Business

Gilroy is about to get a new dog food company thanks to Hollister’s looser cannabis cultivation laws and the run up on building prices they are bringing about. Green Tripe, which sells millions of dollars a year of raw dog food around the world, is...

The first time Rey Sumano, 49,  sampled sourdough bread he hated it. It was...well, sour….and he was expecting it to be sweet, like a French loaf.

The first time Rey Sumano, 49,  sampled sourdough bread he hated it. It was...well, sour….and he was expecting it to be sweet, like a French loaf.

Jimmy Shrull has never sold a roof, but he’s put up untold thousands of them as owner of Jimmy Shrull Roofing Inc. of Gilroy. For his business, the story of a five-generation family enterprise and the building of lifelong relationships in the community, has done the selling itself.

As the promise of revenues from retail is fading, the face of tourism in and around Gilroy continues to evolve and become more important to the city coffers. Gilroy Welcome Center Director Jane Howard has taken out ads around the world to let people know about all that Gilroy offers and has high hopes for new tourist attractions.

The Great Wolf Lodge in Garden Grove is huge—with nine stories, 603 rooms, a full water park, seven restaurants, an arcade, shops, animatronics and a hotel-wide interaction action-adventure video game.

Gilroy city officials visited the Great Wolf Lodge in Southern California and days later a representative from the national water park hotel group came to Gilroy seeking feedback from locals.

Within minutes, the mind wanders off to distant forests and worries melt away, if only for a while. Dawn Culp at The Zen Room, may have the cure for the work-a-day blues. And for a reasonable price too.

Total employees, 678 – most part-time, seasonal

The owner of Union Taxi Company of Gilroy says ride-sharing companies like Lyft and Uber have been killing his business. Pedro Virgen, 50, who has owned the company since 2006, has seen his business shrink from eight taxis and a dozen employees to three cabs and two drivers.