hartford

bchris sounds as if he does not travel much and is fairly isolated in terms of perspective. My experience with people traveling from my company from out of state into little rock is that they are very impressed and their expectations were exceeded by the city. My advice to bchris is to travel more and gain a better perspective...

My wife and I are huge fans of the sushi at Panda Garden. We don't even eat the food from the buffet but it is a great value for the sushi alone. All the sushi you can eat for about $10 and it is actually pretty good sushi! We also like Copelands as well. I am hoping more quality restaurants will locate there in the future. There seems to be a ton of empty space in the center and I am hoping they will be somewhat selective and allow quality tenants and not just whatever in there.

Has anybody on UP tried Cupcakes on Kavanaugh yet? That place is amazing! Best cupcakes I have ever had! They have traditional flavors and a couple of specialty flavors each day. The only problem with the place is its hours which are noon-5pm. I spoke with the owner when I was in there last and he said they were considering opening stores up in WLR and possibly Fayetteville. The place is very similar to the Sprinkles chain that are in larger cities. You can tell our market has been wanting something like this because every time I have been in there it has been packed with the line extending to the door. As a resident of WLR I am definately pulling for a WLR location (I think Pleasant Ridge would be a perfect spot for this type of store).

I keep waiting on confirmed restaurants to be announced. I think this component could make or break this development because most of the stores are "seconds" in the market, so if they could bring in some new to the market dining options it would really bring the excitement level up a notch. I know Chili's and the Bravo Italian place have been mentioned but I have never seen anything confirming them. I hope they bring more than that. I agree with the previous posters that it is a very nice looking development, especially compared to other new centers around the state, but I am definately hoping for more exciting restaurants than Chili's. Anybody heard any rumors regarding dining at the Promenade???

That is great news. This just goes to show LR can support these types of stores, as we all have been saying for some time. Where did you get this info? Just curious. As far as Pottery Barn, we shop there all the time and have done our fair share in keeping it near the top in the rankings (HA!). I hope all the stores do well because that just opens the door for other reatailers to enter the market.

I am not sure how well Marketplace will do in LR. The few times I have been I was not impressed. Very average. It does well in Conway because there are few other options. When I was in college at UofA it did well in Springdale but there weren't near the options there are now up there. It seems like it would be a good fit for Shackleford Crossing.

Ark Times is reporting VR is cutting its lunch service. I don't think that place will be around a year from now. I know some people hate to hear this, but I think it is time for a chain restaurant locate downtown. That particular location has had a number of concepts but none have worked out. It is a great location with a lot of foot traffic (both workers downtown and tourists from hotels heading to the RiverMarket).

I think a place like Texas de Brazil would work better downtown to accomadate large groups/conventions staying in hotels downtown. Its more of a touristy destination. It is a nicer chain and would fit in well in the River Market.

I disagree about the preference of mainline over frequency. I would rather have more flight options than having a reduced number of flights on mainline. This is especially true for AA flights to Dallas and Chicago. They are short flights anyways, and I would rather have more options when picking times for departures/arrivals. On another note, I am not surprised at all about XNA losing direct flights to Miami and Raleigh. I think we were all shocked when they were announced, and people from NWA were boasting about how there was so much traffic up there and how they could support those flights easily. Reality set in and ADG reported there was very little interest in those flights. Just one more reality check for those in NWA.

First of all, let me state that I grew up in NLR and now live in LR so I am fond of both cites. But I think there is a problem with NLR wanting to have its own identity. During the NCAA Tournament they wanted to make a big deal out of CBS and any other media saying the games were in Little Rock. LR is the metro and nobody outside of Arkansas knows they are separate cities. People associate the area as the LR metro. Most people in other large metros say they are from the defining city not the small suburb where they may actually reside. For example, I know many people who say they are from Dallas when they may live in McKinney or Allen because most people outside of that area have no idea where Allen is but they have a reference for Dallas. I thought it was very petty for NLR to beg to be recognized just because Alltel's physical address is in NLR. The arena serves the LR metro area and central Arkansas.

I think they should have built a hotel and restaurants where that new apartment building is located next to Alltel Arena. That building got a lot of things wrong including, A) it is ugly and used cheap materials B) it blocks the view of downtown LR from the entrance of the arena C) who wants to live in an apartment that backs up to one of the busiest highways in the state, I-40. That area would have been better served as a hotel site with multiple restaurants. NLR should have held out and waited for a better development.

Ark Business reported the Container Store donated $13,500 to CARTI which means they made $135,000 over their first weekend. I wonder if that met or exceeded their expectations? We tried to shop their on Sunday but it was way too crowded so we left and decided to return on a less busy weeknight. I am sure others had similar experiences. On a related topic, any idea on what store might go next to the Container Store?

We have seen a lot of retail confirmations, but I wonder when we will start to see some confirmed restaurants. I know Chili's and Bravo have been talked about, but I have not seen anything official. I know Panera wants to open four stores in LR over the next few years. Could the Promenade be one of those locations? I think it would fit very well. I hope we hear more regarding restaurant options very soon...

I fault Clary in that he had the best location in terms of visability and the most land available to work with and he has done the least with it...so far. I will give him that it is not finished yet and he has time to turn it around, but if what we see now is any indication of his ability to attract quality tenants (Nouri Dress Shop, Paul's Shoes, a couple of cell phone shops, and Rack Room Shoes) then I really think he is in over his head and he has fumbled the ball.