Newspaper Page Text
Business & Industry
Forsyth County News Thursday. December 18.2003 Izl
Unemployment
rate basically
stagnant in
Forsyth County
From staff reports
Forsyth County’s unemployment
rate remained static and its work
force increased slightly from
September to October, according to
the most recent figures released by
the Georgia Department of Labor.
However, its October unemploy
ment rate was a full percentage point
below October 2002.
Forsyth County’s unemployment
rate was 3.2 percent in October, no
change from September but a 1.0
percent drop from the October 2002
rate of 4.2 percent.
Its October labor force of 62,355
included 60,384 employed and 1,971
unemployed, the labor department
reported. In September, a labor force
of 62,021 included 60,035 employed
and 1,986 unemployed.
The October 2002 labor force
totaled 60,781, including 58,242
employed and 2,539 unemployed.
The changes during the month
fell in line with the rest of the
Georgia Mountains region, where the
total workforce increased from
253,892 in September to 254,137 in
October and the total number of
unemployed persons decreased from
8,660 to 8,202. The total unemploy
ment rate for the region dropped
from 3.4 percent to 3.2 percent.
In counties surrounding Forsyth,
the following numbers were reported
for the total labor force and unem
ployment rate in October:
• Cherokee 87,562 [3.6 percent];
• Dawson 10,953 [2.7 percent];
• Gwinnett 386,145 [3.8 percent];
• Hall 80,136 [3.2 percent];
• Fulton 441,544 [5.3 percent].
The cities of Roswell and
Alpharetta, however, had unemploy
ment rates of 2.0 percent each far
below the county wide rate in Fulton,
the labor department reported.
Officials reported statewide
increases in the job market with the
addition of 4,900 jobs during the
month. They attributed the increase
to helping lower the unemployment
rate from 4.6 percent to 4.4 percent.
“The addition of nearly 5,000
jobs statewide and the decline in
unemployment is welcome news,”
said State Labor Commissioner
Michael Thurmond. “As meager as
these changes are, they represent
movement in the right direction.
“The number of unemployed
Georgians still stands at nearly
20,000, and some of our larger
employers, such as Brown &
Williamson, Lithonia Lighting,
Siemens, Kmart and John Harland
have announced future layoffs. So
we’re not out of the woods yet.”
See RATE, Page 2B
Land reverts to
agricultural
when Target deal
falls through
By Kim Ash
Staff Writer
The Forsyth County Board of
Commissioners Monday voted to
approve the rezoning of 50.57 acres
on Peachtree Parkway from commer
cial business district to agricultural
because a deal to build a Target store
on the property did not go through.
Edward D. Wright, property
owner, did not want to be responsible
for property taxes on commercial
property if there would be no com
mercial development, District 2
Commissioner A.J. Pritchett said.
Wright’s property sits on
Peachtree Parkway [Hwy. 141] about
a half-mile north of Granite Lane
near the Johns Creek area, according
to county records.
The Target store is planned to be
built north of the Wright site at
Peachtree Parkway and Brookwood
Road.
The board also approved the
request to amend zoning conditions
placed on 30.93 acres on Old Atlanta
Road.
Emory Lipscomb had requested
the rezoning, on behalf of Hillside
Estates, LLC, to change buffer
requirements, on the property from 50
to 35 feet.
Economists: More recoveiy in ’O4
But manufacturing and construction jobs will decline
By Todd Truelove
Staff Writer
Economists say the overall out
look for 2004 is that the economy
will continue to recover on both
local and national levels. However,
they also predict jobs in the manu
facturing and construction industries
will decline.
“Georgia showed a pretty good
growth that was consistent with
what was expected by most of the
state and region economists,” said
John Lawrence, the assistant direc
tor of work force information and
analysis with Georgia’s Department
of Labor.
Jeff Humphreys, the economic
Concetta making dreams come true at Exotic Bazaar
By Kim Ash
Staff Writer
Forsyth County resident Laura
Concetta came to America and
made her dreams come true.
The 39-year old fashion design
er creates European-inspired cloth
ing and sells it in the store she
opened earlier this year in south
Forsyth.
Concetta, a native of Cape
Town, South Africa, came to the
United States with her family about
10 years ago. She has lived in
Forsyth County for about five years
with her husband, an Atlanta native.
Concetta said she has been
interested in fashion design for as
long as she can remember.
“I used to make my doll’s
clothes when I was little,” she said.
“I didn’t used to know how to sew
very well, but now I do,” she said.
“My mother is a painter and I am
an artist with my clothing designs.”
Concetta’s father is of Italian
descent, so she finds much of her
inspiration from Italian and
European designs. She said she
loves anything with frilly lace and
lots of details.
Concetta opened her store,
Exotic Bazaar, off McFarland Road
in south Forsyth, in April of this
year, she said.
She said she wanted to bring the
uniqueness of the clothing to shop
pers north of Atlanta.
“I looked at areas like Buckhead
and decided, ‘Why bring the store
where everything is already?,” she
said.
Concetta’s family owns two
other Exotic Bazaar stores in
Minnesota, making a total of three
locations in the U.S. She said she
has plans to open up more loca
tions by herself or with her mother
...
IJQ ®
I \ I
wk we
Photo/Audra Perry
From left, Sam Billingsley, a certified mentor and trouble
shooter with CMIT Solutions, assists client Dave Miller
with his computer as Pavan Funk, who owns the busi
ness with her husband, Robert, looks on. Computer
mentor businesses have sprung up throughout the metro
and Forsyth County areas since more businesses and
individuals began hiring outside their home offices for
assistance in setting up and using their computers.
Forsyth County News Thursday, December 18,2003
forecasting director of the Selig
Center for Economic Growth at the
University of Georgia Terry College
of Business, agreed.
“We are very optimistic about
2004,” Humphreys said. “Georgia’s
recovery started to pick up steam
back in April. The type of growth
we’re going to see won’t be spectac
ular, but it won’t be the same type of
sluggish economy.”
“The forecast is looking good
that’s the first time I’ve been able to
say that in the last three years,” he
said.
For the past three years, the
United States has been experiencing
an economic recession, primarily
because of a slowdown in business
Exotic
Bazaar
Exotic Bazaar
1525
McFarland Rd.
Alpharetta, GA
30005
(770) 667-6560
added into the
collection.
Concetta sells some of her clothing
designs in those stores as well, she
said.
Concetta said she wanted to call
the store Exotic Bazaar because it
denotes bringing all cultures
together.
“‘Exotic’ means foreign,”’ she
said. “‘Bazaar’ means ‘market
place.’”
All people can relate to the
store, she said.
She said the store, comprised of
90 percent of her own clothing
designs, carries women’s clothing
accessories and small furniture
pieces. The store sells dresses, jack
ets, skirts and tops, all pieces that
are European-inspired, but designed
modem for today’s style, she said.
Concetta said she makes her
clothing designs with trimmings
and embellishments that mirror the
Victorian era in Europe.
She began sewing when she was
very young and started supplying
stores in
Cape Town with her designs,
she said.
She then went to school at the
European School of Fashion Design
in Johannesburg, South Africa, and
graduated in 1986. She said it was
at school where she gained skill to
polish up her sewing and designing.
See BAZAA/?, Page 2B
66
The forecast is
looking good -
that's the first
time I've been
able to say that in
the last three
years.
Jeff
spending, according to Lawrence
who said businesses had purchased
most of their new equipment in prior
years and did not need to update
their facilities.
W 1 ■ Mn t
J r iiMI
I I £9 WJI
ft
If I <
1J J
Hl
A ■YjMfflß
•g -****■» ’ i
I oh if" ■
Photo/David McGregor
Laura Concetta, owner of Exotic Bazaar in Alpharetta, smiles as
she stands amongher favorite things, European and Victorian
inspired clothing she designed herself.
some day.
She said
her mother’s
store has pro
ducts with the
same Europe
an style, ex
cept with her
mother’s
paintings
Companies go looking outside
walls for experts on computers
By Kim Ash
Staff Writer
Businesses and individuals in the
United States have begun to look outside
their companies or homes for assistance
to set up computers or be trained on the
systems, and according to local computer
businesses that send out mentors, the
trend is a growing one in Cumming.
Individuals may hire a computer men
tor to come into their home, or businesses
may choose to look outside their group of
paid workers to hire a mentor.
Most companies that mentor hire
technicians who go into the residence or
business to assist in setting up a comput
er, network, Web page, or simply to teach
how to use a computer. Mentors can
assist the client with minor to major com
puter needs.
Qsource Networks, a computer con
sultant company on Canton Road in
Cumming, hires contracted technicians
who mentor and serve the needs of busi
nesses locally, statewide and nationwide,
according to a director of the company.
According to Len Boyer, director of
business services at Qsource, the econo
my’s current shape forces companies to
look for a cheaper alternative to hiring
someone in an office to oversee the com
puters and networking.
Boyer explained a business saves a
substantial amount of dollars when it can
hire the outside mentor, rather than pay a
person on board full-time to keep track of
the company’s network.
“The consumer was never really
the problem in this recession,”
Lawrence said. “Business spending
was what caused many of these
problems. The consumer kept the
economy going at the levels that it
did.”
Humphreys said the same,
adding payrolls also were reduced.
“Each and every quarter, con
sumer spending increased,”
Humphreys said. “The business sec
tor stopped buying equipment and
reduced payrolls.”
However, Humphreys said indi
cators imply that trend is on the
turnaround.
See RECOVERY, Page 2B
66
If companies spend a
little up front, it saves
them time and
money.
Jay Ryerse
66
“In these uncertain economical times,
corporate America is looking to cut costs
but they can’t afford to cut internal sup
port personnel and systems,” said Boyer.
“One internal area which is highly vul
nerable to cuts is the internal IT [infor
mation technology] departments,” he
said.
Consultants and mentors provide the
services companies are searching for
while saving money within the business,
Boyer said.
Qsource Networks has been in busi
ness for about three years and serves the
needs of business clients and some local
nonprofit organizations, said Boyer.
The company currently employs about
eight individuals, with four of the
employees acting as technicians. The
company currently services a total of
about 40 clients, Boyer said.
Two Tech Guys, a Forsyth County
based business located on Tribble Gap
Road in Cumming, mentors in homes and
businesses.
According to a representative of the
See EXPERTS, Page 2B
b