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.

I personally think the brown/tan stucco is very boring and unattractive. I am not saying Pleasant Ridge is the best shopping center by any means, but at least they used brick throughout which I believe will hold up better long term. I do think the JC Penney's is a nice looking building but the rest looks like every other cheap strip mall out there. As soon as Wal-Mart is built you will see all the shops you see surrounding the current WMs like the video game shop, a dollar type store, a nail shop, etc. I am not saying these are bad things and they do have their place, but to waste a location like that on those type of ventures is just a waste of resources. I just wish Strode was given that piece of land to develop instead of Clary.

Ark Times is reporting Copelands, Texas Roadhouse (there is one already in NLR), and Zaxby's have signed lease agreements at SC. Samurai Steakhouse and Panda Chinese Buffet, both local operations, have also signed. Four other restaurant spaces are left. Other than Copelands, nothing too exciting. I hope the four remaining spots are filled with better options. We drove out to SC yesterday and it was sad. The AT&T store had people holding signs to beg people to come to their store. It is very dead and quiet out there. A cheapo dress shop and another cheapo shoe store have opened near the AT&T store. Very dissapointing considering the potential of the location. I think the whole center looks very cheap and will be outdated within a few years. They need more national names in there to generate any traffic. I see it going the way of Pleasant Ridge where as they were hoping for national names and were stuck with local names. At least Pleasant Ridge got higher end stores where as SC will be stuck with very low end shops. I can not see myself going out there very often if at all. Clary Development really dropped the ball on this one!

I posted several weeks ago that I spoke with someone at Arvest about the large piece of cleared land next to the Kroger on Chenal. She told me that Kroger owned the land and was planning on building a bigger store than the current one and even bigger than the one being built in Maumelle. She said that Kroger actually owns the open piece of land but they do not own the land where the current store is located. She said she had no idea what would happen to the current store when the new Kroger is built.

McCain needs a major redo both for the interior and exterior. The outside of the mall looks very dated and unappealing. Also there needs to be more greenery in the parking lot area to spruce up the whole area. The glass/mirror panels on the Dillards side facing 67/167 look horrible. The good news is that it is a big mall with a lot of potential and a great location (both visability and neighborhood). It will take some money but it can be done.

If I had my pick of chain Italian I would take Carrabbas or Bucco De Peppa. Another chain I would like to see in LR is J Alexanders. It would fit nicely at Park Plaza or Park Avenue. Definately vote NO for Rainforest Cafe. Very cheesy and touristy. I could think of a hundred national and regional chains I would take before I took Rainforest Cafe. I am very glad to hear Panera is coming to LR. It is one of the best fast casual options out there. Great for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I wouldn't mind LR getting Boston Market to add to the fast casual lineup.

The plumbing permit page has a Hilton Garden Inn on Glover Lane. Does anybody know where this is?

Park Plaza's website has a poll on it asking what type of restaurant you would like to see there (Mexican, Seafood, Steakhouse, Italian, etc). I wonder if that means they are looking to add one. Anybody with any information?

The medical community in LR is much bigger in LR than NWA and those are very high paying jobs. UAMS, Alltel, Axciom, and Dillards, plus govt jobs have more (quantity) high paying exec jobs than Wal-Mart, Tyson, JB Hunt. Wal Mart, Tyson, and JB Hunt have big name CEOs/Family names but the majority of the vendors are in the 60-120k range. Think about what the average physician makes at UAMS and the multiple surrounding hospitals (Baptist, St Vincent, Doctors, Childrens). This is not to mention all the upper management at the above mentioned corporations in LR. NWA has had a large % growth but the area still does not have a large overall popluation. For example, you read that somewhere like Siloam Springs had 50% growth which sounds huge, but all that means is that they grew from 5000 to 7500. Don't get me wrong, I like NWA. I graduated from UofA, but some of this hype is ridiculous.

You have to be joking, right??? LR has a higher avg income, more than DOUBLE the population, and a more diversified economy than NWA. The only thing NWA has going for it in terms of retail is an abundance of land for new development. I can see the Promenade now... Bed Bath and Beyond, next to JC Penny, next to Nordstroms...yeah right!

I'm hoping to see several restaurants, specifically new to the market variety. Has anyone heard anything regarding this? I know Chili's has been mentioned, but that seems like a wierd fit for a center that is going for the upscale angle. Also, how many restaurants do you think will be included given the small size of the development? Having multiple dining options will be the best way to increase traffic for the Promenade, imo.