Monthly Archives: January 2011

And the most reliable cars are…

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Every year Consumer Reports conducts a survey to find the most reliable cars in the country. And the latest Annual Auto Survey — based on subscribers’ experiences with 1.3 million vehicles — shows Honda and Toyota still tops.

Nipping at their heels are Nissan, Subaru, Hyundai and Kia. But gaining fast is Ford, deemed the most reliable American car manufacturer.

“They have 90 percent of their vehicles… average or better with reliability,” John Linkov, the publication’s managing editor said of Ford.

So why are Ford vehicles so reliable?

It’s their continual efforts to tweak their vehicles to improve them, Linkov said on the Headline News cable network. That’s expecially true of their five-year-old Ford Fusion hybrid, ranked as the most reliable family car of them all.

Other category winners were:

SUVs: Hyundai Santa Fe and Buick Enclave.

Small car: Scion XD

Sports car: Porsche Boxster.

Improving are vehicles by General Motors, most notably its latest Buick LaCrosse V6, Cadillac SRX, Chevrolet Camaro and Equinox, though, Linkov says, “GM still has a way to go to catch Ford as well as the Asians.”

Not so reliable were: Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep with their dated vehicles; BMW with five of 11 models scoring below average; Mercedes-Benz with the least reliable vehicles in three categories; and Audi with 75 percent of its models ranking below average, according to Consumer Reports.

New West Duluth restaurant has good start

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Apparently the folks who live and work in West Duluth love Asian food. That’s because the new China King Buffet which opened last week at 215 N. Central Ave., is packing them in at lunchtime.

The restaurant’s seating capacity is 130 people, and I hear they’re drawing about 300 people during weekday lunchtime when the buffet costs $6.95 (dinner and weekend buffet is $9.50).

The restaurant replaces the Grand Panda Restaurant which closed at the site a few months ago. It’s under new family ownership, the Chen family, who remodeled the space  before opening.

The buffet-style restaurant has 80 or more buffet items, including hot and cold tables. It’s a mix of Cantonese, Sechwan and Japanese food. And if you love sushi, you can get it there.

So far, customer favorites include seasame chicken, cocoanut shrimp and hot and spicy chicken. But for those who must have American, they also have pizza, appie pie and other American desserts.

The China King is open 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily. They offer takeout (624-2422), and delivery may be available later.

The new owners have run restaurants before, in Baltimore and Fairmont, Minn.

Dress Barn Inc. changes name, moves

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News came this week that Dress Barn Inc. has shaken things up, big time.

It has reorganized, changed its name to  Ascena Retail Group, Inc., and moved its corporate base from Suffern, N.Y. to Delaware where presumably the business climate is more agreeable.

So why should we care?

That’s because  Dress Barn, Inc. — Ah, I mean Ascena Retail Group — is a leading national retailer of women’s, teen and preteen clothes with 2,487 stores. It’s the parent company of Dressbarn, Maurices and Justice store chains.

And — here’s really why we take note — Maurices is based in Duluth.

In a comment for the News Tribune, George Goldfarb, Maurices’ chief operating officer, was upbeat.

“It’s exciting to be part of the new Ascena Retail Group, one of America’s largest specialty stores,” he wrote. “In addition, the Maurices team was very pleased with our holiday season comparable store sales performance, leading the group up 16 percent.”

He was referring to the company’s recently reported holiday season tallies showing Maurices sales up 16 percent, leaving Dressbarn’s and Justice’s 4 percent increases in the dust.

Another brewpub for Duluth

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Mike Maxim, owner of the Dubh Linn Irish pub in downtown Dululth, wants to take his five-year-old tavern to the next level.

He wants to make his own beer.  And not just one variety. He wants to make several Irish-style beers, ranging from an entry level beer to mid-level to darker brews for beer aficionados.

“The goal is to get people who don’t traditionally drink beer,” Maxim says. When people start out drinking beer, they don’t go right to the dark beer, he explained. Like with coffee, they start out lighter to get accustomed to the taste.

So with the  help of a professional brewer, Maxim is setting up a micro-brewery in the pub’s basement that he hopes will be up and running this spring.

It will be one of several bar/eateries in the Twin Ports that have joined the craft beer movement.

Dubh Linn will still carry numerous production beers, but not as many, Maxim says.

Is Panera Bread coming or not?

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Rumors have been flying lately about certain retailers, restaurant chains and other businesses planning to expand to Duluth.

Some are true. Some aren’t. I could spend a good part of my work week just checking out these rumors. So, if you know anything for sure, I’d sure like to hear about it at crenalls@duluthnews.com

Among the rumors is that Panera Bread is coming. While it could be true, my efforts to get to an actual person with this mega corporation to confirm or quash this rumor have been futile. Many calls are out. All unreturned.

The national chain of bakery-cafes (serving up sandwiches, soups,  and salads) has nearly 1,400 locations in 40 states.

Sure, they’ve talked to them, says Beth Wentlaff, president of CMRA which manages commercial properties in the Duluth area.

“We’ve worked to get them,” she said. “We have offered them many and many spaces. We reach out to them constantly,  all of them.”

For it’s  not just Panera CMRA has courted but other chains as well.

“We do a lot of work trying to get (businesses here),” Wentlaff said. “A lot of them would love to come.”

But chains like Panera sell franchises.

“We talk to people who have shown interest in the past,” she said. “We contact them to see if that’s in their plans, if it’s the right fit.”

So far, she’s not had any takers. And she hasn’t heard that Panera was coming.

“Same thing with a Dunkin’ Donuts franchise,” she said. “Lots of people would be glad to bring them in, but the criteria they give… Oh, my goodness.”

And that’s the problem.

If you want to open a Panera Bread franchise as a little family business, forget it. Panera isn’t interested in single developments.

“Panera wants to develop market areas. It typically requires the new franchise holder to open 15 bakery/cafes within six years. They must have a net worth of at least $7.5 million and liquid assets of at least $3 million. They must have experience in multi-unit restaurant ownership, have real estate experience in the market to be developed and have the infra-structure and resources to meet Panera’s aggressive development schedule.

So…  any takers?

Three of seven Falk’s stores remain… for now

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Falk’s Pharmacies stores are going, going… and soon they’ll be gone.

The big Walgreens takeover of Falk’s pharmacies in the Twin Ports (which we told you about back in November) happened last month.

That’s when all seven Falk’s pharmacy stores in the Twin Ports transferred their pharmacy departments to Walgreens.

“It’s actually been a nice smooth transition,” said Steve Preston, the owner of the Falk’s stores.

The plan was for the stores to close this spring, except for the Falk’s in Duluth’s Kenwood Shopping Center which is continuing as a Walgreens store. The old Falk’s sign came down around New Year’s, and a new Walgreens sign went up.

But Falk’s Newman Pharmacy at 2908 W. Third St. in Duluth closed early.

“We closed Newman permanently Dec. 31,” Preston said. “The minute the pharmacy transferred, business dropped off. It wasn’t worth keeping it open.”

His pharmacy-only sites at Mount Royal Fine Foods and the West Duluth Super One store closed in mid-December when the pharmacies were transferred to Walgreens.

That leaves Falk’s stores in Woodland and Lakeside in Duluth and at Mariner Mall in Superior. Both will remain open until the end of March after closeout sales, Preston said.

Preston has hired a Denver firm to come in to do 90-day close-downs at all three stores. Besides typical drug store merchandise, the stores carry gift and collectible items, including those by Willow Tree.

And there’s plenty to sell.

“We merged seven stores into three, so they have a lot of stuff right now,” Preston said. “They’re pretty loaded right now.”

So far, fewer than 10 Falk’s employees have lost their jobs, according to Preston. Some of the pharmacy technicians were hired by Walgreens or by Preston’s remaining business, a non-retail provider of medications for nursing homes.

The three remaining stores have about 30 employees who will be out of jobs by April, he said.

While Preston leased most of the Falk’s locations, he owns the Woodland and Lakeside sites. After those stores close, he’ll seek new tenants for the spaces.

Stuck with a timeshare

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Remember when timeshares were big? Well, those who jumped on that band wagon are pretty much stuck now.

Timeshares are 100 percent unsellable right now,” says Clark Howard, the consumer expert this blog can’t resist quoting because he simply knows his stuff. “The timeshare market was really hot back in the 1990s, up to 2006. It’s (since) fallen off a cliff.”

Most of the timeshare developers have gone bust. If they were bigger companies that had a timeshare business on the side, they have gotten out of it, Clark told his Headline News cable television audience recently.

So what to do?

If you bought a timeshare — a shared ownership of a vacation condo or other lodging — for your family to enjoy, it came with a note that allows you to trade weeks. If the timeshare came with points, you can trade your points for a different place, he says.

“You make it your mission that you are going to use your points each and every year, either at the place you bought it or at another place,” he said. “Right now, any place you want to go is going to be available. Use it because you’re stuck with it.”

In time, the timeshare market may improve.

“But right now, you have an untouchable thing,” Clark says.

Oberstar out, Prettner Solon in for biz talk

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What a difference an election can make.

Before the November election, then-U.S. Congressman Jim Oberstar was penciled in to deliver the keynote address at the Greater Downtown Council’s annual dinner at the DECC Jan. 19.

With Oberstar’s work on the House Transportation Committee, the downtown Duluth business group had been after him for two years to talk at their annual shindig. This year, it looked like his schedule would permit it.

But then Oberstar lost the election.

“We kept the invitation but weren’t able to get a firm commitment,” said Kristi Stokes, the downtown council’s president. “We couldn’t get an answer from his office on whether he was still interested in speaking.”

Time passed. Still no commitment.

“We couldn’t wait any longer,” Stokes said. “So we moved on and followed up with another speaker.”

Yvonne Prettner Solon, the state senator from Duluth elected lieutenant governor, seemed like a natural.

“In my mind, she’s perfect,” Stokes said. “She has such a passion for Duluth.”

Moreover, Prettner Solon committed. She’s down for the gig in ink.