Turning Point

By Debra Phillips

• Giving a whole new meaning to the term "net profits," the National Basketball Association (NBA) recently announced plans to launch its first retail store. Set to open in September, the New York City NBA Store aims to court sports fans with enough licensed b-ball merchandise to fill more than 15,000 square feet of space. Guess if Chicago Bulls super-superstar Michael Jordan ever needs to supplement his income, he could always moonlight as a sales clerk.

• Are we the only ones who are getting a little tired of the M-word? (Millennium, that is.) Presumably so, if trademark filings are any indication. According to research compiled by the law offices of Dechert Price & Rhoads, the words "millennium" and "millennia" are current popular choices in the brand-name game. Other favorites include "extreme," "Web," "global," "planet," "link," "nation" and "Asia." Hey, does this mean we should change our name to Extreme Entrepreneur Millennium Nation?

• It's taken a while--years, actually--for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to formulate official standards for the organic foods industry. Even as the $3 billion-plus industry keeps growing, however, the USDA is getting closer to establishing the guidelines that will separate the organic from the inorganic. Keep your ear--and we don't mean corn--to the ground.

This article was originally published in the April 1998 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Turning Point.