Cheers to this year's Women Who Mean Business honorees

Happy Friday, LinkedIn community. Several local businesswomen have an extra reason to celebrate today: We announced our latest group of Women Who Mean Business honorees this week.

The Sacramento Business Journal's Women Who Mean Business awards recognize the most prominent women in the region's business and nonprofit worlds. This year's honorees represent industries such as banking, health care and legal services.

Women Who Mean Business is one of my favorite awards programs. I've watched the honorees form personal and professional bonds that extend beyond the awards luncheon.

Most importantly, I always admire how these women acknowledge their successes, but are also candid about the challenges they faced along the way.

Click here to see our Women Who Mean Business honorees for 2024.

And don't miss these other local business headlines, either.

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Latest on area's largest shopping center

Reporter Jacob Abbott covered two big stories this week involving the Westfield Galleria at Roseville, which is the Sacramento area's largest shopping center.

First: A clothing retailer with stores worldwide is planning to open its first area location at the Galleria.

Japan-based UNIQLO — which specializes in casual apparel and accessories for men, women and children — recently filed plans with the city of Roseville seeking permits to renovate an approximately 11,200-square-foot space at 1151 Galleria Blvd., Suite 109. Read more

Also: Los Angeles-based fast-fashion retailer Forever 21 is closing its store in the Galleria, leaving behind a 32,790-square-foot space that spans two stories in the mall's west wing area — an outdoor promenade that includes a combination of retailers and restaurants.

Jennifer Crowley, marketing director for the Galleria, said the retailer will close the location at the end of March. Read more

Kaiser files plans for Railyards hospital

Kaiser Permanente is making big moves toward fulfilling its plan to build a hospital in the Sacramento Railyards. Plans for the project were filed with the city planning department earlier this month, showing what the hospital at 105 Bercut Drive could look like.

The project will be required to go before the city Planning and Design Commission for approval of the tentative map, site plan and design review and conditional use permit. Kaiser is also seeking approvals for the hospital building with state regulators.

Learn more in this article by reporter Emily Hamann .

Landscape design firm closes San Francisco office

A Sacramento-based landscape architecture firm has closed its San Francisco office.

Wilson Design Studio owner Keith Wilson said after three years, he realized he wasn't getting the traction necessary to make it worth keeping an outpost in the larger city.

"We weren't filling our pipeline up," said Wilson, who closed the firm's San Francisco office at the end of February. "Growing up in Sacramento, San Francisco was the shiny object, and it just never worked." Read more

Blue Diamond Growers lays off 38 workers

Blue Diamond Growers has completed a round of layoffs, and is “right-sizing” after a tough couple of years for the California almond industry.

The Sacramento-based almond growers cooperative confirmed in a statement to the Business Journal that it recently eliminated 38 corporate positions.

“Marketplace headwinds coupled with industry challenges have made it difficult for many Blue Diamond growers to remain financially viable," the statement said. Read more

Walmart closing a local Neighborhood Market store

Retail giant 沃尔玛 is planning to close one of its local Neighborhood Market grocery stores next month.

The company's location at 4080 Douglas Blvd. in Granite Bay is set to shutter on April 12, according to the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer. Walmart Neighborhood Markets, which were first introduced in 1998, are smaller-footprint stores for the chain. Read more

Your weekly restaurant roundup

Here are some of this week's biggest headlines from food and drink reporter Jacob Abbott .

First: An incoming operator of a Rancho Cordova Barrel District distillery is planning to be the state's only producer of a hard-to-find Vietnamese rice liquor. Read more

Also: An occupied restaurant space in Roseville's Creekside Town Center has been put on the market for lease, raising questions about the future of its current longtime tenant. Read more

Also: The operators of Lincoln-based entertainment and bar venue Get Axed are closing their original location as they shift focus to their next project in Roseville. Read more

Thanks for reading our Weekly Edition, which was compiled by Managing Editor Sonya Sorich. Send feedback and news tips to [email protected].