Business Beat: A game with diamond as prize

People love winning stuff. People love games. People love reality TV.

Put those three together and you have the Rogers Jewelry Race for the Ring.

Rogers is teaming with B93.1 FM, jewelry brands Hearts on Fire and Scott Kay and using game platform SCVNGR, to hold an "Amazing Race"-style downtown Modesto scavenger hunt. The grand prize is a $15,000 diamond ring.

The hunt will begin at 10 a.m. Feb. 7 at the Mancini Bowl in Graceada Park. Calvin Curtin, Rogers' marketing director, said the race is a way to celebrate the store's new Sisk Road location, which opens Tuesday.

Rogers closed its Vintage Faire Mall store on Tuesday. It was one of the mall's original tenants beginning in 1977.

The race will feature 100 to 150 two-person teams. Anyone can sign up to compete at its Web site raceforthering.com. To be selected, entrants must be over the age of 18 and give up to a 250-word reason they deserve to compete.

If chosen, teams must register at the park at 9 a.m. the day of the race. They will then receive text message clues that will lead them to various locations around the downtown area.

Once they reach their destination and answer a question, they will get their next clue. The deadline for online entry is Feb. 5.

Participants cannot use motorized transportation, so they must either walk, run, bike or skate to each spot. Teams will have different maps to follow, so the crowds won't head to the same spot en masse.

The first person to answer the final question correctly will win the ring. All the contestants will receive gift baskets, and additional prizes will be handed out at a party afterward.

"We wanted to kick off the new store, to celebrate," Curtin said. "I've seen the 'Amazing Race' on TV. We did something sort of similar in Fresno, but with only a half a dozen couples. We have a lot of customers and wanted to do something that incorporated a lot of people."

For more information, visit Rogers Jewelry at its new location, 3600 Sisk Road, call 578-1873 or go online at www.thinkrogers. com.

Elsewhere around the Business Beat:

We're still stuck with winter weather for a while, but that doesn't mean you can't plan for spring.

The annual Salt-Water Sandals specialized colors sale will be held Feb. 28 at the Stride Rite store in Vintage Faire Mall.

The event will feature eight one-of-a-kind colors specifically made for the Modesto store.

The sale has become a yearly favorite for fans of the sandals. The sale begins at 9 a.m. The celebration will include free coffee and doughnuts.

In years past, as many as 70 people have been lined up waiting for the store to open.

The eight limited-release sandal colors are on display at the Modesto store. The sandals are available for all ages, from infants' size 5 to women's size 11. The specialized sandal colors usually sell out within two weeks.

For more information, call the shop at 577-0517.

And finally, Club Libby Lu, the girls' birthday party specialists, is closing its stores nationwide.

The chain, which sells apparel and merchandise in addition to hosting parties, has had a store in Vintage Faire Mall for the past year. The chain's parent company, Saks Inc., will close all of its 98 stores by the end of the month. The Modesto shop's last day is slated for Saturday.

For details call the Modesto store at 527-3403 or visit www.clublibbylu.com.

Have an item for Business Beat? Contact Marijke Rowland at The Modesto Bee, P.O. Box 5256, Modesto 95352; 578-2284 or mrowland@modbee.com.