Archive for July, 2009

According to the company Web site (www.rairdon.com) Rairdon now sells Hyundai cars to go along with its Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep vehicles at its Bellingham dealership (at 1615 Iowa St.). A message to the dealership wasn’t immediately returned.

It’s Friday of a non-holiday weekend, so the FDIC is back to work shutting down banks. Wyoming is on the list today, getting the first closure notice. I’ll update if there are more. Below are the details of the Wyoming bank:

Bank of Wyoming, Thermopolis, Wyoming, was closed today by the State of Wyoming, Department of Audit, Division of Banking, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Central Bank & Trust, Lander, Wyoming, to assume all of the deposits of Bank of Wyoming.

As of June 30, 2009, Bank of Wyoming had total assets of $70 million and total deposits of approximately $67 million. In addition to assuming all of the deposits of the failed bank, Central Bank and Trust agreed to purchase approximately $55 million of assets. The FDIC will retain any remaining assets for later disposition.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) will be $27 million.

Tenant improvement permits have been approved to revamp the former KFC building in Bellingham’s Fountain District to change it into a wine/bistro place, which could be a good fit for that neighborhood. I don’t know the name of the upcoming restaurant, but I like the company name – Bet the Farm LLC.

Here’s something couldn’t fit this into Wednesday’s Retail Tip Sheet column:

Two Turtle Doves, a retail store on Harris Avenue that focuses on bedding products, will close its store at the end of July, according to a note posted on the front door. Starting in August its products will be showcased at Samuel’s Furniture.

This brings the total so far today to seven, with six of them in Illinois (see previous post on the other three). Here are the details of the latest four:

No. 49 Elizabeth State Bank in Elizabeth, Ill. taken over by Galena State Bank and Trust of Galena, Ill. Cost to the FDIC: $11.2 million.

No. 50: First National Bank of Danville, Ill., taken over by First Financial Bank of Terre Haute, Ind. Cost to the FDIC: $24 million.

No. 51 Millennium State Bank of Dallas, Texas, taken over by State Bank of Irving, Texas. Cost to the FDIC: $47 million.

No. 52: Founders Bank in Worth, Ill. taken overy by Privatebank and Trust Company of Chicago. Cost to the FDIC: $188.5 million.

With the Fourth of July holiday nearly upon on, the FDIC got an early start on shutting down some banks this week (it’s normally done on Fridays). Below are details on three closures as of Thursday afternoon, all in Illinois. So far in 2009 the FDIC has shut down 48 banks.

No.46: John Warner Bank of Clinton, Ill. was shut down, then taken over by the State Bank of Lincoln, Ill. Cost to the FDIC: $10 million.

No. 47: First State Bank of Winchester, Ill. was shut down, taken over by First National Bank of Beardstown, Ill. Cost to the FDIC: $6 million.

No. 48: Rock River Bank of Oregon, Ill. was shut down, taken over by The Harvard State Bank of Harvard, Ill. Cost to FDIC: $27.6 million.

While putting together information for Sunday’s Market Report, I learned that the Bellingham Airport set a new record for the number of people flying out in a month. Here are the numbers:

May 2009: 28,087
April 2009: 27,342
May 2008: 22,333

The May total is 25.8 percent higher than May 2008. It may increase even more in June, with Alaska now flying to Las Vegas and Allegiant ramping up its B-ham to Los Angeles flights.