UP: Trek Bicycle. Outside magazine names Trek, based in Waterloo, one of the best places to work in 2012. Among the perks are an atrium featuring historical bikes, tuition reimbursement and discounts on bikes. The magazine adds: "It's a cycling culture, naturally, which means that lunchtime rides on the 18 miles of mountain bike trails that surround the office are the norm."
DOWN: Eggimann Truck Parts. The truck repair shop - one of the first businesses to locate on the Beltline frontage road - goes out of business because of effects from the recession and drought. The family business opened in 1945 and moved to the Beltline in 1959. Steve Beecraft, vice president and chief executive, tells the Wisconsin State Journal that informing the shop's 28 employees the business was closing was worse than even a near-fatal heart attack five years ago. "Friday was, by far, the worst day of my life."
