Spotlight

BRANCHING OUT: Laura Wistow, director of marketing for Bad-Adz in Pawtucket, says the marketing and advertising services the company provides for grocery stores can be applied to other industries and the company began taking on clients in other industries in 2023. PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Pivot from print to digital a Bad-Adz move that’s paying off

Spotlight 01/05/2024

When Bad-Adz founder and President Joel Albrizio started his marketing business in the late 1970s, the heights of modern-day digital marketing were still largely...

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS: Brothers Brian, left, and David Morin are the co-owners of Fore Court Racquet & Fitness Club, an indoor tennis, racquetball and fitness center in Cumberland started by their father, Maurice “Moe” Morin, in 1973. While tennis has remained a major focus, the brothers say business exploded after they introduced pickleball about a year ago. PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Fore Court has been serving up fitness for 50 years

Spotlight 12/22/2023

David Morin recalled how his father, Maurice “Moe” Morin, deemed tennis as the sport of a lifetime. His reasoning is that if you’ve learned it...

DOUBLE LIFE: Rick Sunderland, a gym and health teacher at Classical High School, opened live music venue Dusk on Harris Avenue in Providence in 2010 because of a passion for live music and a desire to showcase musicians and artists.  PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

‘Creating a space for artists and musicians’ a labor of love...

Spotlight 12/08/2023

Other than his 30 years as a Providence public school teacher, Rick Sunderland’s resume reads like a partial directory of Rhode Island nightclubs. Bon...

TRIAL BY FIRE: Elizabeth Welch started her Providence ceramics studio, Anyhow Studio, in 2021 after sensing there was a need for instruction on ceramics beyond beginner-level courses.  PBN PHOTO/RUPERT WHITELEY

After leap of faith, ceramics studio takes shape

Spotlight 11/24/2023

When Elizabeth Welch opened Anyhow Studio, she wasn’t quite sure what to expect. She was no stranger to leading ceramics courses in Providence, having taught...

VALUABLE COLLECTION: Bill and Alison Vareika gather amongst some of their extensive collection of William Trost Richards paintings in the Vareika Fine Arts Gallery in Newport. PBN PHOTO/DAVID HANSEN

Vareika traded dealing in courtrooms for dealing paintings

Spotlight 11/10/2023

William Vareika was supposed to be a lawyer, not an art dealer. But sometimes fate has a way of making these decisions for you. A...

COLLECTING SCRAPS: Leo Pollock, left, and Nat Harris, co-founders of organic waste collector ReMix Organics Co. in Providence, use these yellow bins to gather food waste, which either goes to farms for compost or is turned into energy such as electricity or a renewable gas.  PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

ReMix Organics shaking up food waste industry

Spotlight 10/27/2023

After moving to Providence in 2007 from the Netherlands, where he studied environmental policy and sustainable development, Leo Pollock noticed gaps in local food...

SECOND CHANCE: Christine Stulik, owner of The Lady Next Door in Warren, took over the vintage clothing store that she used to frequent as a customer from former owner Sandy Nathanson after Nathanson put the store up for sale and the initial buyer backed out. PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

Stulik breathes new life into vintage shop in Warren

Spotlight 10/13/2023

When Christine Stulik first visited The Lady Next Door in Warren as a theater student, she didn’t have much familiarity with vintage clothing. But the...