ZEELAND — In the shadows of the COVID-19 pandemic, office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller Inc. reported a 29.1 percent drop in net sales for the fourth quarter of its 2020 fiscal year that ended May 30, 2020.

Two West Michigan cultural organizations plan to retain staff crucial to their operations with a newly awarded CARES Act grant issued by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Eight Grand Rapids technology startups are among dozens of businesses statewide selected to receive a combined $3 million from Michigan’s Tech Start Up Stabilization Fund.

The projected slide in new vehicle sales globally and nationwide paints a grim picture for the industry, but local auto dealership executives say there’s a disparity between the numbers and what they’re seeing on their lots.

Auto manufacturers, dealers and OEMs will catch a break from the busy auto show circuit this year after the COVID-19 pandemic essentially wiped out the ability to hold crowded events.

CALEDONIA — Mark “Crab” Reagan spent his morning wandering around his tattoo shop cleaning, organizing, providing a handful of clients with art consultations — pretty much anything other than actually tattooing.

The Kalamazoo Growlers are bringing baseball back to Southwest Michigan, and the organization is making up for lost time in a big way.

Owning and operating the Kalamazoo Speedway has always been a labor of love for Gary Howe — he’s never drawn a paycheck off of it in nearly two decades.

On Monday, Northwoods League baseball teams stationed in Michigan announced their plans to finally kick off the 2020 season, kickstarting the sport for the first time this year at any level in West Michigan.

International food and drink conglomerate Nestlé SA may be interested in selling a majority of its North American waters business, a portfolio that includes the Ice Mountain brand. 

Citing the effects of the nationwide COVID-19 pandemic, Howmet Aerospace Inc. recently issued a wave of layoffs at its facility in Whitehall that affected 625 of its more than 2,000 local employees.

A week that was supposed to be bustling with news and information on new office furniture products and innovations in the world of commercial design will be a lot more reserved.

Originally scheduled to kick off the 2020 season on April 9, the West Michigan Whitecaps remain in limbo along with 140 other Minor League Baseball teams across the country.

CHARLOTTE — Daryl Adams hesitated slightly when introducing himself on Monday afternoon.

After a day filled with showing commercial space to a potential client, Bryan Bench felt like his professional life had briefly returned to what it was before the disruption that came with the global COVID-19 pandemic.

When the statewide construction industry fired back up on May 7, Dan LeMore and his team at The Christman Co. had already tweaked their approach to projects in response to the nationwide COVID-19 pandemic.

Offices across West Michigan sit temporarily vacant as the current statewide COVID-19 shutdown provides a stress test for businesses and their ability to operate effectively with a homebound workforce.

As an executive of a construction and property management company licensed in 45 different states, Jennifer Boezwinkle of Rockford Construction Co. Inc. knows well the disruptions her nationwide counterparts face in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

GRAND RAPIDS — Tim Gortsema’s office at Van Andel Arena might not seem like the locale for optimal social distancing. 

As someone born and raised in Holland, Trent Ramos noticed a divide among fellow residents.

GRAND RAPIDS — If Steve Jbara needed a sign that he made the right decision in turning down a recent request to relocate his Grand Rapids-based NBA Gatorade League basketball team to Detroit, he got one rather quickly.

The recent announcement that Grand Rapids Drive founder and President Steve Jbara joined forces with Royal Oak-based startup WaitTime LLC had been five years in the making. WaitTime CEO Zachary Klima said he had leaned on Jbara for guidance since 2004 when he launched the company, which uses a proprietary system to measure crowd density around restrooms and concession stands inside arenas and venues.

GRAND RAPIDS — Mike Hughes, founder of Doorganics LLC, heard loud and clear what his customers wanted, which has the organic grocery delivery service announcing a new partnership. Hughes and his team recently unveiled a partnership with Alan Hartline, a veteran of the grocery industry and owner of Kingma’s Market, located at 2225 Plainfield in Grand Rapids. The new alliance is designed to beef up the Doorganics product line.

When it comes to communicating with donors, Marcie Hillary stresses the importance of simply staying silent.

When it comes to statewide budgeting, arts and cultural organizations often are considered a luxury and not a necessity.

Lifting what essentially proved to be a chokehold on charitable giving remains one of the primary policy issues that statewide nonprofit executives will focus on in 2016.

Last month, the fund announced that it had awarded $8.5 million, disbursed via 29 community foundations across Michigan. Of that money, just shy of $2 million landed in West Michigan, earmarked for initiatives that were outlined in each respective foundation’s grant proposal.

The Grand Rapids Community Foundation is fortifying an effort that allows nonprofit and for-profit organizations to tap into the institutional knowledge of retirement-age individuals.

Our LGBT Fund hit a milestone to close out 2015 when it announced its first grant of $20,000 to a collaborative program involving Arbor Circle and the Lesbian Gay Community Network of West Michigan (The Network).