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3A | FABULOUS LADIES This group offers the healing power
of female connection in midlife
Tim Aten Knows Tim Aten
Plans advance for second Costco store
J A N . 1 7 - 2 3 , 2025
4A | TEACHINGS OF PEACE
4B | CURTAIN UP
a lasting impression in Naples
of a week ahead with four plays opening
Theater fans have a smorgasbord
Visit from Tibetan Buddhist monks leaves
Preparing children for kindergarten
Q: Will Costco try again for another building site in South Naples? — Millie Wilcox, East Naples A: Costco Wholesale Corp. is moving ahead with plans for a second store in Collier County on the southeast corner of Rattlesnake Hammock Road and Collier Boulevard, immediately north of Physicians Regional Medical Center-Collier Boulevard. Site development plans and renderings were created last fall for a 158,316-square-foot Costco store with a freestanding fueling station that would provide relief for the chain’s busy longtime location on Naples Boulevard in North Naples. Costco plans to develop nearly 26 acres on that heavily wooded corner at 8392 Collier Blvd., leaving 4 acres for outparcels fronting Collier Boulevard. The warehouse membership club would include the sale of groceries and merchandise; tire sales and installation areas; walk-in dairy and produce coolers; and a 2,000-square-foot liquor store, according to the warehouse concept plan created in September. At a staff meeting last fall at Costco in North Naples, employees were told that the newly proposed Costco is targeted to open in 2026. Its construction is expected to be a fast-track project designed to be quickly built, most likely with tilt walls. In December, the national
Pathways Early Learning Center begins assessing children as young as toddler age for their development. Photo courtesy Pathways Early Learning Center
Pathways’ $2.25M initiative to enable more critical early learning By Harriet Howard Heithaus harriet.heithaus@naplespress.com
Pathways Early Education Center in Immokalee works with nearly 125 children to be school-ready on a level with their more advanced classmates. Unfortunately, there’s still a waiting list of more than 400. Every year Pathways must turn away
the majority of families who need its help. To work toward remedying that, Pathways is expanding to serve 50% more children, giving the program room for more young minds. The organization has embarked on a $2.25 million campaign, Brighter Futures, to improve the infrastructure of its current facility on Colorado Avenue, add mobile units for specialized education and invest in new programs. There are five other childcare/early
learning centers in Immokalee, and those, too, have limited openings. Day care centers exist, but the Pathways mission is to address children with particular needs, its officials explained. Children with special needs and those who qualify for school readiness funding through Florida from a federal Child Care and Development Fund Block Grant are See PATHWAYS, Page 9A
See ATEN KNOWS, Page 15A
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Festival wine comes from many sources, for different needs By Harriet Howard Heithaus harriet.heithaus@naplespress.com
Bruce Nichols has been working with Naples Winter Wine Festival lots for 19 years, and he’s not easy to impress. But the 25th anniversary festival has done it. The Jan. 24-26 weekend is an immersion in fine wine, amazingly in a region that has no vineyards. What Naples does have, however, is serious oenophiles who have paired their love for the best vintages with a commitment to philanthropy. Both have helped immeasurably in the development of
a festival focused on wine in multiple ways: • As the "partner" for top-flight chefs at the Friday Vintner Dinners that attract attendees from the U.S., Canada and Europe • For the conviviality of the buffet brunch and through the auction of some 52 lots • For the lots themselves, at least half of which include world-class wines, highlighted by the prize of the festival: Lot 15, the annual Trustee Treasure Trove
The impossible collection
This year it is enough for a full cellar — 239 bottles — of wines that range from rare to outright unavailable. “That is the most incredible lot. I’ve been in the wine business for 40-plus years, in various forms, and I’ve never seen a collection first of that magnitude, and more importantly of that importance,” observed Nichols, a wine counselor and former store owner. “It’s hands-down impossible to duplicate. No one could ever put that together except the Naples Winter Wine Festival.” See WINES, Page 8A
MORNINGS Taylor Petras
Corey Lazar
Lindsey Sablan
Zach Maloch
Rachel Cox-Rosen