BRIEFLY IN BUSINESS

Coldwell Banker offices to merge

Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage will merge two offices located blocks apart at the 660 No. Coast Highway location in the Boat Canyon Shopping Center. The new Coldwell Banker Laguna Beach North office, with 85 real estate sales associates and staff, will be remodeled in December.

The Boat Canyon location will be renovated with more private offices, a wireless broadband network and an improved façade and landscaping.

Wayne Woodyard, branch manager for the Coldwell Banker office at 1088 No. Coast Highway, will move into the manager’s spot for the Coldwell Banker Laguna Beach North office.

The current manager at the Boat Canyon site, long-time Laguna Beach Realtor Rick Jenkins, will become a district manager, working with Phil McBride, the firm’s senior vice president and regional manager for Orange County.

‘Chicken Soup’ at Laguna Beach Books

Laguna Beach resident Leah Cano, a contributor to “Chicken Soup for the Breast Cancer Survivor’s Soul: Stories to Inspire, Support and Heal” will be signing books, reading and sharing personal stories at Laguna Beach Books at 1 p.m. Saturday, along with other contributors.

Cano graduated from Laguna Beach High School and moved to Santa Cruz to teach. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997.

“What I thought was the end was actually a new beginning,” Cano said. “I always wanted to be a writer, but I never thought this would be the catalyst to realizing my dream.”

After treatment, Cano traveled to Italy to take a writing workshop. She titled her first story “Locks of Love.” It was about Daniel, a second-grade student she’d taught.

When Daniel was in fifth grade, he surprised everyone by cutting his long hair without disclosing the reason. Unbeknownst to Leah at the time, he had donated it to the Children’s Cancer Foundation for use in a wig for another cancer patient. “Locks of Love” is Cano’s contribution to the “Chicken Soup” book.

“Chicken Soup for the Breast Cancer Survivor’s Soul” is a new release in the popular series, which have sold more than 80 million since 1993.

In this volume, which has been compared to “a support group in a book,” survivors and their loved ones discuss their battles with breast cancer and tell stories about how they made it through the dark times.

Laguna Beach Books is located in The Old Pottery Place at 1200 South Coast Highway. The bookstore recently opened in the renovated center, on the site of the former Pottery Shack. For more information, call the bookstore at (949) 494-4779.