Two Brothers Honda owners buy R&J Motor Sports

The owners of Two Brothers Honda at 124 Rose St. in La Crosse have purchased R&J Motor Sports at 1241 Oak Forest Drive in Onalaska, Wis., and renamed it Two Brothers Yamaha. Ben George and his father, Rick George, bought Two Brothers Honda in 2004. Ben said they bought R&J on July 12 from Roy Franzose and Joe Hengel Jr., and renamed it.

The Onalaska store sells Yamaha, Sea-Doo and Ski-Doo personal watercraft and snow-mobiles "and the whole Yamaha product line, everything from generators to motorcycles, scooters and ATVs," Ben said. The Onalaska location will remain open and eventually will have its own Web site, he said.

Hours at the Onalaska location are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Wednes-day and Friday; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

Linda Rhodes opened The Little Shoppe at 30 N. Walnut St. in La Crescent, Minn., in late July.

The store mainly sells Fenton glassware pieces and other unique gift items.

Rhodes, who lives in La Crescent, opened Antiques and More in downtown West Salem, Wis., in August 2002 but is gradually getting out of the antiques business. The West Salem store essentially closed several months ago but was open a couple long weekends in June and soon will be open a few Sundays to sell inventory. Rhodes also sells antiques elsewhere. Hours at her La Crescent store are 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday. But it will be closed this Friday and Saturday while Rhodes is selling at the Gold Rush antiques show in Rochester, Minn. The new store's phone number is (507) 895-3514.

The Gift Shoppe at Ed Sullivan's supper club west of Trempealeau, Wis., will close by Sept. 1, but the exact date depends on how soon the inventory sells. A "blow-out" sale will start Aug. 21, one of the gift shop's owners said.

Anne Schmidt, who started the gift shop in November 2001 with her daughter, Linda Newman, said she is retiring and her daughter has another job. "This does not affect Sullivan's," and the supper club will remain open, Schmidt said.

Stacy Shapiro has been consulting with various local and regional nonprofits and is turning it into a local business, Shapiro Strategies.

Shapiro said she assists nonprofits in a variety of areas.

"I can assist them in areas such as strategic planning and fundraising, as well as board, staff and volunteer development," she said. She offers individual consulting and advising, as well as group training, seminars and workshops.

Besides assisting established non-profits, Shapiro said, she also enjoys helping newer executive directors adjust to the large scope of their job. She said she has worked and volunteered for more than 15 years in the not-for-profit world.

Marilynn and Bill Hinman have started La Crosse By Owner, LLC, which helps people who are trying to sell their homes by themselves.

"We help for-sale-by-owners promote their home," Marilynn said. "We're not Realtors and we don't accept commissions," she sad. "We're just there to help people promote their homes."

La Crosse By Owner provides customers with a Web page with up to eight color photos and an unlimited description of their home, Hinman said. It also provides signs with the seller's phone number, and sign delivery and pick-up. The regular one-time fee for this is $249 "but I'm running a special" right now, Hinman said.