By Barbara Soderlin

I got so busy today with the Merillat story I forgot to post the open thread. Sorry about that. The most updated Merillat story is on our home page right now. What do you want to talk about this weekend? There’s Merillat, the Bully Blends move, the mall’s fall activities. You guys also have kept me busy chasing all the good tips; thanks for that.

Here’s an economics question for you — how do you decide if a buffet is worth the money? We had lunch today at JD’s House of Pizza and the pizza was tasty, homemade, fresh and plentiful, but the lunch buffet was about a dollar more than I expected at $7.99 (drink and salad included). With tax and a small tip I paid $9. If I eat $9 worth of pizza, I pretty much can’t move at my desk for the rest of the day. So I tucked a brownie in my purse as I was leaving and ate it around 4 p.m. I didn’t feel too terrible since a woman working there said she used to (doesn’t any more, but used to) go to a Chinese buffet in town and leave with wings in her purse. I suppose restaurants have to price for people who eat a LOT and for those who tuck brownies and wings in their purses. What buffets do you like? (Try not to be too harsh about the ones you don’t like so much…)

By Barbara Soderlin

My very nice sister-in-law took us out for my birthday last week and when she asked where we wanted to go, I thought we should check out the new On the Border. It’s not that often we get a big new restaurant around here, so if you’re into restaurants, you’ve probably been there already, but I hadn’t had a chance yet. It was really nice inside and has a fantastic patio with a sweeping view of the Hills.

The first thing that struck me when we drove up, though, was the enormous sign. Maybe the city needs to tighten its sign ordinances, I thought. Talking to the property developer today, though, he said they’re working to get two other restaurants at the same site, and it looks like they’d all share the same sign. It sounded like they’re still recruiting for the restaurants and nothing’s firm, but it’s exciting to think of two more coming.

What do you think we’ll get? Hopefully whatever it is, they’ll give me a free dessert for my birthday, like On the Border did. (Cinnamon empanadas filled with chocolate… yum.) They even sang to me. And they even believed I was 21! I did set the record straight before we left though.

Hi again everyone… just wanted to let you know why some of your comments didn’t make it through. I’m generally not going to allow negative criticism of a business that isn’t making news on its own. If you want to discuss restaurant service please keep it anonymous, postive, or at least constructive. If you had bad service, let the manager know. At one new restaurant I tried recently, my food came really late and they comped the meal. I could tell it wasn’t the waitress’ fault. With me being polite about it, she got it comped without me even having to ask.

And if someone wanted to start their own restaurant criticism site, I bet it would be very popular!

– Barbara

By Barbara Soderlin
I’m looking forward to next Wednesday when I’m going to interview Ben Snow, who was recently hired as president of the Rapid City Economic Development Partnership. They’re the ones who try to recruit new businesses to the area, and to help existing ones stay in business.
On the phone he sounded enthusiastic. He’s a younger guy (41… that’s younger, right?) moving his family here from the Denver area. I wonder if the current economy would make it more difficult to recruit businesses, or easier, especially if our work force has a lot to offer to a business looking to cut costs.
Let me know if there are any specific questions you’d like me to ask him and I’ll try to work them in.

Here’s the brief that’ll be in tomorrow’s paper:
The Rapid City Economic Development Partnership has hired a new president.
Ben Snow, 41, comes to Rapid City from Parker, Colo., a suburb of Denver.
“I just love it up here,” Snow said. “I love being in a ‘small-city USA’ environment.”
Former president Bob DeMersseman retired at the end of last year.
The partnership’s goal is to bring “primary jobs” to the area, those defined as jobs that bring new wealth into the community, such as manufacturing, according to its Web site.
In addition, it works to expand and retain existing companies and serve as a resource for economic information for the region.
Snow said he will work “to attract companies to move to Rapid City and move to the Black Hills.”
This area is about the same size of market as Parker, Snow said, but the dynamics are different, with Rapid City being “the center of economic gravity” for western South Dakota.
Originally from the Phoenix area, Snow went to school at Arizona State University and worked in commercial real estate, project management and other development fields before joining the Parker Economic Development Council, where he was chief executive.
Snow brings with him to Rapid City his wife, Kimberlee, and their four children, two teenage girls and two younger boys.

Clever.

If you’ve driven down Mount Rushmore Road (it’s a little safer to do now that most of the bikers have bolted), you’ve probably noticed the sign on Gold Diggers souvenir store.

At first, it looks like it’s a Going Out Of Business sign. But it’s not (it reads, Going Out For Business).

Is it just intended to make you look? Or are shoppers more likely to stop at a business when it’s going under, because they suspect there are great deals inside?

Booking big bands is big business.

The Buffalo Chip’s promoters believe they hosted the largest concert ever at their campgrounds. Unsubstantiated reports put the attendance for last night’s Aerosmith show at 108,000. At $120 for a day pass per person, that’s a lot of new portapotties that Rod Woodruff and his Chip can afford. (Doubt they were giving any half-off refunds after the show was cut short last night)

BTW, reports from one of our staffers at Tuesday’s Cheech & Chong show says that they were charging $2 to use the portapotties at the Buffalo Chip. Can that be true? Or was a crafty entrepreneur just trying to make a quick buck at the expense of the concert ‘goers’? Have you heard that anyone else was charging.

Anyway, as you can imagine, the newsroom has been buzzing a bit this morning following Steven Tyler’s fall midway through the concert last night. Calls from national media looking for news, photos, and quotes …

And we expected the biggest news this week out of Sturgis would likely be a shooting or stabbing, as it has been each of the last few years.

Who knew?

Editor’s note: Buffalo Chip officials responded to this post, pointing out that the unsubstantiated attendance figures were inaccurate, though they declined to report the attendance for the show. The Chip also pointed out that their concert staff does not charge for use of the portapotties, but there is a tip jar on site, as their staff cleans the units after each use. The $120 ticket price was for tickets purchased at the gate the day of the show.

Another resale shop is closing, the second in a week. (Thanks to one of our readers for the tip)

New To You consignment store on West Main in the Gap is closing as of Friday, July 31. Owner Charyl Fields needs to take some time away from the business and so she will shut down. She bought the business a year about from Kathy Heldreth, who owned the resale store for three years.

Among the reasons for closing (needing time away, recession, competition), Charyl also mentioned the traffic issues. She had at one time hoped to move the store to a different location, but had a binding one-year lease and couldn’t do it. A number of her customers commented about the difficult traffic issue which the Gap poses for her business. (”If you miss the parking lot, you’re not able to get back” she pointed out. “And I tell people, don’t even bother trying to make a left-hand turn”). It can get pretty dangerous braking to pull into the parking lot, hoping other cars behind you on West Main see your brake lights or turn signal.

Earlier this week, we reported The Kids Closet resale shop is closing in Baken Park.

Maybe the discussion didn’t go quite like that … but you’ll notice they’ve torn down that privacy fence between Kelly’s (which is in the midst of remodeling) and the new Sonic on Jackson Blvd.

It looks a lot better. A lot better.

We’re sure it was probably erected back in the day when those loud and crazy appraisers and hairdressers who worked in the now-demolished strip mall were up til all hours of the night with their wild parties.

Now, not only is it much more attractive, but Kelly’s patrons can make a quick walk next door to get some late-night chili fries. (Does Sonic have a stagger-through?)

A steakhouse could be on its way to the new Comfort Suites at the Elk Vale Road exit on Interstate 90.

So says Diane Heinis, managing partner of the company that owns the $10 million, 92-room hotel. Oh, that’s set to open sometime between Aug. 1-7.

What steakhouse would you like to see headed to Exit 61?

I was scouring the Internet today, and came across this Rushmore Crossing proposed merchandising plan, on the McDonald Properties Web site. It looks relatively old, at least compared to the Katz & Associates map released this March.

The maps don’t align perfectly, but I was interested to see the restaurants that appeared to in the works to sign a letter of intent.

- Qdoba Mexican Grill
- CiCi’s Pizza Buffet (although the Katz map puts Mens Wearhouse there)
- Shari’s Restaurant
- Tilted Kilt Pub and Eatery

I was particularly intrigued by the last two. I’ve never heard of them before.

Anyway, take a look and see what you think.

(Image: www.jonessign.com)

I haven’t made any calls on this,  yet. But this could mean Rapid City’s downtown could get some sort of grocery store with malt liquor sales.

The address is the same as the Body Builder Christian Bookstore that is going out of business.

Here’s the off-sale malt beverage license application before on tonight’s city council agenda:

Matthew J. Batchelder DBA Windsor Block Grocery Co., 610 7^th Street for a Package (off-sale) Malt Beverage License

Having some sort of grocery/drug store within walking distance could make life a lot easier for those living downtown.

What do you think?