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Articles by Ed Avis
Saturday, October 10, is National Independent Costume Store Day
Saturday, October 10, is National Independent Costume Store Day New annual celebration will honor the independent costume shops that fuel creativity and community across North America Independent costume stores are places where imagination becomes something you can actually wear.
Letter from America: Stores tell suppliers ‘stop competing’
The latest column from National Costume Association’s Ed Avis, investigates the relationship between suppliers and retailers. Costume shops and costume manufacturers have a symbiotic relationship – they need each other. And when both parties are getting what they want, that relationship is healthy. But sometimes that relationship becomes a bit unhealthy. Like when suppliers start competing directly with retailers online. That’s one conclusion from a survey NCA members completed in April.
National Independent Costume Store Day Debuts October 10
National Independent Costume Store Day Debuts October 10 New annual celebration invites communities to shop local, dress up and discover the creative businesses behind the costumes Independent costume stores are places where imagination becomes something you can actually wear.
Devon Bank's Free Workshop Series for Nonprofits Forges Connections
Name: Devon Bank Assets: $436 million Location: Chicago When Giovanni Valdez walked into the meeting room of Devon Bank for a workshop on grant writing in April 2026, he was immediately impressed by the welcome the organizers offered. “I showed up early, and the hospitality from the start was amazing,” says Valdez, who is the development director for the Greater Southwest Development Corporation, a nonprofit that supports nine neighborhoods in the southwest part of Chicago.
New Contest Will Honor Independent Mexican/Latin Restaurants That Serve Their Communities
New Contest Will Honor Independent Mexican/Latin Restaurants That Serve Their Communities This program honors Mexican/Latin restaurants that faithfully serve their communities This contest will put the spotlight on wonderful restaurants that are essential meeting places for the community, supportive employers, and providers of authentic Mexican/Latin cuisine.” — Ed Avis, Publisher, el Restaurante magazine This contest, co-sponsored by el Restaurante magazine and Mineragua sparkling water,...
Small-Dollar Loans: An Alternative to Payday Lenders
Small-dollar loans made by community banks are often positioned as “win-win” opportunities: They can be profitable for the bank while also being affordable alternatives to predatory payday loans for bank customers, which charge an average 391% interest rate, according to NerdWallet. But would it be feasible for a community bank to take the small-dollar loan concept a step further and offer it to employees of the bank’s business customers?
2026 R&D Teams of the Year: Ajinomoto Group
When consumers enjoy the distinctive richness of the Shoyu Chicken, Tonkotsu Pork or Miso Vegetables varieties of frozen ramen products from Ajinomoto Group, they benefit from a deliberate research process called Takumi no Waza (“culinary craftsmanship”) that the company uses to capture the genuine flavors and techniques of chefs and home cooks.
Fiber Fever!
Salads and other vegetable-based products are naturally high in fiber. Now Taylor Farms is calling out that and other nutrients and on its packaged salad kits. Taylor Farms chopped salad kits, ready-to-eat salad bowls and other vegetable-based products are naturally high in fiber. But that fact has not been displayed on their packaging. Until now.
Grand Savings Bank's Blog Powers its Content Marketing
Blogs are common on bank websites these days, but keeping them populated with engaging content can be a challenge. Grand Savings Bank, which is headquartered in Grove, Oklahoma, and has 15 locations in Oklahoma and Arkansas, has succeeded with a distinct formula. The $1 billion-asset bank’s blog, which launched in 2017, contains a mix of posts offering useful financial information, community spotlights, staff profiles and bank history.
Letter from America: Setting prices wisely pays off
By Ed Avis, executive director, National Costumers Association May 15, 2026 In his latest column, Ed Avis, executive director of National Costumers Association explores different methods of product pricing. Like other small business owners, many costume shop owners dread the day-to-day business side of their endeavor. They got into costuming because they love costumes or make-up or theatre…not because they like running a business. One area that they all need to do well is setting prices.
Beef Tallow, Avocado Oil Are Edging Out Seed Oils
Snacks cooked in seed oils caused asthma attacked for young Teddy Horvath, but not the ones his mother cooked in beef tallow. Decades later, they started a chip company dedicated to snacks fried in tallow. The company uses a co-packer in Iowa to produce the chips.
Behind the Scenes at Three Bank Renovations
Growing community banks often need to refresh their spaces. Renovating helps keep a bank looking modern and up to date and provides the opportunity to adjust the space to accommodate new needs. The three bank renovations profiled here were total overhauls. Each story is different, but the bottom line for these banks is the same: They needed new, functional and attractive spaces to fuel growth, and that required thoughtful planning and careful execution.
2026 Vista Award winner Morristown Medical Center
2026 Vista Awards The winning infrastructure project required an untangling of existing systems to provide durable electrical power Mar 23, 2026 | Click image to expand and view slideshow Superstorm Sandy in 2012, which knocked out power for days, was a wake-up call for Atlantic Health System’s Morristown (N.J.) Medical Center. Even though it continued to serve patients after the storm, hospital leaders realized that the facility’s outdated electrical system was long overdue for an overhaul.
2026 Vista Award winner UAB Medical West
Click image to expand and view slideshow The service area for the Medical West Campus of the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) in Bessemer, Ala., is a largely rural area in West Jefferson County, and patients often travel long distances from neighboring counties to receive care. The previous hospital, opened in 1964, was undersized for the growing population of the area. Furthermore, its services were spread across various disjointed departments with confusing layouts.
The 2026 Vista Award winners
Medical centers and hospitals are essential to their communities. No matter how bad the weather or how enormous the tragedy, communities rely on their health care facilities to be open and providing care. And to do that, they need to be resilient, efficient and operating smoothly, something that often requires complex construction projects guided by careful planning and teamwork.
Animal Protein Ingredients Boosted by the New Dietary Guidelines
In the current battle to provide protein, animal proteins, such as dairy, got a shot in the arm from the 2025-2030 U.S. Dietary Guidelines. The revised guidelines have received mixed reviews from critics, but food processors that use animal proteins in their products appear to be pleased with the new direction.
How Penn Community Bank Tackles Food Insecurity - ICBA.org
Late last year, food insecurity was in the headlines. Many community service organizations experienced government funding cuts, and SNAP benefits were temporarily halted during the federal government shutdown. Employees of $3 billion-asset Penn Community Bank in Perkasie, Pennsylvania, realized that hunger was a problem for many people in the five eastern Pennsylvania counties the mutual savings bank serves. They decided the bank could help make a difference.
Letter from America: Halloween 2025 - Better sales for most
By Ed Avis, executive director, National Costumers Association February 20, 2026 Progressive Party columnist, Ed Avis, looks back at Halloween 2025 in the US. We had high hopes for Halloween this year, given that it was on a Friday. And a review of the data shows that those hopes were justified, at least for most stores. We surveyed our members, including our ‘buyer’ members (retailers) and our supplier members. The survey was answered by 46 people, representing 37 retailers and nine suppliers.
How CDFIs and MDIs Are Navigating Uncertainty
Ken Hale of BOM Bank is passionate about providing banking services to underserved communities. Ken Hale, president and CEO of BOM Bank in Natchitoches, Louisiana,can cite examples of customers who have benefited from his bank’s small loans the way a proud father rattles off his kids’ sports achievements. There was the entrepreneur who launched her sewing business with a $500 loan. The guy who started a food truck selling pork cracklings who is now living the American dream.
Community Banking & Healthcare in Illinois
Community banks are known for supporting their communities, but $1.1 billion-asset Longview Capital Corporation (LCC) in Newman, Illinois, has taken this commitment to a new level by directly contributing to residents’ health. In June 2025, LCC, which is the holding company for Longview Bank, Longview Community Bank, Federated Bank and Middletown Bank, partnered with nonprofit organization Remote Area Medical (RAM) to open a pop-up health clinic in a nearby high school.
Holiday LTOs Give Small Companies a Boost
People’s Choice Beef Jerky (peopleschoicebeefjerky.com), a fourth-generation family business in Los Angeles, is a relatively small player in the world of dried meat snacks. But for the past four years at the holidays, the company gets a nice bump in sales when they resume production of their limited-time only (LTO) Maple Brown Sugar Beef Jerky. “We’ve been very intentional with our decision to limit the run to just the holiday season,” says Brian Bianchetti, CEO and great grandson of the founder.
2026 Flavor and Ingredient Trends
Amanda Sains, the vice president of marketing for Joolies, knows that her company’s dates are well positioned to take advantage of several big consumer trends in 2026: Being perceived as healthy while still being delicious and texturally interesting. Dates are healthy, high in fiber, functional and texturally interesting – all trends that should carry into 2026. “We present dates as ‘California palm tree candy’ that’s genuinely good for you,” Sains says.
The Best Community Banks to Work For 2025
» $250M or less Creating a meritocracy in Montana AVP/sales and service officer Jordan Blair, president and CEO Clinton Gerst, SVP/chief lending officer Trenda Nichols and SVP/CFO Mitch Johnson Name: Bank of Bozeman Location: Bozeman, Montana Assets: $100 million bankofbozeman.com Ten years ago, when Clinton Gerst took on his role as president and CEO of Bank of Bozeman in Montana, he brought with him a dream.
Letter from America: Working together can boost sales
National Costumers Association’s Ed Avis explores how partnering with local companies can boost retailer’s businesses. Every costume business wants more customers in the door and sometimes, it pays to realise that other businesses in your community want the same thing. The National Costumers Association hosted a webinar recently during which the two panelists made it clear that working with their fellow businesses has helped them succeed.
How Bridge Loans Can Bolster Your Mortgage Offerings
It’s been a strange year for real estate. The number of active listings posted in the United States reached a new peak in July but still dropped 1.1% from June, the largest monthly plunge since 2023, according to Redfin. Yet, prices climbed 1.4% year over year. Each region and city has a different real estate story, but the theme is somewhat similar nationwide.
Starion Bank Targets New Depositors Through Gig Economy Program
Name: Starion Bank Assets: $2.2 billion Location: Bismarck, North Dakota DoorDash drivers, commonly referred to as “dashers,” are classic gig workers. They work flexible hours without a regular paycheck, earning their dollars every time they make a delivery of food or convenience items.
What's the Secret to Becoming an Exceptional Lender?
Craft Bank goes the extra mile for small businesses A recognized commercial lender in the greater Atlanta area, Craft Bank caters to its business customers through technology, flexibility and personal service. By Tiffany Lukk / Photos by Patrick Heagney Craft Bank Location: Atlanta Assets: $260 million Website: craft.bank Georgia’s Cobb County, particularly the Marietta Square area just northwest of Atlanta proper, is undergoing a renaissance, says J.
Alpine Bank Racks Up Thousands of Volunteer Hours
At Alpine Bank’s ribbon-cutting ceremony in 1973, Bob Young, chairman and founder, decorated the ribbon with 50 silver dollars. After the ceremony, he donated those coins to Sopris Park in Carbondale, Colorado. It was a harbinger of the community bank’s deep commitment to philanthropy.
Letter from America: The craft of costuming
Ed Avis, executive director of the National Costumer’s Association looks at costuming as a craft. We call the costume business an industry, but below the surface it’s more of a craft. So many creative people making beautiful things that spread joy. The business side of things is necessary, of course, but we shouldn’t forget the craft.
Selling to Gen Z and Gen Alpha
Consumers looking for coffee at the grocery store or online are deluged by choices: three levels of roast; dozens of added flavors; branded, co-branded and generics; regular, decaf and half caf; premium, regular and economy. It’s a wonder that any brand can stand out. Mimi Nguyen, founder of Cafely — which produces robust coffee and functional drinks based on coffee beans from Vietnam — has competed in this crowded space by utilizing knowledge about her buyers’ demographics and influences.
How Community Banks Open Doors for Local Restaurants
The restaurant industry is tough. According to the National Restaurant Association, the average profit margin for restaurants is 5%, and data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the median lifespan of a restaurant is less than five years. Nevertheless, restaurants are essential to the fabric of a community, and many community banks count them as clients. But when it comes to making loans to restaurants, community banks do so with caution. Many startups fail soon after opening.
The Promise of Precision Fermentation
Modern commercial food production faces some fundamental challenges, including a shaky supply chain and a changing environment. One potential solution to both of those issues, and perhaps more, has been emerging in recent years: precision fermentation. Traditional fermentation – the biological process in which microbes break down some substrate to produce other cells or molecules – is widely understood. Think beer, cheese and soy sauce, all of which rely on fermentation.
Amplifying Nashville's Booming Businesses
When Alex Burnette decided to start a general contracting business in Nashville, Tenn., he was already an experienced builder. He had worked as an intern at large commercial builders and as an independent subcontractor. Nevertheless, when he formed his firm Nashville Siteworks in 2018, he could not lean on a bank line of credit. He needed to reach into his own pocket to pay the bills. “I essentially bootstrapped everything from the ground up,” recalls Burnette.
How 3 Food Processors Meet Flavor Trends
At the end of every year, countless companies and organizations try to “predict” food and flavor trends for the coming year. Some are based on research, others simply favor the company’s own products. Regardless, the real question is this: How can food processors take advantage of this information? This year, we’re looking at how three companies are tapping trends for the new year. Sweet & spicy, Korean BBQ and Nashville hot chicken are recent but confirmed trends.
Holiday Products: Balancing Opportunity With ‘Leftovers’
Wonderful Pistachios is a well-known brand and its multi-billion dollar parent company, The Wonderful Co., invests heavily in marketing the little nuts as well as the company’s other products and brands, such as Pom Wonderful and Fiji Water. Yet this coming holiday season is the first time consumers will be able to buy a holiday-themed package of Wonderful Pistachios. The No Shells Sweet Cinnamon flavor comes in festive holiday packaging and will be on shelves only through the holidays.
Here Comes the Snow: Lending Support for Winter Businesses
When people think of Alaska, long winters come to mind. According to Steve Lundgren, president and CEO of $500 million-asset Denali State Bank in Fairbanks, the temperature remains below zero for at least four months each year and can drop to 60 degrees below zero at night. Furthermore, it’s dark in the winter: On the winter solstice, Dec. 21, the sun will come out for only an hour or two.
Solutions for High Cocoa Costs
When a food processor’s raw ingredient prices climb, they look for alternatives or ways to reduce the usage of that ingredient. That’s what is happening today with cocoa – prices have been climbing for the past two years, driven by rough weather in Africa and labor and supply chain problems. So processors that use cocoa are scrambling for solutions. Cocoa prices for decades hovered between $2,000 and $3,000 per metric ton.
Letter from America: Helping Halloween sales
Ed Avis, executive director of the National Costumers Association, looks at proven ways for retailers to boost Halloween footfall. Halloween is obviously an important time of year for costume shops, so any ideas to increase sales during October are welcome. In August, we gathered a dozen members of our association via Zoom to share ideas, and one stood out: the power of events. For example, one of our members in New York said her store sponsors pumpkin-decorating and mask-making events.
Establishing the Right Dynamic at Family-Owned Banks
If there’s anything that leaders of family-run community banks know, it’s that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink. Children of community bankers have often grown up at the bank and are often well prepared to carry the bank forward, but they can’t just waltz into the lobby one day and expect to lead—plus, not all of them want to. A successful integration of a new generation, their family members tell us, involves education, preparation and humility.
How Bigger Community Banks Maintain a Local Feel
For its first 55 years of existence, First Federal Bank of Louisiana exclusively served southwest Louisiana. In 2004, when the community bank had 11 locations in Lake Charles and surrounding communities, bank leaders decided to expand into central Louisiana—specifically, Alexandria, which is about 100 miles northeast of First Federal’s headquarters in Lake Charles.
Clean-Label Flavor Boosters: From Simple to Complex
Daily Harvest manufactures a line of frozen foods ranging from smoothies to pastas to “harvest bowls,” all of which feature totally clean-label ingredient panels. In the crowded frozen food category, a clean label is a plus, but it won’t compensate for a lack of flavor. So the chefs who create Daily Harvest products work to incorporate flavor enhancers that pump up the taste without risking the integrity of the ingredient panel.
Who are ICBA's Top Lenders of 2024?
Deep roots provide stability By Bridget McCrea Using FDIC data for 2023, we calculated a lender score out of 100 for each community bank. The score combines the average of the bank’s percentile rank for lending concentration and for loan growth over the past year in each lending category. We then adjusted each score for loan charge-offs in each category at certain percentile thresholds.
Letter from America: A first-timer’s experience at ComicCon
Progressive Party columnist, Ed Avis, reflects on his first trip to ComicCon. Cosplay has been touted as an important new market for costume businesses in recent years and we’ve promoted it in Costumer magazine, on the NCA website and through webinars. But personally I had never seen much cosplay up close. So when NCA board member, Courtland Hickey, owner of Chicago Costume, invited me to C2E2 Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo in mid-April, I accepted. My impressions?
Food Bank Becomes Food Processor
When customers at Hannaford’s Grocery stores encounter packages of Harvesting Good frozen broccoli, at first glance they probably think it’s just another brand of frozen vegetables. But when they look closely, they can tell there’s something else going on. “This Broccoli Gives Back,” the marketing copy on the package announces. In fact, Harvesting Good is a for-profit subsidiary of Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine.
Community Banks Financing Lake Country
New York’s Finger Lakes region is a recreational powerhouse, boasting hundreds of hiking and biking trails, kayaking adventures, wineries and other outdoor diversions surrounding 11 lakes.
Paycheck Protection Program's Impact Four Years On
Technology helped many community banks successfully implement the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), but some ICBA members had more success than their competitors, due to their hands-on approach to lending. For example, Josh Hogue, president of Reliabank in Estelline, S.D., says customers appreciated old‑fashioned manual loan processing during the crisis. His bank made 398 PPP loans in the first round and 678 in the second. “Doing it manually really helped us out a lot,” he recalls.
Letter from America: Getting the most from your suppliers
By Ed Avis, executive director, National Costumers Association April 12, 2024 Your suppliers are your partners – they want you to succeed and sell more of their products. But sometimes you need to nudge them to get the support you deserve. Here are five ideas to help you get the most from your suppliers. Ask for marketing help Many vendors support sales of their products by providing marketing materials that you can use in your store or on your website.
Bacardi Taps Former Kraft Heinz Exec to Bolster Marketing Leadership Team
Spirits company Bacardi has hired former Kraft Heinz Northern European CMO Irina Rodina to be its senior vice president for marketing strategy and operations, according to a report in Marketing Week. Rodina will drive strategic alignment and marketing transformation throughout the company, working at all levels from global down to local to help the growth of Bacardi’s stable of spirits brands.
Foodservice or Retail? A Tale of Two Markets
Stratus Group has sold its beverage products in retail outlets since the company was founded in 2016. Two years ago, the company’s leadership decided it was time to step into a new world and offer Koe Kombucha and Perfect Hydration Alkaline Water to the foodservice market. The move gave the company access to a new group of consumers, specifically those looking for immediate thirst-quenching opportunities, explains Louisa Lawless, the company’s chief strategy officer.
Natural Products Expo West 2024: Mushrooms, Tinned Fish and Pickleball
Mushrooms are very 2024. Hemp and CBD are so last year. And at least in the Tosi booth, a miniature pickleball court replaced the putting greens you see at some trade shows. Those observations show some of the changing trends at this year’s Natural Products Expo West, the giant and energy-filled trade show that took over the Anaheim (Calif.) Convention Center March 13-15.
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