News in brief

PB Commercial ends Saturday editions

The Pine Bluff Commercial published its last Saturday edition today, the newspaper said in a front page letter to readers on Friday.

Print media, like most businesses, are facing challenges, Publisher Ed Graves said in the letter. The Commercial is seeking "to remain relevant, viable and profitable," Graves said.

Management of the paper began considering ending the Saturday print edition around the middle of April, John Worthen, the paper's managing editor, said in an interview.

"It was quite a planning process to get up to the point to where we were able to feasibly shut down [Saturday's print edition]," Worthen said.

The "big wrinkle" was the understanding that stories of popular Friday night sports events would not be printed on Saturdays, Worthen said. But the Commercial will publish the stories online and on its Facebook page, Worthen said.

-- David Smith

Store to fill vacancy in River Market area

A new retail establishment styled as an old-time general mercantile store with a contemporary flair has found a home in the River Market District.

The bARn Mercantile will be open in August in the Melton Building on the southeast corner of President Clinton Avenue and LaHarpe Boulevard, said Morgan Maxwell, marketing director for Moses Tucker Real Estate, which negotiated the lease.

The store will be in a spot that was occupied for a dozen years by Ten Thousand Villages, which was part of a national retail nonprofit chain that offered products by artists in developing nations for which they were paid at fair-market rates.

The new store's owners, Michelle and Leroy DuBre, also operate Kilwins in the nearby Arcade Building. Kilwins offers offers freshly made chocolate, fudge, brittle, shakes and other treats.

The bARn Mercantile will have products from local artisans, including custom wooden barn quilts, according to a Moses Tucker news release. It also will sell local T-shirts, an organic cosmetic line, local artisan gifts, local handmade soaps and candles, apparel, nostalgic candies, home decor, children's toys and dog treats.

-- Noel Oman

Arkansas Index dips 0.79; 10 stocks fall

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 0.79 to 324.20 Friday.

Ten stocks declined and eight advanced.

P.A.M. Transportation dropped 2.6 percent in light trading.

Dillard's gained 1.5 percent in low volume.

Total volume for the index was 24.4 million shares.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business on 05/27/2017

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