It’s almost here – that $4-per-gallon gasoline. Actually, if you’re buying premium, it’s already arrived, according to AAA. The average price of a gallon of ethyl in Tacoma hit $4.03 today, up from $4.028 on Monday.

The sign above shows that a central Tacoma 7-Eleven is selling a bit below the city’s average price for the highest grade, and a bit above the average for regular-grade, which topped out at $3.706 this morning, which is just a hair under the all-time record in Tacoma, set on Sunday, at $3.707.

And

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Click! Cable TV is adding 16 new channels to its lineup Wednesday – including 13 high-definition channels.

The new HD services include A&E, CNN, Discovery, ESPN2, Food Network, Fox News, FX, HGTV, Speed, TBS, TLC, USA and Versus/Golf.

Click! will also three standard-definition channels: Chiller – a channel for horror movie fans, ESPNU – a college sports service with over 550 live games from 25 Division One conferences and RTN – Retro Network featuring classic reruns like Wild, Wild West, Hogan’s Heroes, Quincy and Happy Days.

"Customers have been clamoring for more HD programming

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Nordstrom has signed a letter of intent to open a store at the Mall at Green Hills in Nashville, marking its entrance into the Volunteer State.

Scheduled to open in 2010, the three-level store will comprise 149,000 square feet, according to “Daily Clips,” a business newsletter from the Palm Beach Post.

The Mall at Green Hills, owned and operated by the Davis Street Land Company, is a 735,000-square-foot shopping center currently anchored by Macy’s and Dillard’s alongside upscale tenants including Tiffany & Co. and Louis Vuitton.

Burberry, Juicy Couture and Kate Spade are slated to open stores

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According to numbers released today by the Audit Bureau of Circulations, The News Tribune has followed a nationwide trend of circulation losses.

A News Tribune spokeswoman has emphasized that readership remains strong, and that the online presence of The News Tribune continues to grow.

Daily paid circulation of The News Tribune fell from 119,077 to 111,778, or 6.1 percent, from a year ago. Sunday circulation totaled 125,955 against a previous 131,212, for a decline of 4 percent.

Daily readership of The News Tribune in Pierce County stands at 282,381, said Cathy Brewis, News Tribune marketing director, and

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I’ve found some interesting numbers in the Gross Business Income – Taxable Retail Sales report issued Friday by the Department of Revenue in Olympia.

Among a few selected sectors, with statewide totals for local, taxable retail sales by industry:

&bull Motor vehicles and parts were at $12,714,581,313 in 2007, up 2.31 percent from 2006.

&bull Furniture and home furnishings, $2,289,270,437, up 2.63 percent.

&bull Grocery and convenience stores, $3,047,344,024, up 4.22 percent.

&bull Book, periodical and music stores, $558,873,746, up 1.25 percent.

&bull Restaurants, food services and drinking places, $8,860,289,128, up 7.29 percent.

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The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday released the latest data tracking the Class of 2007 – the nearly 3 million youth who graduated from high school between October 2006 and October 2007. Among the numbers, as of October:

&bull 67.2 percent were enrolled in colleges or universities. The college enrollment rates were 68.3 percent for young women and 66.1 percent for young men.

&bull Among recent high school graduates enrolled in college in October 2007, 93.2 percent were enrolled as full-time students.

&bull The proportion of the student population with a job or looking for work

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I was up in Seattle earlier today at the Washington Restaurant Association annual convention, and I’m working on a story for Tuesday’s Business Section on what I found.

What I found was green. Sure, there was a lot of nice cheese, and some fine salami, and Miller Springs Ultra-Premium water and other foodstuffs and a few thousand other things – but the theme was green.

Plates made of corn. Take-away boxes made from sugar cane. Dinnerware made of wheat. And so on.

And I got to thinking – we’re hearing

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Despite gloom, doom and spreading proclamations of a recession, the Washington State Department of Revenue reported today that taxable retail sales were up last year across the state and across several business sectors.

In Pierce County, taxable retail sales were up 3.1 percent to $12.5 billion. Retail trade, which tracks retail sales only (and not construction trade), was up 2.1 percent to $6.1 billion.

In Tacoma, taxable retail sales were up 2.9 percent to $4.7 billion; retail trade was up 2 percent to $2.2 billion.

Statewide, taxable retail sales in 2007 increased 7 percent over 2006 to

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