Stacy’s Cafe on the Bentonville Square goes out of business

Apparently Rogers and Fayetteville aren’t the only places in Northwest Arkansas where restaurants open and close faster than the mouths of local business boosters and spinners.Another restaurant fatality occurred this week when Stacy’s Cafe on the Bentonville Square went out of business. No surprise here. We expect dozens more restaurants in Northwest Arkansas to close in the coming months. I hope aspiring restaurant entrepreneurs (especially those from out-of-town) take note and give second thoughts about taking a similar fatal plunge in the neighborhoods of Northwest Arkansas. Local business boosters are in high gear blaming everything, except the fact there are way too many restaurants for the area. The truth is, folks built dozens of restaurants across Northwest Arkansas expecting massive growth that simply never came – and probably won’t come during our lifetime. Sure, cheap little Mexican fast-food joints, operators with deep local ties and a building owned by mom and dad, corporate-owned faux-Italian/Chinese, and burger/chicken drive-thrus will continue to pop-up catering to vendors and low income immigrants, but those operators have (had) deep pockets. For everyone else, it’s now a fool’s game – especially out-of-towners investing in a restaurant gig. Mom, who tosses hash and eggs at customers at the local pancake joint, warns aspiring restaurant owners to “keep prices low, hustle customers at your church, and throttle-back on your lifestyle.” Excuse abound over what went wrong at Stacy’s. 40/29 gives one angle: http://ow.ly/OZUa

Northwest Arkansas Keeps Drinking in Down Economy

4029 television is reporting that after a year that Fayetteville and Washington County saw a credit crisis, record unemployment and an overall slump in consumer spending, sales of alcohol in Northwest Arkansas remain strong. Especially the cheap stuff.  Grab a Old Milwaukee beer and read the article: Liquor Sales Still Strong In A Down Economy