New territory: Community Coffee Company announced the grand opening of its newest sales location in St. Louis, Missouri, which expands the company’s presence into St. Louis and the surrounding areas. The St. Louis location is the first in Missouri and joins 23 other sales locations across the South. The new 6,000-square-foot facility in St. Louis will serve as the sales and distribution center for the city and its surrounding suburbs, and some cities in Illinois. It also will serve local grocery and convenience stores, office accounts and restaurants. The location also will serve as a site for the loading and unloading of route trucks, office space and the storage of tea and coffee products. The facility also will support a recent agreement between Community Coffee and the St. Louis Cardinals in which the coffee will be sold at concession stands and in luxury suites at Busch Stadium.
Automated messages: Baton Rouge ranks second in the country for the month robocalls—or automated telephone calls that deliver prerecorded messages—per capita each month, according to a recent report. According to YouMail Inc.’s National Robocall Index, each person in the 225 area code in Baton Rouge receives roughly 32 robocalls per month, slightly under the 404 area code in the Atlanta area, where residents receive 36 robocalls per month. Other Louisiana cities to crap the per capita list are New Orleans at 7th with 18 robocalls per month and Lafayette at 10th with more than 15 per month.The report says overall, U.S. phones were hit by an estimated 2.37 billion in June, a 4.7% decrease over the total for May. Read the full release.
A steady market: The number of applications for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, reaching a three-month low, indicating the labor market remains steady, Bloomberg reports. A U.S. Labor Department report released today shows that initial jobless claims dropped by 1,000 to 253,000 in the week ended July 16, from an unrevised 254,000 in the prior period. The median forecast of 44 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 265,000. Employers continue to retain staff amid improving U.S. growth and a shortage of skilled workers that they’re looking to hire. Sustained low levels of firings also signal a strong outlook for the job market that will help lift household spending, the biggest part of the economy. For 72 consecutive weeks, claims have been below the 300,000 level that economists say is typically consistent with an improving job market. Read the full story.
