Oddly, a $2 million loss can have a bright side

News that the University of Hawaii at Manoa athletics program lost $1 million more in fiscal 2014 than UH-Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple had set as a goal might sound bad at first, but actually the glass is half full.

Apple had announced in May 2013 that he was going to forgive the program’s $14.7 million accumulated deficit, built up over 12 years, and hoped to achieve solvency for the program within three years, with its deficit to not exceed $1 million in any of those years.

Well, the first fiscal year is about to end, on June 30, and the total loss is expected to be about $2 million, not the hoped-for $1 million.

So why is the glass half full? Because not only being 100 percent more of a loss than Apple had hoped, the $2 million was also about 40 percent less than the loss experienced in fiscal 2013 — $3.4 million.

A 40 percent smaller loss is still progress. Right?

One-stop shopping: A workout and a muffin

A supermarket chain has opened a small fitness center in one of its stores in Albany, N.Y., and although the concept is getting a lot of media attention, so far it hasn’t blossomed into a full-scale trend.

The in-store gym is a partnership with the YMCA, but the Hannaford chain hasn’t duplicated the pairing in its other stores yet.

There’s a lot to like about the idea, starting with the fact that it’s free. Customers say they appreciate the convenience of getting their workout and shopping done in one stop. It’s a marketing approach for commercial gyms, which can offer a limited program there as a taste of what full membership brings. And for the stores, it brings in customers — shoppers who will be a little hungrier for groceries after working up a good sweat. Go ahead: You’ve earned that muffin from the bakery.