Tony "Cookie" Quintana is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his Baskin-Robbins ice cream store on Cerrillos Road, as well as his own 85th birthday, which was Monday.

The Quintanas' Baskin-Robbins store is the longest continuously family-run franchise in the chain's system. It was also among the first 1,000 Baskin-Robbins franchises established.

Cookie doesn't get out much anymore, and his youngest son, Chris, now runs the shop at 1841 Cerrillos Road, which is one of three Baskin-Robbins stores in Santa Fe.

The other two, which are not run by the Quintana family, are at 165 Paseo de Peralta and 4056 Cerrillos Road.

Contacted recently by phone, Chris said Cookie visits the store only about once a week.

"When he does come here, everybody is happy to see him," Chris said. "In summer, he comes out more."

Cookie especially enjoys it when visitors come in who speak a little German with him, Chris said. "He learned German during World War II" when he was in the Army, he said.

The best news on Cerrillos Road in recent weeks is the completion of the recent road work in the area, Chris said. Not so great is the fact that the work went on so long it hurt a lot of businesses along the Cerrillos Road corridor, including the Quintana's shop.

"We lost tens of thousands of dollars during the construction," he said. "We started off 2011 great, but when the project started, it was just down and down."

Then, Chris said, there was the increase in the city's minimum wage, which is now more $10 an hour. It's harder than ever to run a business, he said.


The Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce has a lot going on in the opening months of the year.

First off is the organization's legislative reception, which will be 5:30 p.m. Jan. 23 at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center.

On Jan. 26, the chamber will hold a Business After Hours gathering at the new DoubleTree by Hilton on Cerrillos Road.

The chamber's Cuba Trade Mission, with space limited to 30 people, takes place in May.

For more information, call 988-3279.


On the real-estate front, foreclosure rates were higher in October 2011, according to CoreLogic, a real-estate data firm. Foreclosure rates in Santa Fe have increased for the month of October over the same period last year, according to CoreLogic.

The data reveals that the rate of Santa Fe area foreclosures among outstanding mortgage loans was
3.1 percent for October, an increase of 0.78 percentage points compared with October 2010, when the rate was 2.32 percent, an email indicated.

Foreclosure activity in Santa Fe is lower than the national foreclosure rate, which was 3.51 percent for October 2011, representing a 0.41 percentage point difference.

Also in Santa Fe, the mortgage delinquency rate has increased. Furthermore, 4.99 percent of mortgage loans were 90 days or more delinquent compared with 4.72 percent for the same period last year, representing an increase of 0.27 percentage points.

CoreLogic is a leading provider of consumer, financial and property information, analytics and services to business and government. The Company combines public, contributory and proprietary data to develop predictive decision analytics and provide business services that bring dynamic insight and transparency to the markets it serves.