-n-dent" items, it now seems unlikely to reopen. General manager Jim Jenkins had originally said Goff's extreme makeover would take about four months, but now says he doesn't know when or if business will resume. Eight of the store's nine employees were laid off, with Jenkins being relocated to Pat Goff's remaining store in El Paso. The company's building at 1333 E. Amador Ave. is now listed for sale or lease with Steinborn/TCN Commercial Real Estate.
On Hold. . .
Thanks to the sluggish economy, plans to bring a Holiday Inn to the Mesilla Valley Mall are on hold. Ed Garland with Garland Realty and Development, one of the originators of the planned project, blamed the current financial climate and confirmed that the site, which used to house a Bealls department store, is for sale. Garland adds that the idea is not yet dead, and that he is working with Holiday Inn and hopes to find a partner to bring the project to completion.
New in Town
Arminder Kaur has registered a new company, Advantageous Community Services, doing business as Imagine, LLC, at 1214 Bennett St. in Silver City. The company offers residential and community services for people with developmental disabilities. (505) 489-7196, (505) 480-8615.
David Miller, a designer with more than 20 years experience in the industry who has just completed a project with the Salvador Dali Museum in Florida, has opened Ignition Group, a new design firm at 909 W. Amador Ave. in Las Cruces. 405-8632.
Got grime? Find out! Brothers Carlos and Frank Bueno have opened Bueno Air Duct Services, a Las Cruces business that uses a special camera system to show you just how dirty your air ducts are, then cleans said ducts with a special rotating Rotobrush system. The cleanings can take three to five hours, depending on the size of the house, and you can watch — via the cameras — if you wish. 571-8416.
Mesilla has a new grocery store. San Pasqual, selling fresh organic fruits and vegetables, baked goods, ice cream, coffee, sandwiches and more, has opened its doors at 2488 Calle de Guadalupe, in the same building as A Hair & Body Shop. The store will sell single servings of enchiladas, beans and rice and salsas from Andele Restaurante.
David Trejo has opened Go Green Nursery and Landscaping at 126 E. Amador Ave. in Las Cruces, offering a variety of trees, plants and nursery materials. 524-0045.
Tanya Gallardo has opened Pimpinelas, a home-based daycare business at 470 El Prado Ave. in Las Cruces. Gallardo has worked with young-uns for more than 15 years, and offers breakfast, two snacks and lunch — all homemade — at her new facility. Activities are designed to help children develop their motor skills as well as practicing letters and numbers, according to their needs and ages. 496-4632.
Two new businesses offering therapeutic benefits have just opened. Rhonda Hipp has started A New Spirit, a business that will enable people with autism to ride horses for the therapeutic benefits she has observed. The horses are her own and the business is based at her home, 41 Homestake Road in Mesquite, 496-3450.
And Nannette Boyce, owner of the three Discovery Child Centers in Las Cruces, has opened a new location in Anthony. The company handles infant and toddler care, and has pre-kindergarten and after-school programs as well. 107 Discovery Lane, 882-3700.
Bigger and Better
Tyrone Mercantile is growing and developing. The multi-vendor venue located next to the post office in Tyrone recently was renamed and is gathering strength with new vendors and a varied business and marketing plan. Organizer Faith Calloway says outside vendors are more of the flea-market variety, focusing on bargains aplenty, while the indoor merchants are "more upscale" in their wares. Calloway also reports that a Tyrone museum is in the works and that the mercantile will be incorporating various community services, such as diabetic screenings, to offer more to browsers and shoppers. Tyrone Mercantile is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. To find out more or to become a vendor, call Calloway at 534-3911.
Don't go around shaggy! Emilio Perez has opened a fifth Milo's Barber Shop at 1434 Missouri Ave. in Las Cruces.
FirstLight Federal Credit Union has broken ground for a new branch to be built at Fort Bliss in El Paso. The company already has three facilities in the Las Cruces area and five in El Paso. More than 6,000 square feet of the new 16,000-square-foot building will house a state-of-the-art USO for the soldiers, with an Internet cafe, refreshment area, pool tables, a theater room and more. The facility is slated to open in early 2010.
On the Move. . .
Crystal Star Gift and Boutique in Mesilla has moved from the Don Felix Plaza, near the Mesilla Plaza, to 1701 Calle de Mercado. The quaint shop sells a variety of giftable items, such as jewelry, pottery and stained-glass panels. 541-9541.
After 20 years in its location at 925 S. Walnut St. in Las Cruces, Del Valle Printing has moved to a smaller space at 266 W. Court Ave. Company owner Jud Wright says technological advancements have allowed him to shrink his staff and that he and his wife, Anna Perez-Wright, wanted to be nearer the art community and involved with the downtown revitalization project. The company handles jobs from small to large, including banners and large-format printing. 526-6101.
After 10 years on Lohman Avenue, commercial real estate company Grubb & Ellis has moved to 201 N. Church St. in Las Cruces. Managing director Rick Stoes has been involved with the city's downtown revitalization project and reports he is happy the move puts his company right in the heart of the project.
Western Heritage Bank is preparing to move to new, larger quarters in the lot adjacent to its current Las Cruces location at 230 S. Alameda Blvd. The bank bought the land with the intention of putting up a new building, but that won't start for a year. The company recently renamed itself, as well. It formerly was the Mesilla Valley Bank.