Hauglie joined the President’s Council of Farmers Insurance Group in recognition for his high overall performance, according to a news release from the company.

Membership on the council is an honor attained by few agents and district managers. Of the roughly 17,000 Farmers agents and district managers in 41 states, only 160 individuals are being named to the council for 2011.

“Council selections are based on outstanding customer service, sales production in all insurance lines, overall professional competence and maintenance of the highest quality standards,” Farmers’ president of distribution Mhayse Samalya said in a statement.

Farmers’ senior management meets annually at the Presidents Council with the company’s top performers to review and discuss key issues affecting customers and the insurance industry.

Hauglie and his wife, Laurie, opened their Farmers agency in Fall City in 1985.

Today, along with their daughter, Angela Donaldson, they serve the entire Snoqualmie Valley with offices in Fall City, downtown Snoqualmie and Duvall.

Snoqualmie Ridge resident Steve Pennington has bought Zoka Coffee Roaster & Tea on the Ridge, and plans to turn it into Steve’s Doughnuts in late January.

Despite the name change, the coffee and the faces serving it will stay the same. Pennington says he will keep any barista who wants to stay on and he will continue selling Zoka coffee in drinks and in whole-bean coffee bags.

Zoka’s owner, Jeff Babcock, says he plans to focus on his company’s new location in Kirkland, which opened this past summer. He opened the Snoqualmie store about two years ago. There are also locations in Seattle near Green Lake and behind University Village. He also licenses three stores called Zoka in Japan and licenses a fourth store there under a different name.

Zoka coffee is roasted on West Nickerson Street in Ballard, where Babcock says he might someday open a drive-up shop.

Pennington, a former program manager for Microsoft, plans to make doughnuts using all natural ingredients (including palm oil) from sources as local as possible.

“We want the cows and chickens to be local and the flour to be Washington flour,” he said. “Within reason, we want to make sure we’re supporting local agriculture.”

Why doughnuts?

“I love doughnuts,” Pennington said. “Our motto is, ‘Doughnuts make you happy’.”

Material from The Seattle Times was used in this report.

With unemployment hovering just below ten percent in Washington, local retailers are courting customers looking for best bargains this holiday season.

With only modest growth predicted this season, local shopkeepers are luring recession-weary shoppers with more merchandise at the low end of their price ranges and promoting perks such as free gift wrapping.

Many store owners are anxiously waiting to see whether this year’s holiday sales meet their diminished expectations, which could mean the difference between a loss and a profit for 2009. Some stores could be doomed if they experience a repeat of last year’s disastrous season—the first time that holiday sales have dropped since the National Retail Federation began tracking them in the early 1990s. The economic recession and bad weather right before Christmas pushed sales down locally.

The effects of another down season would be felt in Snoqualmie Valley and across the state. The retail sector provides jobs for one of every 10 nonfarm workers in Washington state, and it is one of the largest employment sectors in the valley.

State and local government depend on sales tax revenue to pay for a large portion of their budgets. Retailers bring in around 15 cents of every dollar that ends up in the state’s general operating fund. North Bend heavily relies on sales-tax revenue, which provides about 85 cents of every dollar in the city’s general operating fund.

“Our bread and butter is retail sales,” said Elena Montgomery, North Bend’s finance director. So far this year, North Bend’s sales-tax revenue has been down.

“We’ve been running seven to eight percent lower than last year, but in the last couple of months we picked up a few percentage points,” she said.

The city isn’t expecting any big jump or drop in local retail sales this holiday season. Holiday retail sales in Washington are expected to increase one or two percent over last year, according to the state’s chief economist Arun Raha.

Nationally, expectations range from down one percent to up three percent.

“One or two percent over a really bad year isn’t really that good,” Raha said.

Weak consumer confidence from the high unemployment rate and a higher savings rate are limiting how much people plan to spend this year, he said.

However, some analysts think consumers are more confident this year.

Retail strategist Dick Outcalt predicts retailers’ sales will increase by half as much as they dropped last year.

“Shoppers are more confident and more anxious to buy merchandise more than they have been in a year,” said Outcalt of the Seattle-based consulting firm Outcalt and Johnson: Retail Strategists.

He predicts consumer confidence will be buoyed by a more stable economy, a more peaceful Iraq, a resurgent stock market and an unemployment rate that appears to have peaked.

Wherever consumer confidence is this year, shoppers will likely be looking to stretch their dollars as far as possible.

“The good news for an outlet mall is whatever consumers are spending, they’re looking for value. People have migrated to the lower price points,” Raha said.

Shoppers came to the Factory Stores in North Bend looking for good deals on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when many retailers become profitable – or ‘go into the black’ – for the year. Some stores opened at midnight with special offers for eager shoppers.

Paula Satterberg did most of her on Black Friday and on the Internet, she said while shopping at PacSun for a backpack to give as a gift. She often makes the 20-minute trip from her home in Ravensdale to the Factory Stores.

“We’re not exchanging gifts with as many people this year, so we won’t be spending as much money,” she said.

The mall had record traffic counts, according to Ed Cook, the mall’s general manager.

“It was probably the largest single-day traffic count we’ve had, so the shoppers are out,” he said.

Like other local retailers, the Factory Stores were hard hit by cold, icy weather in December 2008 that made driving conditions dangerous, which kept many shoppers at home and forced some stores to close. The mall draws customers from King County to British Columbia and east of the Cascade Mountains.

Overall, business seems to have been fairly consistent this past year, Cook said based on conversations with tenants.

“Shoppers are savvier and are looking for better deals, which puts us in pretty good stead,” he said.

On Snoqualmie Ridge, Hip 2 B Square’s customers have been looking for deals.

“Consumers are trying to be more innovative about getting the best value,” said Kimberly Hutchison, the scrapbooking store’s owner.

Unlike most retail shops, Hip 2 B Square helps customers create a finished product—a scrapbook. It can be an inexpensive and very personal—but also time intensive—gift, she said.

Hip 2 B Square’s benefited from shoppers looking to stretch their money by supplementing their budget with their own time, she said.

Hutchison is also focusing more on less expensive items and offering more how-to classes, “so people won’t have to break the bank,” she said.

“People have less money to work with this year, and [a class] gives them an opportunity to get out and do something. And they come out with a Christmas gift in the end,” Hutchison said.

Still, holiday business for Hip 2 B Square hasn’t picked up as quickly as in past years. Other stores have seen a similar trend.

“I think a lot of customers are waiting for the last minute to see if there are any better deals closer to Christmas,” said Chuck Gleghorn, owner of Scriptures Christian Store in Snoqualmie.

Unlike many retailers, Gleghorn also gets a sales boost around Easter, but most shops depend on sales in November and December to turn a profit.

He expects this year’s sales to be similar to last year, which was down from previous years.

However, not all shoppers are paring back this year.

“I’ll probably be buying more this year, because I have a better job,” Linase Neal said while shopping at the Factory Stores. She works as a flight attendant.

The Auburn resident said she regularly comes to the outlet stores. Earlier that day she bought a purse at the Coach store.

Still, most shoppers appear to be concerned with widespread joblessness.

Nearly a quarter of respondents to a recent survey of 207 households in the Seattle area said their jobs are “not at all” or “not very” secure, according to professional-service firm Deloitte.

A year ago, fewer than one in six respondents felt unsure about their jobs. Since then, two of the region’s largest employers, Boeing and Microsoft, have cut jobs, and unemployment in the state is at 9.3 percent.

As a result, consumers are saving more to pay down personal debt, said Lynette Frank, who advises retailers as a partner for Deloitte in Seattle.

Respondents last year said they planned to spend an average of $1,499 for the holidays. This year, they plan to spend $1,235 — an 18 percent drop. Planned expenses include gifts, decorations, entertaining and socializing.

Regardless of the economy, one thing remains true for all retailers, Hutchison said. “You have to figure out what people need and offer that to them.”

SnoValley Star reporter Tara Ballenger contributed to this report.