Back in the early ’70s, the Boys (No Girls) Club was where my older brother and I spent many of our Saturdays. 

Don’t underestimate the power of gratitude, especially when it’s delivered to one of us baby boomers via that endangered species known as the thank-you card.

Over the holidays, most of us stuffed ourselves silly with cake, cookies, candy and pie, so the last thing on our minds right now is a doughnut. Dunkin’ Donuts knows that.

As we wind down 2018, here’s a look back at some of the fascinating people we encountered over the past year in New Hampshire business and beyond.

New Hampshire’s three-year streak of unemployment below 3 percent hit a milestone last month when it dipped to 2.5 percent — the first time the Granite State recorded a jobless rate that low since George H.W. Bush was elected President.

The rapid rise of urgent care centers in New Hampshire is underscored by the growth of ConvenientMD.

Wanted: 100,000 square feet of industrial space for a manufacturer working overtime.

Lindsey Stepp is used to ghosts lurking in the old surgical building that houses the Department of Revenue Administration, part of a campus once home to the state mental hospital. Lights go off mysteriously. 

After the shopping frenzy that begins on Thanksgiving and picks up steam on Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday comes a day to pause and reflect on people in need.

Should you schedule that knee surgery before Christmas?

For several months, people scheduling events at the city’s most popular destination for business gatherings and community fundraisers had to wrestle with what to call it.

Back in the ’80s, Joe Mendola had one of the first cellphones. It was a big, bulky thing that lived in a bag, had an antenna sticking out of it and plugged into his car’s cigarette lighter.

Mike Mastergeorge has the same thing on his mind as most manufacturing employers these days: Finding enough workers to keep up with growth.

It's not surprising that word of BAE Systems' proposed expansion into Manchester leaked out last week before the company sealed the deal. The people involved - including state and city leaders - have been working on it for months.

WANTED: As many as 150 women whose careers are rooted in science, technology, engineering and math. Your assignment: Share your knowledge with the next generation of girls.

If not for her father's transfer to the United States, Sarah Hodges might have carved out a life outside London, where she had excelled at netball - a variation of basketball popular just about everywhere but the U.S. - and where she had a boyfriend and plans for college.

The sale of Nanocomp Technologies to Huntsman Corp. in March seemed like a natural progression. Over nearly 15 years, Nanocomp grew from a couple of people working out of a small office in Lebanon to 70 employees ramping up the production of carbon nanotubes in an industrial space in Merrimack.

Back when I was a freshman at the University of New Hampshire, I was terrible with money - so much so that I nearly ran out of cash after only a month on campus. I had been piddling away my meager savings and wages from a work-study job on sub sandwiches from the late-night food truck and vi…

We congratulate Gov. Chris Sununu for his victory convincing Market Basket to be more careful with how it places price stickers on packages of deli meat and cheese. Woohoo! No more ripped bags and broken zip seals! The governor's viral tweet last week got us thinking about other things he co…

Sara Bee has been to Boulder and back, and the 27-year-old Bedford native says Manchester is hipper than it used to be.

To reach nearly $1 billion in assets, The Provident Bank needed a new business model - so it borrowed one born in New Hampshire.

Among the attributes of great leaders is the tenacity to overcome adversity and the courage to learn how to do something simply by doing it.

By the time George’s Apparel celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, George Angelopoulos was down to visiting his Manchester shop only once a week, having long given up its management to his employees.

If I had a hundred million dollars, I'd buy you a fur coat factory. But not one that makes real fur coats. That's cruel.

"PillPack aims to disrupt the retail pharmacy business in much the same way Amazon did to bookstores and just about everything else."

A Milford company that expects to add 85 jobs after it completes a $50 million expansion project is working hard to keep the workers it already has and help them expand their skill sets.

Matt Albuquerque never struggles with job satisfaction. The New Hampshire High Tech Council's Entrepreneur of the Year says he's one of the luckiest guys you'll ever meet.

Oh, no - Velcro is singing again!

Five years is roughly the gestation period for a startup before it graduates to something bigger.

If you have an old-fashioned notion about retirement communities, it might seem like a stretch to learn residents call some of the shots.

The incoming president of the University of New Hampshire says he might take up cross-country skiing, but the North Carolina transplant says learning downhill skiing at age 62 might not be such a great idea.

Convincing young people to stay in Manchester has never been easy, much to the consternation of city native John Clayton.

The youngest of Sally Boyle's four sons was 3 years old when she unexpectedly found herself facing divorce. While she remembers the initial proceedings as difficult but "OK," she and her former husband relitigated their case twice after the divorce became final before closing the books on th…

Nick Vailas walks across the parking lot at Bedford Ambulatory Surgical Center when something shiny catches his eye - a dime on the ground with its head facing up. Vailas excuses himself and picks it up.

In some parts of the world, safe drinking water is toasted in a champagne glass.

For 116 years, the Groveton paper mill was the engine of the Coos County economy. It was where most people worked, and where several of them died.

My free Pharmacy Discount Card from the New Hampshire Prescription Assistance Program arrived in the mail Monday promising savings of up to "75 percent on more than 50,000 branded and generic prescription drugs at over 60,000 participating pharmacies nationwide."

Come April, workers from Mexico will be heading north - to New Hampshire - for jobs employers say would otherwise remain unfilled.

New Hampshire may be too small to snag an internet commerce giant, but we might be nimble enough to convince an air conditioning manufacturer to leave the Great White North.

In the 1970 World Ski Flying Championships in Oberstdorf, West Germany, Slovenian skier Vinko Bogataj wiped out on the takeoff ramp and tumbled toward a gallery of spectators, suffering a concussion and a broken ankle.

For the sixth year, Citizens Bank is contributing $50,000 toward Granite United Way's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, which helps low- to moderate-income people prepare their tax returns. But the bank's roots with the program go back further than that, thanks to a longtime volunteer.

Lindsey Stepp really likes taxes.

It's barely two weeks into the New Year, and I've already fallen behind on nearly all my resolutions.

Don York is ready to go to the beach with his wife on a whim and let someone else worry about who is going to take out the trash.

One of my favorite souvenirs from 2017 is a yellow warning notice from the Plymouth Police Department. It was issued to me by a young officer who said I had been blinding the drivers of oncoming vehicles with my high beams along Main Street late one April evening.

Allegro MicroSystems has more than 300 active U.S. patents, CEO Ravi Vig told employees and guests Tuesday as the company broke ground for an expansion of its building near the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.

Krysta Lewis had a crazy idea. How about a makeup line that ditches formaldehyde, lead, aluminum and other potentially harmful chemicals and uses only organic ingredients? Her advisers at SCORE were skeptical.

The businesses that support the Boys & Girls Club of Manchester offer a prime example of the diverse interests a nonprofit needs to thrive.

Call it a bunch of elevator pitches without the elevator.

Mellow Christmas music filled the room Wednesday morning at Loft Fifty 5, a shop at 55 S. Commercial St. that sells home goods, accessories and gifts. For mother-daughter owners Helen and Diane Sage, songs like "Sleigh Ride" herald the beginning of the busy season.