Tacoma Shift Happens 2012 kicked off today at 1 p.m. at the Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center. The goal of the "Go Local" event is to celebrate local, independent business and shift attendees' priorities to putting local living first.

"We tend to focus on one big company that has a thousand employees," said Patricia Levy-Davis, president and co-founder of Go Local. "But what we are unaware of is there are over 6,000 independent businesses in Tacoma and that makes a huge impact on our tax base, our community involvement and jobs in general."

This year's event began with Sustainability Smart Labs on Entrepreneurship. Participants not only listened to speakers, but also were asked to participate in several exercises, including at one point throwing paper airplanes that had ideas on them.

While they couldn't keep the 570 audience members all smiles with their forecasts and statistics for 2012, presenters at this morning's Horizons Economic Forecast Event decided to use a bit of humor to keep the crowd engaged.

Probably one of the most memorable lines from the event, which was hosted by Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, came from Arun Raha, who announced this week that he would be stepping down from his position as executive director and chief economist for the State of Washington.

"Our job growth will be faster than the nation, so will our income level," he said, but then decided to simplify this sentiment for the audience. "We suck less than you."

Patricia Mullen, the new president & CEO of the Federal Way Chamber of Commerce, was formally introduced to the business community this morning during the organization's annual Economic Forecast Breakfast.

She was quickly put to work and moderated a regional panel that included Dave Gering of Manufacturing Industrial Council, Suzanne Fletcher of Washington Tourism Alliance and Jan Teague of Washington Retail Association.

Homes throughout the South Sound are selling more quickly than in the recent past. Northwest Multiple Listing Service members reported 6,103 pending sales during November, marking the seventh straight month of double-digit year-over-year increases.

Last month's total number of mutually accepted offers was 22.4 percent higher than the same month a year ago. In the South Sound, Pierce, Lewis and Thurston counties followed this pattern, but Mason County had fewer pending sales than the same month a year ago.

Online shopping continues to win over millions of Americans this holiday season, with a record number planning to hit retailers' websites today – Cyber Monday – to take advantage of one-day only deals, percentages off websites and free shipping offers.

According to a survey conducted for Shop.org by BIGresearch, 122.9 million Americans plan to shop on Cyber Monday this year, up from the 106.9 million who shopped on Cyber Monday in 2010. Eager to meet consumers' demands, nearly eight in ten (78.4 percent) retailers will have a special promotion for Cyber Monday, according to a survey released last week.

People were out hunting for deals this weekend and it appears many found what they were looking for as both traffic and spending were up online and in stores.

According to a National Retail Federation survey conducted by BIGresearch over the weekend, a record 226 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend – Thursday, Friday, Saturday and projected sales for Sunday – up from 212 million last year.

South Sound Regional Business Incubator is hosting Facebook for Business from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Nov. 28 at 402 333rd St. Federal Way. Carla Conrad is the presenter. The cost is free for members. Federal Way Chamber members can purchase a punch card for four classes for $80. Non-members can purchases a punch card for four classes for $160. Visit www.ssrbi.com for more information.

World Trade Center Tacoma is hosting "The World in 20/20 Foresight: China, India and Brazil" from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Nov. 29 at Fabulich Center, 3600 Port of Tacoma Road. Visit www.wtcta.org for more information.

Today was about door-busters and department store sales, but many local retail establishments are hoping tomorrow will be about the discounts and sales shoppers can receive at small businesses.

The second annual Small Business Saturday is designed to encourage consumers to support local stores during one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year. And unlike Black Friday, which usually draws people into a few select "big" business stores, tomorrow's event is targeted to small retailers, restaurants, service providers and other business.

Full export container volumes through the Port of Tacoma are up 15 percent year to date through October. Strong performing containerized export sectors include wood and waste products, paper and paperboard, and grain.

About 70 percent of the port's containerized export cargoes originate in Washington, with about half being agricultural products.

The port's year-to-date container volumes through October are up 2 percent, with the port handling 1,230,723 20-foot equivalent units. Full import container volumes are down 2 percent for the same time period. Slowing imports continue to reflect tightened consumer spending as the economy lags.

The Tacoma Regional Convention and Visitor Bureau revealed the 2011 winners of its Tourism Celebrity Awards today at Cheney Stadium.

Honorees included:

At their Nov. 17 meeting, Port of Tacoma commissioners will hold a special public hearing to formally adopt the Port's 2012 statutory budget and tax levy.

Commissioners are also expected to consider contracts for the purchase of replacement container crane parts and the installation of an emergency warning system, as well as authorize maintenance dredging along Port piers and approve international commission travel for the first six months of 2012.

Jennifer Hamor has joined Heritage Bank as a commercial lending officer in Kent. She has more than 20 years of banking experience, most recently as a senior credit analyst for Banner Bank.

Jace Dwinell has joined Heritage Bank's downtown Tacoma commercial lending office as assistant vice president commercial lending officer. He joined Heritage Bank as an assistant vice president special assets officer with more than seven years of banking experience.

Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for October were $397.7 billion, an increase of 0.5 percent from the previous month and 7.2 percent above October 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Total sales for the August through October 2011 period were up 7.6 percent from the same period a year ago. The August to September 2011 percent change was unrevised from 1.1 percent.

The percentage of people who changed residences between 2010 and 2011 ─ 11.6 percent ─ was the lowest recorded rate since the Current Population Survey began collecting statistics on the movement of people in the United States in 1948, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today.

The rate, which was 20.2 percent in 1985, declined to a then-record low of 11.9 percent in 2008 before rising to 12.5 percent in 2009. The 2010 rate was not statistically different than the 2009 rate.

The Producer Price Index for finished goods declined 0.3 percent in October, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

At the earlier stages of processing, the index for intermediate goods moved down 1.1 percent in October and crude goods prices fell 2.5 percent. On an unadjusted basis, the
finished goods index increased 5.9 percent for the 12 months ended October 2011, the smallest year-over-year advance since a 5.6-percent rise in March 2011.

The Federal Way Chamber of Commerce announced the selection of Patti Mullen as its new CEO. She is scheduled to begin January 2012.

Mullen has spent the past eight years as the President/CEO of the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce. She is also a graduate of the WACE (Western Association of Chamber Executives) and has worked closely with community college workforce initiatives, regional economic development, and sustainable tourism.

Students turned out in record numbers again at the traditional start of the school year at UW Tacoma.

This autumn, enrollment rose by almost 10 percent over 2010, with a new headcount of 3,662 students, compared to last year's headcount of 3,331. This marks the seventh consecutive year of increasing enrollment.

CenturyLink has entered into a long-term lease agreement to locate a new facility in the Port of Centralia's Park I development.

Jan Kampbell, CenturyLink public relations manager, said with eight employees reporting out of this new location and with crews in Vader and Morton, CenturyLink will be able to service all of Lewis County.

Lakewood Chamber of Commerce is hosting a military affairs meeting from 8 to 9 a.m. Nov. 15 at Burs Restaurant, 6151 Steilacoom Blvd. SW. Call (253) 582-9400 for more information.

Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce, KeyBank and the U.S. SBA Seattle are presenting free loan briefing from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 15 at the Simpson Community Room, 950 Pacific Ave. Information will be available about how the SBA loan program works, preparing to meet with your lender, other financing options, SBA resource partners – how they can help, managing a financially fit business, what lenders are looking for and  5 "C"s of Credit. Seating is limited. Click here to RSVP or call (253) 627-2175 for more information.

The 150 health care workers and members of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW at Community Health Care did not go on strike today. The group had previously delivered notice of an open-ended unfair labor practice strike scheduled to begin today.

"Our primary goal continues to be settling a fair contract with Community Health Care that protects our families and the patients we serve," said Emerita Espinoza, an Outreach Worker at Community Health Care and member of SEIU Healthcare 1199NW in a prepared statement. "We will be returning to the bargaining table."