The city of Wayland in Allegan County is among three Michigan communities chosen to advance to the next level of the Michigan Main Street program, an intensive training program in which community leaders receive five years of technical assistance to revitalize their central business districts.

A growing Ada-based company serving as a third-party administer of employee healthcare benefits for small- to medium-sized companies expects to bring on board up to 10 more workers within 12 months after hiring nine new employees this year alone.

Deborah Johnson WoodTattooist Andy Zylstra says his new store at 856 Michigan St. NE is one-tenth the size of his old place on Wealthy Street, but the uncluttered atmosphere helps him focus on his art. Eastside Tattoos offers only tattooing – much of which is custom artwork by Zylstra, who has 12 years' experience as a tattoo artist and is also a watercolor artist."We have lots of flash (tattoo designs), we have hundreds, maybe thousands," says Zylstra. "But I mostly do custom stuff. People usually come in with an idea or a drawing or something printed off the computer. Other people just trust me and I do my own artwork; that's my favorite thing to do."Zylstra "can do pretty much any color" of ink, but his personal preference is to work in black and gray. "Black and gray goes with everything, it looks good, it weathers nicely," he says. "Lots of colors fade, but as black and gray fades it looks better and better."Most of Eastside Tattoos' customers are women, Zylstra says, so he does a lot of flowers, but also does Japanese designs and skulls. His most popular request is medieval-style script writing. A special thermal fax machine allows him to print outlines of images he transfers to customers' skin so they can see how a tattoo looks before making the commitment. Zylstra says his shop is licensed by the state of Michigan, complies with the requirements of the Kent County Health Department and has received an award of completion on blood borne pathogens from the Alliance of Professional Tattooists. "Everything gets sterilized, everything comes of out packages," he says. "Nothing is stored all together outside of its packaging like it was in the 1930s. That would be horrific."Store hours are 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.; closed Sundays and Tuesdays.Source: Andy Zylstra, Eastside TattoosDeborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected]. Development News tips can be sent to [email protected].

Deborah Johnson WoodWorlie Johnson wasn't making the kind of money he used to make, and he and his wife Mary had to cut back on their charitable giving. So they launched SPELLBOUND, a men's and women's clothing and shoe store at 942 Terrace in Muskegon. The Johnsons began SPELLBOUND several years ago as a program promoting history and spelling bees in schools, and awarded prizes to the winners. The new storefront allows them to continue providing for kids' basic needs: free haircuts, clothing, shoes, and funding for small scholarships for track athletes and for beauty schools. "I worked at Pete's Shoebox and learned the business," says Worlie Johnson. "I was earning money for the scholarships. After the economy got bad, I took what I had saved up and got an account for 48 pair of shoes with Stacy Adams." The store also sells designer clothing – men's suits, women's dresses – and clergy shirts, carrying enough inventory for customers to find what they want. Most items are custom ordered and delivered in three to five days, says Johnson. Discounts are given to anyone who brings in a ticket stub showing they supported a school event, receipts from certain barbershops in town, or who say they belong to a worship community. One way or another, the couple has funded free haircuts for school kids since 2005, says Johnson. The latest method is a deal through the store for free shoes for barbers providing the haircuts. Johnson says many of the barbers give the free haircuts and don't bother collecting on the free shoes. "We started this to be a help to the community," Johnson says. "We wanted to do whatever we could do to alleviate the pain for the kids."Source: Worlie Johnson, SPELLBOUND; Ed Garner, Muskegon Area FirstDeborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected]. Development News tips can be sent to [email protected].

A Business Review West Michigan report says nearly 90 new employees at a once-vacant Grand Rapids manufacturing facility are helping workers in the Gulf of Mexico clean up the BP oil spill.According to excerpts from the story:Few things are moving as fast as the 11-week oil spill across the Gulf of Mexico. It is spreading at the rate of 60,000 barrels a day. But nearly 90 new employees are giving chase at Prestige Products LLC Boom Division. They are working around the clock to create long booms to protect critical areas along the threatened coastline from encroaching oil. Just two months ago, the plant at 2685 North Ridge Drive NW was a vacant 100,000-square-foot warehouse, and most of the people now working there were unemployed. When BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded April 20, a pipe 5,000 feet below sea level started spewing a gigantic plume of oil and gas into the Gulf. Read the complete story here.

The Rapid Growth team hopes you enjoy your week of July 4th as much as we will be! There won't be a July 8 issue of Rapid Growth in celebration of Independence Day, but you can expect your next issue packed with interesting features, eyecatching photos, fun commentary of G-Sync and choice news items delivered to your monitor or smartphone on July 15. Wishing you a wonderful holiday, and don't forget to bring the sunscreen!

Borisch Manufacturing Corp. continues to win contracts in the defense industry, prompting the Kentwood electronics contract maker to seek another tax abatement for a $7 million expansion with plans to add at least 150 new workers over two years.

Three small West Michigan manufacturers were among nine selected statewide to receive federal grants and loans totaling $20 million as "seed" money to nurture the development and manufacture of clean energy products, a growth industry Michigan is trying to foster to diversify its auto-intense economy. The  share to West Michigan companies totaled nearly $4.2 million in grants and loans.