Weekly Market Report: December 5, 2024

Nicole Buntgen, Contributing Writer

Orsi’s Italian Bakery & Pizzeria, a local bakery in Omaha’s Little Italy district at 621 Pacific Street, recently added a dining area, accommodating 36 people, to the west side of its building. Founded in 1919, Orsi’s is known for its handmade Italian twist bread and hearty Sicilian-style pizza.

Rebel Rise, a gluten free scratch kitchen and bakery, recently opened at 10717 Virginia Plaza in La Vista inside M Salon Studios. The bakery features sweet and savory treats created in a gluten-free home cottage kitchen. Rebel Rise’s mission is to provide high-quality, allergen-friendly treats for all to enjoy.

Three food-and-beverage establishments are opening at Westroads Mall. Crazy for Candies, a bulk candy kiosk is now open. King Kone and Doughmaha are both scheduled to open December 15th. Locally owned Doughmaha is a specialty food merchant that specializes in cookie dough, ice cream and other concessions. King Kone is a local specialized food merchant that has a unique take on calzones and drinks.

Baby Blue has reopened as Blue Sushi Sake Grill at 16939 Wright Plaza after undergoing a major renovation and expansion. The popular restaurant in the Shops of Legacy took over the 2,000 sq. ft. bay next door. Blue is one of many concepts from Omaha-based Flagship Restaurant Group.

Milk Tea Lounge, a boba tea and snack lounge, has opened at 14533 West Center Road. The locally owned shop includes boba tea, Açaí bowls, organic fruit sorbet, desserts, and smoothies.

Rathskeller Bier Haus, a German-inspired restaurant located at 4524 Farnam Street, is reopening under new ownership after closing in October 2023. The grand reopening celebration will take place January 10th from noon to midnight. A post on the restaurant’s Facebook page says, “We’ve got cold German brews, mouthwatering schnitzels, hearty pretzels and all the gemütlichkeit you’ve been missing.”

Tikka Talk, an Indian street-food truck, will open a Nebraska location on March 29. The Iowa-based concept serves authentic Indian dishes like crispy samosas, butter chicken, Chettinad curry and fragrant chai.

Lockwood Construction is converting the former Charleston’s building at 138th & West Dodge Road into Terra Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse. Crews are adding extra space onto the building’s east side. When it opens in May, the building will look completely different with an all-white-and-black exterior. In addition to Omaha, Terra Gaucha has locations in Jacksonville, Fla.; Tampa, Fla.; Stamford, Conn.; and Indianapolis, Ind.

Torrid has opened at Shadow Lake Towne Center in a 3,470 sq. ft. space near Skin Experts and Bath & Body Works, according to ACCESS Commercial. Torid is a chain of plus-size women’s fashion and accessory stores. The brand has an existing store at Oakview Mall.

Animania has returned to Westroads Mall with two units in the building. One is a regular retailer, while the other also sells shaved ice, hot tea, ice cream and other concessions. ANIMANIA is a local retailer that sells east Asian items. The store had been in Westroads before moving downtown in June 2023.

The Carquest Auto Parts store at 10801 Blondo Street plans to close permanently this winter, most likely in mid-February. The 18,720 sq. ft. building is listed for sale. Carquest is owned and operated by Advance Auto Parts, Inc.

Noodles & Company is bringing back its popular “Crispidays” promotion, which includes free Crispy Parmesan Chicken or Crispy Tempura Shrimp with the purchase of an entrée from December 8 to 12. The fast-casual chain has three Omaha locations.

Pizza Hut is upping its game. At one of its Texas stores, the Dallas-based chain unveiled a new design concept that features a pizza-making station in the center of the restaurant, according to CNN. This allows customers to see employees making their pizzas. The new design also includes touchscreen kiosks for placing orders and heated cabinets for pick-up.

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‘Plank Provisions’ is an Exceptional Old Market Seafood Experience

Plank Provisions has been on the corner of 12th & Howard Street in the Old Market for 13 years. Since opening its doors, it’s become a local seafood favorite and a long-standing success for Omaha’s Flagship Restaurant Group.

Upon stepping inside, you’re greeted with warm, modern fish-house decor. At the front is a striking display of oysters on ice surrounded by a rustic, elegant bar. The nautical decor is well thought out with a modern flair, teasing the great meal to come.

During our visits, assistant general manager Kirsten Ipock kept busy, going from table to table making sure diners were enjoying their experience. Plank has a welcoming atmosphere.

Ipock has 10 years of restaurant experience, mostly in Omaha’s downtown market. She tended bar through grad school and eventually found herself training as a server at Memoir shortly after their summer opening. It wasn’t long before she was tapped for management.

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UNMC Adds Improvements to Ice Rink Ahead of This Year’s Opening

The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Ice Rink will open for the skating season tomorrow, December 6, with a new signature feature and further improvements to the icing system.

The visible change is the installation of a canopy over the ice rink, serving as a new decorative centerpiece for the rink, covering it during winter and setting up an even larger shade structure for warmer seasons.

The canopy was made possible by the generosity of UNMC supporters Ruth Scott and her late husband, Bill, who also made a previous gift to establish the Ruth and Bill Scott Student Plaza. The plaza has become a campus gathering place, and the ice rink has become a seasonal attraction for the community and campus.

“Ruth and Bill Scott have built our academic campus through their philanthropy,” said Amy Volk, senior vice president for UNMC with the University of Nebraska Foundation. “The Scotts care deeply about UNMC students and the student experience. They made the initial gift to add the skating rink to provide students with a fun place to gather on campus and take a break. The Scott family is pleased to enhance the space with the new canopy.”

Interim Chancellor H. Dele Davies said UNMC is grateful to the Scotts “for continuing to care deeply about our students and for their generosity.”

“This improvement will have a major impact in enabling our students, staff and faculty to enjoy use of the rink for more outdoor events and ceremonies throughout the year, under conditions that would have previously proven challenging,” Davies said. “The longstanding generosity of the Scotts continues to impact all aspects of our campus life, and this gift will help create wonderful memories for so many for years to come.

“I invite everyone to come out and enjoy skating in this improved facility this winter.”

Work on and around the rink this year follows improvements made last year to the rink’s icing system.

Among the improvements this year is a new panel around the base of the ice rink and a new hand railing around the rink that sits better on the ice, said Mark Bollig, facilities project manager with UNMC Facilities Management and Planning. The expectation is the ice will stay in better condition throughout the skating season, barring very warm days, Bollig said.

Other improvements include:

• A new soft playground-type walking surface around the rink.
• New stone stairs on the east side at the seating area.
• A new speaker and sound system.

Within the new canopy’s steel beams are small fabric panels to help cover the ice rink. The structure also can be set up to hold large fabric shade panels for spring through fall.

In spring 2025, new ambient lighting with color changing capability will be installed in the canopy’s center lighting. Now when warmer weather brings out the full shade panels, the rink will have added capacity to hold spring, summer and fall activities.

The 2024-25 UNMC Ice Rink skating season will run through Sunday, February 2.

Isaiah Ang, Contributing Writer

Site Selection, a national publication that covers the economic development profession, published an article about Nebraska’s ImagiNE Nebraska tax incentive program. Passed in 2020, the program has helped 50 copies invest a total of $1.55 billion and create 2,500 new jobs in the state.

Crews have started pouring footings for the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s first student residence hall near 39th & Dewey Avenue. The $66 million, 200,000 sq. ft., 6-story building will accommodate 300 students. Occupancy is scheduled for August 2026.

Construction has gone vertical on The Nook Apartments near 8th & Pine Street in Little Italy. This new multi-family development will take up much of the vacant land left over from the defunct Grace University. The project will have 250 market-rate apartments and townhomes in a total of 10 new buildings.

After buying the Lucky Strike brand last year, Bowlero has decided to rebrand its entire company as Lucky Strike Entertainment, according to the Wall Street Journal. Richmond, Virginia-based Bowlero operates 75 locations, including one in Omaha at 20902 Cumberland Drive and one in Council Bluffs at 1900 Madison Avenue. All locations will be rebranded over the next two years.

Moving at the Speed of Government – The Nebraska Department of Transportation now says the long-awaited, state-wide expressway system is now expected to take at least until 2042 before it is complete, according to the Omaha World-Herald. That compares to last year’s estimate of the mid-2030s. Work on the original expressway system started in 1988 and was supposed to be completed in 15 years.

Omaha is welcoming 13 tour groups coming to town for Christmas-related tourism, according to Visit Omaha. These multi-day bus tours average five to six days in length and include 25 to 52 travelers per group. Participants typically come from nearby states such as Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Kansas. Stops include dining and shopping at the Old Market, Holiday Poinsettia Show at Lauritzen Gardens, “A Christmas Carol” at Omaha Community Playhouse and the Christmas at Union Station exhibit at The Durham Museum.

Data from Visit Nebraska shows visitor spending grew from $3.5 billion in 2019 to a record $4.6 billion in 2023, according to WOWT. Overnight stays are driving the increase. Those are up 311,000 year-over-year with 76 percent of those visits from out-of-state guests. Since 2022, Omaha has seen 14.2 million visitors, 36 percent of whom are coming from meetings and conventions.

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The Gemini, an event-planning business, has officially launched in Omaha. The company was founded by two Omaha natives – Amy Jacobberger and Cydney Rule Weigand – who met in New York, while working on large-scale events for major companies and global brands. With more than 20 years of combined experience, the two have returned to Omaha to plan events in their hometown.

Ellie Mental Health held a ribbon cutting earlier this week, celebrating Ellie Mental Health La Vista at 12110 Port Grace Road.

Patriarch Distillers and Soldier Valley Spirits has closed permanently after 12 years in business. The small-batch distillery had operated at 12251 Cary Circle in La Vista.

Southwest Airlines is wrapping up in-flight cabin service earlier, according to Associated Press. As of this week, flight attendants now prepare the cabin for landing at an altitude of 18,000 feet instead of 10,000 feet. The change in procedure is designed to “reduce the risk of in-flight turbulence injuries” for crew members and passengers. Southwest currently controls 37 percent of the passenger traffic at Eppley Airfield.

For the sixth time in 2024, the Creighton University Mid-America Business Conditions Index, an economic indicator for the nine-state region stretching from Minnesota to Arkansas, sank below the 50.0 growth neutral threshold. The index slumped to 49.6 from 51.1 in October. This represents the 11th time in 2024 that the index has drifted slightly above and below growth neutral.

Feeling financially strained, more people are leaving smaller tips this year, according to The Hustle. The share of people tipping 20 percent or more slipped to 38 percent, down from 42 percent in 2023 and 56 percent in 2021, while one-third are now tipping 10 percent or less. Three percent of diners don’t even tip at all.

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LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT

It can be hard for extroverted leaders to truly listen to their people because it’s so tempting to talk, lecture and persuade. Great leaders practice active listening, being fully present and giving the other person your undivided attention. Listening is not just a cliché.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 21.5 percent of businesses don’t survive their first year. Only 35 percent make it 10 years.

Sending thoughtful, professional gifts to your clients and prospects can help you build and maintain relationships. but if you’re going to do it, you better get on it, says Lydia Ramsey in a recent SalesGravy article: “Your corporate gift ought to be delivered no later than December 17th in case your client is taking the week off.”

If you want to be a good negotiator, don’t allow you ego to get in the way. Many business leaders have walked away from a good deal because their ego got in the way and clouded their judgment.

SALES

This year, Christmas and New Year’s Day both fall on Wednesdays. That will chop up two work weeks, but it’ll actually be an excellent time to call prospective clients, according to sales author Mark Hunter: “A lot of people are out, but there will be people you do get a hold of. What a way to jumpstart the first quarter! While most people are just starting to get going, you’ve already got meetings on the calendar.”

According to Gleanster Research, only 25 percent of marketing-generated leads are typically of a high-enough quality to immediately advance to sales.

To drive more end-of-year sales, know your buyers’ timelines for upcoming projects, according to Sunny Sandhu’s HubSpot article. This will help you avoid roadblocks and delays. “Constantly communicate with your buyer, and put some measured, reasonable pressure on stakeholders to achieve all milestones by the deadline.”

WISDOM

“Find friends and business partners who can do things you can’t. This is hard to do, because most people only really value the skills they’re good at and downplay the importance of other abilities.” – Mathew Michelsen

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Did you know development projects in Omaha’s urban core spurred by the future streetcar are now estimated at $3.9 billion over the next 15 years? That’s nearly double the initial estimate of $2 billion.

Did you know that visitor spending currently supports 15,000 jobs in the Omaha metro area?

Did you know that 80 percent of Creighton University undergrads complete at least one internship or research project during their time on campus?

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Lights & Libations on December 6-7, 13-14 and 20th: Join others on select nights during Bright Nights as Lauritzen Gardens treat guests to evenings full of lights and libations! On December 6, 7, 13, 14 and 20, bars will serve up an array of cocktails, beers and wines. Stroll through the indoor gardens, drink in hand, while enjoying the illuminated displays. Great for date night or for a cheerful night with friends and family.

17th Annual Holiday Beerfest on December 7th: This is a holiday-themed tasting with beers from some of your favorite breweries. Make your way through the decorated bars, tasting all your favorite holiday beers (and some new ones). Many brewery reps will be on hand pouring from 1 to 5 p.m. Make sure to wear your best “ugly holiday sweater” and enter the Ugly Sweater Contest!

Holly Day on December 7th: Join others at The RiverFront’s enchanting holiday event set in the heart of downtown Omaha. With an array of festive activities, live holiday music and heartwarming traditions, Holly Day promises to be a winter wonderland that will fill your heart with holiday cheer.

Bright Nights happening on select dates in December: All aboard for holiday fun! Set a merry mood with friends and family and explore the illuminated floral display hall and the houses of the Marjorie K. Daugherty Conservatory during Bright Nights. From a 20-foot tall poinsettia tree to a flock of festive flamingos, guests will see unique installations that glow and shine, showcasing nature in a new light. This year’s theme is “Holiday Express,” with new lines of model garden trains chugging through the indoor gardens, full of festive foliage and fresh evergreens. Listen to the whir and whistle of the garden trains, celebrate our region’s rich railroad heritage, and enjoy this fanciful blend of botanical and mechanical – with an added splash of nostalgia!

FLiCKER: A Candlelit Christmas Concert on December 8th & 9th: Featuring Members of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra, FLiCKER: A Candlelit Christmas Concert is a magical blend of festive elegance and holiday charm. Picture the cozy, dimly lit Holiday Bar, with shadows dancing as flickering candles cast a warm, seasonal glow. The air is filled with anticipation as the Nova String Quartet takes the stage. The music begins with timeless Christmas carols and enchanting melodies that fill the room with holiday cheer. Get your tickets now!

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Dala Alphonso, a technologist and executive with more than 25 years of experience, has been named president and CEO of AIM Institute. Alphonso has served as the Chief Information Officer and executive vice president, Energy Integration at Greysoft Technologies for the past two years. He holds a Master of Science in Management degree from Bellevue University and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Obafemi Awolowo University.

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I think it’s reasonable to state that at the end of every straight away, there’s a curve. There is, however, a notable and ironic exception. If you drive in a westerly direction on Wall Street, you will not come to a curve, you will come to a cemetery. I leave it up to your imagination to draw your own conclusion.

The last two years in the stock market have been a lot like driving on a deserted road at 160 miles per hour with no cops or curves in sight. The S&P 500 rose 50 percent and is up 27 percent in just the last 11 months.

The market is moving at warp speed, twice its historical average. I am not now, nor will I ever be, in the prediction business, but I think inquiring minds could agree that somewhere out there is a curve.

This thought has been lingering in the back of my mind for a while, but then the other day, the still-small voice turned it into a screaming Tasmanian Devil. I was watching CNBC, when a talking head announced that Bitcoin was closing in on the $100,000 mark. The camera flashed to a reporter talking to a self-proclaimed crypto guru in a bar at 10:00 in the morning.

This mental crypto giant proclaimed that within two years, the price of Bitcoin would exceed $1million. Then without blinking an eye, he proceeded to opine that within five years it would be more than $10 million. (Gotta love a Ouija-toting whack job)

Now to the $64,000 question…What’s an investor to do in anticipation of the upcoming curve? The response of the average Wall Street sock puppet is “Just suck it up! Wait long enough and it will come back.”

An alternative to the wait-and-see approach is to move some or all of your assets from the stock market to the bond market. The typical response of the aforementioned Wall Street maven to this approach is, “You don’t know when the market will turn south. So, you don’t know when to get out, and if you did, you wouldn’t know when to get back in.”

With no due respect to Wall Street mavens, you don’t have to be 100 percent right to benefit from such as approach. If you do nothing, and the market declines by 25 percent, you have to recover 33 percent to get back to where you started. If you misread the market and move some or all of your assets to the bond market after a 10 percent decline, it only takes an 11 percent gain to get you back to whole.

Bottom line; It would not hurt to start exploring some new haystacks.

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The Grow Omaha radio show broadcasts live every Saturday morning at 9:00, but now you can watch videos of each episode instead of just listening.

Grow Omaha’s brand-new website features video footage shot inside the radio studio during each week’s show!

Videos include News of the Week, Lightning Round, guest interviews, and “Grow Omaha Uncut,” a behind-the-scenes look at what happens during commercial breaks.

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