Thursday, January 15, 2026

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Nonprofit bringing small businesses together to grow and thrive

MIDDLETOWN – Small Business Collective, a nonprofit organization aimed at supporting small businesses, has launched in Rhode Island and has named Mollie Frazer Williams...

R.I. losing more than a business with closure of another foundry 

Rhode Island is losing another one. Friends Foundry Inc. in Woonsocket, VIBCO Inc.’s casting partner since 1974, announced it will cease operations on Jan. 31....
CHILLING: Robert Swift, owner and president of East Bay Ice Co. in East Providence, is pictured with some of the ice blocks the company produces. Swift says his company is unique, as it’s one of about four or five block ice plants left in the United States.
PBN PHOTO/TRACY JENKINS

Meet the Makers: An ice factory that refuses to melt away

(Editor’s note: This is the 39th installment in a monthly series highlighting some of the region’s unsung manufacturers that make products essential to the...
DEALING WITH IT: Gregory Stevens, owner and operator of Pat’s Italian Restaurants, says market forces have driven wages higher at his eateries in recent years, so the Rhode Island minimum wage hike going into effect on Jan. 1 will have a limited impact on his business. 
PBN PHOTO/­MICHAEL SALERNO

New minimum wage has some bracing for impact

Gregory Stevens, owner and operator of Pat’s Italian Restaurants, remembers only a few years back when he paid his line cooks $15 an hour. “And...
DISHING IT OUT: Brian O’Donnell, standing right, partner and chef at Giusto PVD at Track 15 in Providence, leads a pop-up cooking class at Track 15 earlier this year. Jan Dane, standing left, owner of Stock Culinary Goods, acts as moderator. Another series of pop-up cooking classes at Track 15 has been scheduled for February and March. The series, called Station Tastings, is a partnership of Track 15, Stock Culinary Goods and PopUp Rhody, a service for listing, sharing and discovering pop-up events and temporary retail spaces for independent businesses. / 
COURTESY POPUP RHODY

Providence proves to be suited for pop-ups

Providence, with its compact commercial corridors and small retail bays, has proved to be a prime area for pop-up stores, giving local entrepreneurs a...

Providence seeking vendors for new ‘Rinkubator’ space

PROVIDENCE - The ice rink at Biltmore Park attracts more than 40,000 visitors each season from all over the city and beyond. That level...

Amazon jobs, tax revenue giving Johnston a timely boost

With recession talk again hovering over the Ocean State, it’s hard to see Johnston’s massive Amazon.com Inc. fulfillment center as anything other than a...

Lead by example on AI

Christopher Parisi Trailblaze Inc. founder and president; Rhode Island Small Business Coalition, co-founder and chair; Rhode Island Artificial Intelligence Task Force, vice chair We’re not...
Nancy Scarduzio / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Five Questions With: Nancy Scarduzio

Nancy Scarduzio | Small-business ombudsman, R.I. Commerce Corp. 1. Some people may not be aware that R.I. Commerce Corp. has a small-business ombudsman. Can...

Let’s Save Big with Rhode Island Energy Efficiency Programs

Nestled alongside the Blackstone River in Pawtucket, RI, in a historic National Heritage Corridor that celebrates America’s transition from farming to industrialization, is the...
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