The Blue Vervain restaurant in Hot Springs will reopen Thursday, July 31, four years after chefs Elizabeth and Rebecca Christensen moved the restaurant to Colorado Springs, Colo. Rebecca is bringing the upscale Blue Vervain back to its original digs at the Red Rock River Resort.

A story in tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) Journal reports that business is likely to be down for this year’s Sturgis rally. Some places (businesses, homes …) are still unrented and others didn’t get rented until much, much later than usual.

All signs — signs like higher fuel prices and a lousy economy — point to a smaller rally this year, which is bad news for those who rely on the tourism dollars the rally delivers.

News came out this afternoon that to sweeten their chances of FCC approval, Verizon has offered to divest itself in the Dakotas in order to purchase Alltel. The two companies go head-to-head here in Rapid City, and so — in order to avoid eliminating competition in these parts — Verizon would sell off some its services/interests.

While one may read this to believe that Verizon would be leaving South Dakota, a Verizon spokesperson told the Journal this afternoon that they would not be selling their operations, but only some of their services to allow for competition in the market if their acquisition of Alltel is approved.

But for some of us who were sulking last year when cellphone extraordinaire Apple IPhone was introduced — the carrier for Apple was AT&T which does not have a presence in South Dakota — this gives us new reason to hope. Maybe AT&T will now consider coming into the market and bring those cool phones with them. (One can dream …)

The wire story:

In a letter to the Federal Communications Commission, Verizon said after preliminary discussions with the Justice Department, it is committed to divesting overlapping spectrum, operations and other assets in 85 markets, mostly in the Midwest, West and Southeast.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Blair Levin said the markets cover about 15 percent of Alltel’s 13.2 million subscribers. AT&T Wireless, Leap Wireless International Inc. and MetroPCS Communications Inc. may all be interested in buying some of those assets, he said.

The offer from Verizon Wireless comes as it seeks regulatory approval of its planned acquisition of Alltel for $5.9 billion plus the assumption of $22.2 billion in debt.

 

Stopped by Cabela’s today for what the new Rapid City outdoors megastore called a ’sneak preview’ for media.

It’s a marketing ploy for a destination retailer like Cabela’s to get free publicity prior to a grand opening, by allowing the news media to step behind the curtain to see what all the fuss is about … before the real fuss begins … and then relay that to its viewers/readers.

It works.

It’s a neat store, but those who have been to the stores in Mitchell or Sidney, Neb. already know that. The gun showcase looks like it will be pretty sweet — it wasn’t stocked yet, but will be displayed behind a set of doors for security reasons. The aquarium was OK, but some Cabelas/Bass Pro Shops have larger, more expansive set-ups with a larger variety of fish. They had just introduced the trout to the aquarium this morning.

Fly-fishermen will be pretty stoked that they have a little store within a store for their needs. But the signature showpiece in the Rapid City store has to be the rock formation at the back of the store, which is absolutely loaded with animals of nearly every type you can imagine - Cow Elk, Beaver, Polar Bear, Prairie Dog, Arctic Cat … on and on and on.

The store opens Thursday, Aug. 7.

A New York-style hot dog cart is now open to serve the late-night weekend crowd in downtown Rapid City.

Dakota Dogs is open from 10 p.m. until the bars close on Friday and Saturday nights. The cart parks between the Radisson and Teddy’s Sports Bar & Grill

Owner/operators Erin McCarrick and Melissa Krause came up with the idea after they found themselves downtown on a weekend night with nowhere to go to eat.

We have the story running tomorrow that the little strip mall on Jackson Blvd. across the parking lot from Hardware Hanks had been sold and will be demolished next January. The owners (Lewis), who also own the Black Hills Appraisals business in the strip, are apparently retiring. This will mean that the seven other businesses in the strip will have to find new digs by the end of the year.

Rumor has it that it was sold to a fast food establishment, which some believe to be Sonic. The owners of the strip mall would not speak to the Journal Thursday, Sonic corporate didn’t return calls, Sonic’s local manager would not comment, but we will pursue other avenues to see if we can confirm what will be built in its place. That is a fairly desirable retail location right on Jackson.

It’s an ever-changing story. With ever-changing stores, or so it seems.

The Journal’s latest report on Rushmore Crossing …

Those on track for opening are Target, Scheels and T.J. Maxx … and Shoe Carnival, David’s Bridal, Petco, Michaels Hobby, Gordman’s and Dress Barn seem to be moving along to an opening. Michaels Hobby was an interesting addition to the list, possibly giving Hobby Lobby some competition. David’s Bridal may hurt some of the local shops in town, especially a couple downtown.

Those no longer listed include Circuit City, Dillard’s, Lane Bryant, Barnes & Noble, Men’s Warehouse, Motherhood Maternity, Guitar Center, Kay Jewelers and Eyemart Express. Some random thoughts about this list … Probably most disappointing is Dillard’s, an upscale department store providing an alternative to Herbergers, which had been penciled in to anchor one end of the development. Hope this changes again, and they are back ‘on’ soon. Another good bookstore would have been great, especially if Barnes & Noble had built one of their larger stores, but that was unlikely anyway, given the size of this market. And while it may have been nice to have another Best Buy-type store, Circuit City seems to be having some in-house financial issues it needs to remedy first.

Which are you happiest to see coming? Or which ‘dropout’ disappoints you most?

Black Hills Corp. just got a whole lot bigger.

The company finally closed on its deal to acquire Aquila for $940 million. This means Black Hills Corp now gains 600,000 new customers and 1,100 employees in four states.

What does this mean for local consumers? Probably not a lot, we hope. There have been case studies of companies getting too large, being stretched too thin, and not serving their existing customers well. And there are other instances where as a company grows, it is able to upgrade technology, improve facilities, etc… thanks to the additional capital.

Locally, we hope that this news means that an already very successful local business is able to expand and add more jobs here in the Black Hills.

Congratulations to BHC on today’s announcement.

The Journal updated readers on progress at Rushmore Crossing this morning. An excerpt:

With construction crews still hard at work, signs are already up for Target and T.J. Maxx. Shoe Carnival, David’s Bridal, Petco, Michaels Hobby, Gordman’s and Dress Barn have sign permit applications pending with the city, according to Marcia Elkins, the city’s growth management director.

A site plan posted on the Web site for Katz & Associates, the firm hired to market Rushmore Crossing to tenants, also shows a fully executed lease with Linens ‘n Things.

Small said the west half of the Target wing, including the new Scheels All Sports store, will open next spring.

Perhaps just as interesting is the list of businesses which continue to be listed on the Crossing’s marketing site (Katz). Many of them are current mall tenants like J.C. Penney, Christopher Banks, CJ Banks, and Bath & Body Works … the latter three listed with ‘letters of intent’ to relocate, even though it has not been confirmed. It’s tough enough on the mall to watch as Scheel’s and Target leave for this new development (though Target has not officially said it’s closing its mall store). It’s just gotta sting mall officials a bit more to see some of their tenants’ names still on the Katz web site.

With the Rapid City Journal’s story tonight that Sam’s Club will be relocating to a site next to Cabela’s, it means yet another extremely large retail building which may be left vacant (Target is expected to leave the mall for Rushmore Crossing).

It’s one thing when a strip mall tenant leaves an 800 square foot storefront. It’s quite another when massive structures like these become vacant — there just aren’t many retailers who are looking for buildings that size and, even if they are, the ‘used’ facility may not fit their needs.

On the brighter side, Sam’s Club moving from Lacrosse may help thin out the traffic in that overly congested part of town — a little. Fans of a second Wal-Mart on the south side may suggest that would help reduce traffic even further.