2443 replies to this topic

[mcheiss]

There seems to be a lot of talk about restaurants particularly dealing with Northwest Arkansas Restaurants.

I start off with some news on some restaurants in Fayetteville.

Construction delays at the Fayetteville train depot have pushed the building’s renovation and reopening back. The Depot is planning to open a Haagen-Dazs ice cream shop and a Gloria Jean’s coffee shop

Construction on this development began in late October to renovate the front 2,367 SF of the depot on Dickson Street to accommodate the coffee shop and ice cream store. A 2,366-SF freight building behind the depot will be leased to a tenant.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Nov 20 2005, 11:46 AM, said:

There seems to be a lot of talk about restaurants particularly dealing with Northwest Arkansas Restaurants.

I start off with some news on some restaurants in Fayetteville.

Construction delays at the Fayetteville train depot have pushed the building’s renovation and reopening back. The Depot is planning to open a Haagen-Dazs ice cream shop and a Gloria Jean’s coffee shop

Construction on this development began in late October to renovate the front 2,367 SF of the depot on Dickson Street to accommodate the coffee shop and ice cream store. A 2,366-SF freight building behind the depot will be leased to a tenant.

Yeah I noticed.  All those times I took photos there there wasn't anything going on there.  Although I have finally started seeing some signs of things going on over there now.  It will be nice to have those locations in another area outside the mall.  Gloria Jean's isn't really my type of coffeeshop but I am looking forward to having a closer Haagen-Dazs.

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Nov 20 2005, 11:51 AM, said:

Yeah I noticed.  All those times I took photos there there wasn't anything going on there.  Although I have finally started seeing some signs of things going on over there now.  It will be nice to have those locations in another area outside the mall.  Gloria Jean's isn't really my type of coffeeshop but I am looking forward to having a closer Haagen-Dazs.

It will be the second Haagen-Dazs that I know of in Fayetteville.

I don't think there are any Haagen-Dazs anywhere else in the state.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Nov 20 2005, 11:53 AM, said:

It will be the second Haagen-Dazs that I know of in Fayetteville.

I don't think there are any Haagen-Dazs anywhere else in the state.

I guess I hadn't thought about it but I don't recall hearing of any others around.  I have noticed northwest Arkansas has some restaurants that aren't found in other areas of the state even Little Rock.  Although I would imagine that Little Rock has some that we don't have either.  I guess I'm a little surprised we seem to be getting some things before Little Rock does.

[Aporkalypse]

Mith242, on Nov 20 2005, 11:55 AM, said:

I guess I hadn't thought about it but I don't recall hearing of any others around.  I have noticed northwest Arkansas has some restaurants that aren't found in other areas of the state even Little Rock.  Although I would imagine that Little Rock has some that we don't have either.  I guess I'm a little surprised we seem to be getting some things before Little Rock does.

There are several reasons, probably.  One is the competition is much greater in Little Rock and there is a perception that NWA is a great place for chain expansion as there aren't a lot of good quality local restaurants.  A lot of times, competition is a factor.  Copeland's doesn't want to build in Little Rock because of Cajun's Wharf, the state's top-grossing non-chain restaurant.  

Sometimes, availability of space is a factor.  There was a big lull in new development in West LR as people waited to see how the Summit Mall thing settled out and where new proposed projects on Hwy 10 (and if they did).  Also, new sites in West LR and in the McCain/67-167 area are very limited.

If I were building a new restaurant I would probably look at Rogers and West Little Rock as new sites in that order, for the reasons I described.

[Mith242]

Aporkalypse, on Nov 20 2005, 06:18 PM, said:

There are several reasons, probably.  One is the competition is much greater in Little Rock and there is a perception that NWA is a great place for chain expansion as there aren't a lot of good quality local restaurants.  A lot of times, competition is a factor.  Copeland's doesn't want to build in Little Rock because of Cajun's Wharf, the state's top-grossing non-chain restaurant.  

Sometimes, availability of space is a factor.  There was a big lull in new development in West LR as people waited to see how the Summit Mall thing settled out and where new proposed projects on Hwy 10 (and if they did).  Also, new sites in West LR and in the McCain/67-167 area are very limited.

If I were building a new restaurant I would probably look at Rogers and West Little Rock as new sites in that order, for the reasons I described.

I can see what you're saying but Fayetteville has quite a number of local restaurants but we also seem to be getting quite a few chains also that are also not found anywhere else in the state.

[Aporkalypse]

Mith242, on Nov 20 2005, 06:33 PM, said:

I can see what you're saying but Fayetteville has quite a number of local restaurants but we also seem to be getting quite a few chains also that are also not found anywhere else in the state.

For most chain or developer's purposes they make decisions based on MSA first and Fayetteville is the most obvious initial site.  That said, of the major chains are there that many that went there first? I can only think of a couple of the nicer places that did.

There are a bunch of new pads that will be opening along the Hwy 10 and Chenal corridors as well as in the Lakewood area near the Bass Pro shops and I expect a few new chain restaurants to go in, though there's not much that the area doesn't have I'd be too stoked on, save the Cheesecake Factory and Arkansas won't be on their agenda for a while.

[mcheiss]

Fuddruckers open up this week in Rogers. The restaurant is inside the Pinnacle Hills area along market street.  This is only the second Fuddruckers in Arkansas.


Also, it looks like Zaxby's will be opening very soon in Bentonville.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Nov 22 2005, 01:24 PM, said:

Fuddruckers open up this week in Rogers. The restaurant is inside the Pinnacle Hills area along market street.  This is only the second Fuddruckers in Arkansas.
Also, it looks like Zaxby's will be opening very soon in Bentonville.

Yep first one is in Fayetteville by the way.  I don't remember the exact date but it may be getting close to a year since it's been open.
You know I have considered trying to start a Restaurants of Fayetteville topic.  I wouldn't necessarily critique them but I thought a pic or two, an address, and maybe a mentioning of what type of food in general might be nice.  But the more I think about it the more of a major undertaking it seems.  I've slowly been taking some pics of other restaurants in Fayetteville away from Dickson and the Square.  But they're so many, I'm not sure if I have the patience to try to keep going and try to get at least most of the ones in the city.

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Nov 22 2005, 04:32 PM, said:

Yep first one is in Fayetteville by the way.  I don't remember the exact date but it may be getting close to a year since it's been open.
You know I have considered trying to start a Restaurants of Fayetteville topic.

Go for it!!

I'd like to see more info. on Fayetteville.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Nov 22 2005, 04:37 PM, said:

Go for it!!

I'd like to see more info. on Fayetteville.

I might consider starting back up again after Thanksgiving.  Maybe I could do sections of the city or something.The bad thing is that sometimes things can happen pretty quickly in the restaurant business and it could quickly get outdatted before I can even attempt to finish.  I'll try to go back and maybe start off with Dickson St and then maybe move to the Square and then try to go to another big area like around the mall.

[mcheiss]

You could do like a restaurant of the day.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Nov 22 2005, 04:46 PM, said:

You could do like a restaurant of the day.

Possible, although I'm more the type do do a huge amount at once.  Just look at my picture topics.  
I thought maybe I'd go around take photos of restaurants in a general area.  Get some info on each one's particular style and get an address and then maybe post a little area at a time.  I wonder how restaurants would feel about me trying to take pics inside.  I've already 'drawn' some attention to myself with taking pics all over the place.  It might be a lot of work but maybe I could even call and ask and see what happens.

[Mith242]

Maybe a bit off topic but one thing I've realized is that in some ways the Square is a bit lacking.  There are restaurants along the Square but before the Christmas lights went up I had gone there one night to take some pics.  I was a bit surprised how dark most of the Square is at night.  It doesn't seem very conducive to having people want to go to the Square at night.  I realize restaurants aren't as plentiful as they are along Dickson St but I think the city should at least provide more lighting at night.  I didn't feel like I was in any danger.  This area has grown a lot but it's still northwest Arkansas which means low crime rate.  But I couldn't imagine women feeling comfortable walking around almost pitch black areas of the Square to walk to where some of the restaurants are.  I guess I'm a bit surprised that the restaurants on the Square and in that area do as well as they do with the conditions.

Edited by Mith242, 22 November 2005 - 05:32 PM.

[Mith242]

Since I was just mentioning this in the previous post KNWA talked about how the Lights of the Ozarks at the Square was having a big impact on restaurants and businesses around the Square.  Jammin Java, a coffeeshop just off the Square next to the Fayetteville Town Center had 900 credit card transactions the night they first turned on the lights.  And that doesn't even include customers paying cash.  The manager was saying how they had more people there than usual and it was still all they could do just to keep up.

[mcheiss]

Mith242, on Nov 22 2005, 06:10 PM, said:

Jammin Java, a coffeeshop just off the Square next to the Fayetteville Town Center had 900 credit card transactions the night they first turned on the lights.

We are actually getting a Jammin Java up here.

I didn't realize the lighting of the square was that big of deal down there.

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Nov 22 2005, 07:07 PM, said:

We are actually getting a Jammin Java up here.

I didn't realize the lighting of the square was that big of deal down there.

I didn't realize it either.  But I would say there were probably 2,000 to 3,000 people at least down there when they were turned on.  That's certainly not to say it will be like that every night.  But I guess for that first night a lot of people thought coffee was a good idea to help warm them up while seeing the lights.

[mcheiss]

^Thank God for the cold weather   .

[Mith242]

mcheiss, on Nov 22 2005, 08:10 PM, said:

^Thank God for the cold weather   .

Yeah I'm sure that's what all the coffeeshop owners are saying this time of year.

[mcheiss]

It's got to be having an effect on Benton County's Economy.

Here's a list of coffe stores that plan on opening or opened this year:

Starbucks in Rogers Pinnacle Hills (planned)
Starbucks in Tuscany Square (planned)
Java Junction in Bentonville (almost opened)
San Francisco Bread Co. in Bentonville (open)
Starbucks in Bentonville (open)

Edited by mcheiss, 22 November 2005 - 08:57 PM.