Business Notes for June 2, 2024

The Gazette’s Business Notes is a compendium of the week’s promotions, new hires, certifications, added business lines and business events, among other items, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and the rest of the Corridor.

Information and photos can be submitted to Business Notes by email to businessnotes@thegazette.com, or on our site at thegazette.com/businessnotes.

New hires

Structural Design Group has named Mark Schuchard a senior project engineer.

Other news

Harbor Freight Tools opening in June: Harbor Freight Tools will open its new store in Cedar Rapids at 8 a.m. Saturday, June 15. The store, in the former Bed Bath & Beyond building at 4840 First Ave. NE, will be open seven days a week, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 6 a.m. Sundays and staffed by 25 to 30 employees. This is the chain’s 16th store in Iowa, including the one at 3750 Williams Blvd. SW.

New Mercy clinic: Mercy Cedar Rapids announces the opening of its new Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Clinic in the Hall-Perrine Cancer Center, and the addition of Dr. Dominic Heffel, a fellowship-trained plastic surgeon primarily focused on breast cancer reconstruction surgery for patients who have had a mastectomy.

Made in Iowa Expo: The Marion Winter Markets has evolved into the Made In Iowa Expo, scheduled for Feb. 1, 2025, at the Hawkeye Downs Expo Center, 4400 Sixth St. SW in Cedar Rapids. Admission will be free to the artisan market, which is expected to host 150 artists and vendors. Vendor spots remain available, with information available by emailing cynthia@marionsun.com.

Collins subcontract award: Collins Aerospace, an RTX company with operations in Cedar Rapids, has been awarded a subcontract with SNC to design, develop and deliver systems for a new aircraft being developed by the U.S. Air Force's Survivable Airborne Operations Center. The program is developing the next-generation of the E-4B fleet.

Small business game: The Data Catalyst Institute has launched “Super Selling,” an interactive, educational game that puts users in the shoes of small and medium-sized business owners and the tough choices they have to make. Case studies on nine small businesses, including Logic Products of Iowa City, accompany the game. For information, go to the Data Catalyst Institute website.

Small business of the week: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, last week named the Mustard Seed Co. of Monroe County as her small business of the week. Sarah Hopkins and her husband, Curt, transformed a former car dealership in Albia, in south-central Iowa, into a home decor, furnishings and gift store in 2017. In 2021, Hopkins opened The Seedling, a women’s and children’s boutique two doors down from the Mustard Seed Co. Ernst, the ranking member on the Senate’s Small Business Committee, is naming one exceptional small business of the week in each of Iowa’s counties during this congressional session.