The experience of living through the COVID-19 pandemic and helping manage a small business during a (hopefully) once-in-a-lifetime crisis has me leaning heavily on lessons I learned decades ago chasing winter steelhead with my dad on the Manistee River. 

GRAND RAPIDS — Former Lakeshore Advantage CEO Randy Thelen is returning to West Michigan to lead regional economic development firm The Right Place Inc.

HOLLAND TOWNSHIP — An award-winning spirits brand backed by the DeVos family is relocating to West Michigan from Washington, D.C.

FRUITPORT TWP. — Federal action expected tomorrow will move the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians one step closer to being able to develop a $180 million casino on land it owns in Muskegon Country.

PENINSULA TOWNSHIP — A group of Northern Michigan wineries and a trade group representing them have filed a federal lawsuit against Peninsula Township alleging that their businesses are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars per year because of the municipality’s allegedly unconstitutional ordinances.

SCOTTS — The owners of a Southwest Michigan meat processing company and cattle operation say the businesses have fallen victim to the tight credit market brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

GRAND RAPIDS — Waséyabek Development Co., the non-gaming economic development arm of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Indians, continues to build out its portfolio of companies with the acquisition of a Muskegon-based manufacturer. 

BRIMLEY — The Bay Mills Indian Community views the marijuana industry as a key way for the tribe to diversify its economy, which has been devastated by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

SAULT STE. MARIE — Lume Cannabis Co. has figured out a way to open retail marijuana dispensaries within communities that have blocked businesses that participate in Michigan’s adult-use market. 

More than four months into the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan’s 12 federally recognized tribes have fared better from a health care perspective than many other Native American tribes nationally.

As a citizen of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians and CEO of its non-gaming enterprise, Kurtis Trevan wants to leverage other corporations’ diversity and inclusion goals to the economic benefit of his fellow tribe members, as well as further the tribe’s own inclusionary spending. 

In mid March of this year, all 24 of Michigan’s tribally operated casinos fell silent, their more than 22,280 slot machines spitting out their final paydays for lucky patrons or taking one last injection of cash for the house.

GRAND RAPIDS — A partnership of Mason Asset Management and Namdar Realty Group has acquired the majority of the assets of Goodrich Quality Theaters Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February. 

Republic National Distributing Co. has agreed to pay $3 million to settle a dispute with the state over dozens of violations that led to widespread liquor shortages in November and December of 2019. 

As they’ve taken steps to diversify their revenues away from casinos in recent years, Michigan’s Native American tribes have built growing business ventures that in 2019 contributed nearly $288.8 million to the state economy. 

KENTWOOD — A Cleveland-based developer with properties elsewhere in Michigan has made its first entry into the greater Grand Rapids market with the purchase of an industrial complex from office furniture maker Knoll Inc. 

After a brief hiatus from the market, one of the pioneering brands in the Michigan craft beer industry will once again be back on store shelves. 

REED CITY — A pilot project spearheaded by global food processor General Mills Inc. aims to help improve the stability of dairy farms, starting with a trio of West Michigan operations and a focus on regenerative agricultural practices. 

GRAND RAPIDS — A federal contracting firm owned by Waséyabek Development Co. LLC has begun work on a five-year, $161 million contract with the Department of Energy to provide site operations and support services at three National Energy Technology Laboratory locations. 

West Michigan restaurant and bar owners who are preparing to reopen June 8 under the state’s new rules and capacity restrictions can look to their up north colleagues for clues as to how the new process will go. 

BYRON CENTER — People eating at home during the pandemic has been a boon for sales at grocery retailer and distributor SpartanNash Co.

GRAND RAPIDS — Office furniture maker Steelcase Inc. has called back most of its manufacturing workforce from temporary layoffs as it gets back to work to fulfill around $700 million in customer order backlogs. 

KALAMAZOO — The 121-year-old Continental Linen Services Inc. helps customers keep their workplaces sanitary and clean. 

KALAMAZOO — Even as construction and development projects came to a halt for several weeks as states and the nation reacted to the spread of COVID-19, Seven Generations Architecture & Engineering LLC has remained busy. 

PORTAGE — The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated a series of changes that could fundamentally shift the commercial real estate market in the months ahead. 

Bars and restaurants that want to open outdoor service areas can now take advantage of a streamlined permitting process through the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. 

The Michigan Liquor Control Commission has returned nearly $3.4 million to licensees as part of a liquor buyback program to support bars and restaurants during the state-mandated closure to curb the spread of COVID-19. 

GRAND RAPIDS — Restaurant operator Meritage Hospitality Group Inc. said today that it declined millions in loans under a federal coronavirus relief program intended for small businesses. 

THREE OAKS — Other than the early days of launching Journeyman Distillery LLC, founder Bill Welter cannot recall a more difficult business environment than the present.

GRAND RAPIDS — Technology firms like Carnevale ID Inc. are designed to react quickly to changes and create new innovations for clients.