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| 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 |
Texas company not liable for a fatal Arkansas accident involving an unlicensed, uncertified driver of a broken truck. If you read the details, you would be deeply ashamed at Arkansas’ legal system. Shame on us.
How would you feel if it was your kid, spouse, friend, that got killed. Details at: http://ow.ly/KXpk
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According to the latest housing report from the Arkansas Realtors Association, Benton County saw the biggest decline in homes sales in the state, falling a whopping 29.5 percent in January compared to January 2008.
Washington County didn’t do much better, with sales dropping 24.1 percent. Home sales across Arkansas fell a staggering 27 percent in January.
Our calculation shows a sales rate so slow in some neighborhoods that homeowners with properties valued at more than $500,000 may have to wait twenty years, or until hell freezes over, before a buyer steps forward.
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In another blow to the exaggerators and uber-inflated egos of business boosters in Northwest Arkansas, BusinessWeek Magazine and their annual survey, America’s Biggest Boomtowns, passed over Northwest Arkansas’ cities in favor of Cabot near Little Rock.
Every year BusinessWeek Magazine selects towns in each state that grew the fastest during the housing boom. The boomtowns were limited to places with more than 10,000 households and were ranked based on growth in households from 2000 to 2009 and from 2007 to 2008, growth in new neighborhoods from 2000 to 2008, the average length of residence, and the change in the average household income from 2000 to 2008.
The data came from the U.S. Census, except for home values, which came from Zillow.com. The variables were weighted and the 2000-08 household growth was given the most weight. The boomtowns are places, as defined by the 2000 Census block group boundaries associated with census-designated place. The ranking was created specifically for Business Week by the Gadberry Group, a Little Rock-based location intelligence firm. The Gadberry Group’s clients include two of the towns in the ranking: Wentzville, Mo., and Brighton, Colo. Source: The Gadberry Group
Arkansas’ Biggest Boomtown: Cabot, Arkansas
Household growth (2000-08): 45%
Household income growth (2000-08): 83%
Home value: $136,000
Cabot, located in the Little Rock metro area, has developed quickly in part because of the growth of the nearby Little Rock Air Force Base. Cabot area households grew 45% from 2000 to 2008, to 10,250. The average income jumped 83% during that period, to $98,555 in 2008.
We’ve learned that Lou Lou’s Fish Shack is now closed. The power is shut off and there is a notice on the front door from SWEPCO stating it was turned off due to lack of payment. I am sorry to see them go even though the food wasn’t that great. Another business on College gone….
