Weekly Market Report – March 16, 2023

Mar 16, 2023 | 0 comments

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Restaurant & Retail Updates

Walk On’s Sports Bistreaux plans to open its first Nebraska or Iowa location in a 6,500 sq. ft. space at Nebraska Crossing, according to former NFL quarterback Drew Brees, who announced the new location on last Saturday’s Grow Omaha radio show. Brees is co-owner of the Louisiana-based restaurant chain, which has locations in 14 states. The closest existing Walk On’s are in Wichita, Kan. and Indianapolis. Most locations are in the South.

Bomb Taco Taqueria & Cantina is replacing Burrito Envy in a corner restaurant space at 12321 West Maple Road. Burrito Envy’s original location in Benson remains open. Bomb Taco has an existing location at 120 Olson Drive in Papillion.

Sweet Thai Rice will hold a ribbon cutting in cooperation with the Sarpy Chamber on April 14th for its new restaurant at 153 Main Street in Springfield. Sweet Thai Rice had previously operated as a food truck.

El Vallarta’s new location at 12405 West Center Road is getting closer to opening with the first day of business likely occurring in April. Most of the interior renovation appears to be done. The building formerly housed a McAlister’s Deli. El Vallarta has existing locations in La Vista and Gretna.

Dairy Chef opened for the season earlier this week. The popular, locally owned ice cream and burger shop at 3223 North 204th Street closes for the winter but is open the rest of the year every day except Mondays.

LEGO is planning to open a store in the Omaha metro area. Representatives from LEGO were in town last week, touring various retail properties. The closest existing LEGO stores are in Kansas City and Minneapolis.

YETI opened a flagship retail store last week at Nebraska Crossing, only the 14th location in the world for the Austin, Texas-based retailer. The closest previously existing YETI location is in Chicago. Also at Nebraska Crossing, construction has started on a 5,200 sq. ft. Athleta store, which will open this summer in the former Brooks Brothers space.

Cupcake Island has permanently closed after 17 years in business because of staffing issues and rising costs. The locally owned bakery was at 1314 South 119th Street.

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The “Restaurant & Retail Updates” section is sponsored by Anderson Convenience Market, featuring Quality AMOCO Fuels and serving Omaha since 1952, and proud to announce the return of Quality Amoco Fuels. Look for changes this Summer at Anderson Convenience Market – 8 Omaha area locations!

Learn more about Anderson Convenience market at www.Anderson1952.com

Grow Omaha Eats with
Sarah Baker Hansen

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Review: At Kros Strain, it’s all about figuring out what’s next

By Sarah Baker Hansen

When you’re already the maker of one of the most well-liked beers in the state of Nebraska, you start asking the big questions: What’s next? What else can we do? How do we stay relevant?

After a recent visit to Kros Strain’s La Vista tap room, it sure seems like that’s what the team of creative brewers is doing.

That best selling beer is, of course, Fairy Nectar, their signature, agreeable hazy IPA that’s fruity and tangy but not bitter. It’s a beer that’s become wildly popular even with Nebraskans who don’t consider themselves craft beer lovers.

Look around most restaurants and you’ll see it on tap; pay even the smallest amount of attention and you’ll see bartenders all over town pouring cans of it into pint glasses — I saw one last night, in fact, while eating dinner in the Old Market.

But there’s also surprises in the Kros Strain lineup like the barrel aged Old Weller, a dark English ale with notes of rich molasses that gets aged in Weller Bourbon barrels for 13 months. Or the verdant green Azure Experiment, a blue raspberry-tinged lager that the brewery describes as a “childhood blue slushie.” Fun to drink. Tasty. Unusual.

“At the end of the day, we are a bunch of beer nerds,” said Jeff Hardy, the brewery’s “Head Beer Pusher” who has been with founders Scott Strain and Bobby Kros since the brewery opened in 2017.

None of the founders were in the beer industry: Kros was a mechanical engineer, Strain was working in politics and Hardy was in finance. What got them into the business, like so many brewers, was a holiday gifted home brewing kit.

“We brew what we like, and what we think other people will like,” he said.

Fairy Nectar was one of the first Kros Strain beers Hardy tried. Strain handed him a glass of it during his job interview. (Nice perk if you can get it.)

“I was blown away,” he said. “Pardon my language, but I thought ‘holy shit, this is the first locally made IPA I am actually excited to go out and buy in stores’.”

Turned out he wasn’t the only one.

Kros Strain doesn’t use a lot of extracts in its beers, Hardy said, and the flavors of mango and pineapple in Fairy Nectar instead come from the hops used to make the beer.

We visited the brewery’s La Vista tap room on a weekend, and found the main seating area packed, with lots of people returning to the taps again to refill small tasters, a fun way to try the lineup. The spot regularly has a food truck outside, and a few friends ordered loose meat sandwiches that afternoon.

The brewery has a second tap room in North Downtown, inside the Millwork Commons development, which Hardy thinks only stands to become more popular as more food-focused businesses open there, including a soon-to-come pizza concept and a second location of Coneflower Creamery.

I’ve visited the downtown location several times, and it always draws a robust after work crowd for happy hour. Hardy said the brewery, a five minute walk from Schwab Field, plans some fun events this summer around the College World Series.

There’s lots of fruit-forward beers on the Kros Strain lineup.

Everyone in our group the day we tasted a handful liked Self-Propelled Mower, a light lager with notes of pineapple and lemon. I could easily imagine it being a refreshing one on a hot Nebraska summer day. (My friend Tre Brashear, who was a judge on the long ago beer Food Prowl, was with us at Kros Strain and we fondly remembered trying so many “lawnmower beers” during that story.)

There’s also a handful of tiki-inspired sour beers on the list right now, released just this week, with a lineup of fruit flavors like coconut, guava, passion fruit and even banana.

I’m a fan of sour beers, and the day we visited, almost all were sold out, but I did get to try a few sips of a bright and citrusy White Sangria berliner weisse, each sip tinged with a hint of cinnamon.

The brewery has also taken Fairy Nectar in some different directions. Nilla nectar, for example, is a small batch of Fairy Nectar finished with vanilla caviar; we all really liked it. The vanilla tastes clean, not artificial, and isn’t overpowering.

There’s also a double dry hopped Fairy Nectar, an award-winning beer with extra Citrus and Mosaic hops.

Kros Strain is beginning to move in the direction of limited edition releases. Hardy cites a barrel aged peanut butter stout that sold out in 28 minutes as one recent example. My husband, Matthew, was lucky enough to get his hands on another limited release last December, Spumoni, a 24 month bourbon barrel aged stout with added pistachio and cherry inspired by the traditional ice cream flavor.

These limited beers don’t come cheap, and Hardy said the local customer is willing to pay more, though overall, Nebraska’s pricing for craft beer is lower when compared with other cities, where a four pack of limited edition beers can go for as much as $100.

“The customer is becoming more and more informed,” he said. “You can’t just make good beer any more, you have to make great beer.”

Hardy said one way Kros Strain works to stay ahead is travel, and trying new things that other breweries are doing. He said the team knows it could just focus on its most popular beer, and forget about the rest, but that’s not the goal.

“At the end of the day, beer is cyclical, and we know there is going to be the next hot thing,” Hardy said. “We just have to find it.”

Kros Strain Brewing
https://krosstrainbrewing.com/
10411 Portal Rd., La Vista
402-779-7990

Hours:
Tues-Thurs 3 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Friday 3 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Saturday noon – 10 p.m.
Sunday noon – 6 p.m.
Monday Closed

Kros Strain Draftworks at Millwork Commons
https://krosstrainbrewing.com/
1209 Millwork Ave.
531-721-2058

Hours:
Tuesday through Thursday 3 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Friday 3 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Saturday noon – 10 p.m.
Sunday noon – 6 p.m.
Monday Closed

Grow Omaha Eats with Sarah Baker Hansen is sponsored by Cheer Athletics, one of the largest and most respected All-Star cheerleading programs in the United States. The Omaha location is at 14620 Gold Coast Road, near Highway 370 and 144th Street. Learn more HERE!

The Big Story

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Two National Perspectives of Omaha & Nebraska

At Grow Omaha, we strive to keep you up to date on national perspectives of our city and state. Today we have two of them – one good and one not-so-good.

We start with the positive…

Greater Omaha, home to Offutt Air Force Base, is one of five communities across the country selected as a 2023 Great American Defense Community, according to a press release from the Greater Omaha Chamber.

The Association of Defense Communities (ADC) announced the five selected communities in conjunction with USAA, the program’s official sponsor, at the Defense Communities National Summit earlier this month. The 2023 class also includes El Paso, Texas; Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska; the Montgomery-River region in Alabama; and the Fort George G. Meade region in Maryland.

The Great American Defense Communities program was launched by ADC in 2016 to recognize and celebrate the communities and regions that support military installations for their exceptional commitment to improving quality of life for military.

Communities are chosen through a competitive nomination process based on community building efforts, such as educational and employment opportunities, and support and collaboration with neighboring military installations.

And now for the not-so-good…

A new study finds a record number of small business are opening nationwide, however, Nebraska is only the 40th best state to start a small business.

Approximately 10 million small businesses have opened in the last two years with annual revenue reaching $13.3 trillion according to the Small Business Administration. However, only 48.9% will survive five years as owners battle inflation, recession fears and colossal shifts in how Americans work and live. In the rapidly changing landscape, some states have emerged as prime locations for entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, Nebraska does not appear to be one of them.

Lendio released a study on the Best States to Start a Small Business using the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census Bureau, and Small Business Administration from 2016-2023.

The rankings were determined by analyzing myriad factors including tax rates, startup survival rates, cost of living, educated worker migration, loans, funding, consumer spending, and incentive programs.

Key findings in Nebraska show 48.4% of small businesses survive five years, there are 35 incentive programs, corporate tax rates are 7.25%, companies received $6.3 million in loans per 100,000 residents, and 6,684 educated workers moved into the state.

Here are the 10 best states to start a small business in 2023:

  1. Texas
  2. Florida
  3. Ohio
  4. Massachusetts
  5. North Carolina
  6. Colorado
  7. Oklahoma
  8. South Carolina
  9. Georgia

The worst states were, starting from the bottom, Maine, New Hampshire, California, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

Nebraska’s #40 ranking trailed most of its neighboring states: Colorado #6; South Dakota #16; Wyoming #25; Iowa #28; Kansas #33; Missouri #41

This section is sponsored by RENZE. For over 128 years, we have been providing our clients with innovative solutions for interior corporate and retail branding, as well as unique exhibits and graphics for tradeshows and events. With leading-edge equipment and quality craftspeople working out of our 90,000 sq. ft. facility, we partner with you to help create your vision. See a wide variety of our work HERE!

Grow Omaha Snippets

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Developers are planning a mixed-income neighborhood in the Elkhorn area, according to Nebraska Examiner. The $43 million Capriana project will soon rise on 15 acres near 210th & West Maple Road. Plans call for 11 for-sale, affordable houses and 149 luxury apartments via an alliance formed locally between the for-profit Apogee and nonprofit Habitat for Humanity of Omaha.

Construction is now in full gear on the site of a long-vacant, former 24-Hour Fitness club at 1718 North 118th Street. Most of the old fitness club has been demolished. Plans call for a $35 million multi-family building to be constructed on top of what remains of the original building. The new 6-story building will have 150 apartment units as well as an indoor pool for tenants.

It appears likely that the DO SPACE at 72nd & Dodge Street will temporarily relocate to the Milton R. Abrahams branch library at 5111 North 90th Street. Plans call for the demolition of DO SPACE’s current building. A major flagship location of the Omaha Public Library will be constructed in its place. Once the new library is completed, the DO SPACE functions would return to 72nd & Dodge.

Crossroads Development Update – Sewer work has been completed, according to KETV. Street paving is scheduled to begin in May, Construction is already underway on a related project to widen Dodge Street west of 72nd Street and to improve Cass Street on the development’s north side. Infrastructure work should be completed by the end of this year. The first building should start going up in early 2024.

Grow Omaha Snippets are brought to you by Omaha Car Care with four metro area locations – 131st & Dodge, 58th & Center, 85th & L and 144th & Harrison.

Omaha Car Care “We’ll be along for the ride.”

Business News

Local Business News Sponsored by FranNet of The Heartland:

Scoular announced that it will recommission the former sunflower crush plant outside of Goodland, Kan. that it purchased in 2021. The Omaha-based agribusiness company will retrofit the facility to crush both soybeans and canola. Up to 40 new jobs will be created. The facility is expected to begin operations in fall 2024.

Great Plains State Bank has leased Suite 101 at 17041 Lakeside Hills Plaza, according to Trenton Magid and Gabrielle Estivo of NAI NP Dodge, who represented the landlord in this 4,774 sq. ft. office lease.

King’s Home Kreations, plans to open a new showroom this April in the Elkhorn area. The locally owned “resurfacing” business specializes in kitchen and bathroom “face lifts,” in which rooms are updated without the need to tear out existing cabinets and counter tops. The company also offers luxury vinyl flooring, interior painting, cabinet painting or re-dooring plus tub re-glazing and more.

The Mill Coffee & Tea opened its first Omaha location today in a renovated building at 31st & Leavenworth Street. The space will offer indoor and outdoor seating plus a drive-thru. The Mill has four existing locations in Lincoln.

After three straight months of readings slightly above growth neutral, the Creighton University Rural Mainstreet Index fell below the growth neutral threshold, according to the latest monthly survey of bank CEOs in rural areas of a 10-state region dependent on agriculture and/or energy. The March index slumped to 45.6 from 50.1 in February. The index ranges between 0 and 100, with a reading of 50.0 representing growth neutral.

Scooter’s Coffee will host its annual Grow Conference next week in Omaha to celebrate its 25th Birthday. Attempting the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ title for largest cake ball on March 22nd will be one of the highlights of the conference. Omaha-based Scooter’s Coffee was founded in 1998 and has nearly 700 stores in 29 states. The company is striving to have more than 1,000 stores open in 2024.

A Sign of Spring – Mt. Crescent Ski Area, northwest of Interstates 680 & 29, held its final day of skiing last weekend and is now closed the season.

This section is sponsored by FranNet of The Heartland, the local, trusted franchise experts. They are “in the business of helping you get into business!”

Grow Omaha University

Leadership & Sales Insights for Ambitious People

Compiled by Grow Omaha co-founJeff Bealsder and sales trainer 

Sponsored by MyStaff, Inc.

Leadership & Management

Poor communication erodes relationships, stifles business growth and results, and slows feedback loops that devour our time, according to Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, global head of product for Grammerly. He was recently quoted in a CNET article and said, “In research we conducted with The Harris Poll last year, we established that poor communication costs US businesses up to $1.2 trillion annually — or $12,506 per employee.”

With more than 128,000 layoffs in the tech industry this year, business schools — weathering a 25% dip in domestic applications — are hoping to scoop up some of this talent, according to The Hustle. Some programs are waiving requirements for standardized test scores for people who were recently laid off. Others are tossing application fees.

Sales

Some companies choose to create greater value and charge a higher price than their competitors, says best-selling sales author Antony Iannarino. Others choose to create lesser value, setting a lower price to those who can’t or won’t spend money and are willing to make concessions. The contest between two competitors is, in part, a battle between different models.

“The company with the higher-price is responsible for teaching the client why they should invest more in the result they need by explaining the different models, the additional value their higher price creates, and the concessions that increase their overall costs in lower-priced models,” Iannarino said.

Top sellers spend an average of 6 hours every week researching their prospects, according to Crunchbase.

Wisdom

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – President John Quincy Adams

Grow Omaha University is sponsored by MyStaff Inc, a locally owned staffing firm whose purpose is helping Nebraska companies recruit for corporate office positions.

My Staff Inc – Our team helps you find yours!

Upcoming Events in the Metro

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Free Holiday Sober Rides in Omaha on March 17th: The Omaha DUI lawyers at Petersen Law Office are offering free holiday sober rides for St. Patrick’s Day this year. If you drink this St. Patrick’s Day – take an Uber, Lyft, or taxi and they’ll reimburse you for the ride. Make the safe, responsible choice during the holiday season!

St. Patrick’s Madness on March 17th: Bushwackers is combining March Madness with St. Patrick’s Day fun! Watch the basketball games indoors or outdoors, take advantage of the green beer specials, enjoy the corned beef and cabbage to boot! End this day long party with live music with Finding Dixie starting at 7:30 p.m.

Lucky’s St. Patrick’s Day Crawl on March 17th and 18th: Join the annual Lucky’s St. Patrick’s Day bar crawl, now a two-day adventure! Crawl through some of Omaha’s favorite bars and get specials at each one. Enjoy making new friends, exclusive drink and food specials and access to the St. Patty’s Day after party!

Teddy Bear Weekend on March 18th and 19th: Have a teddy bear that needs some serious attention? Bring your favorite stuffed animal to Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium for repair and care on Saturday, March 18th Sunday, March 19th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. for Teddy Bear Weekend! This year’s clinic will be held at Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Pavilion near the zoo’s main entrance. Your “beary” brave stuffed animal will go through a health check-up, including height, heartbeat, ear and eye exams, and if needed, a trip to the emergency room.

Omaha Lifestyle & Home Expo on March 17th, 18th, and 19th: The Omaha Lifestyle & Home Expo is the metro’s leading showcase in home improvement, remodeling, landscaping, décor and more. Find inspiration for your next home project and meet with hundreds of local experts under one roof. New this year is an expo that will feature lifestyle elements and activities the whole family will enjoy!

Staying on the Cutting Edge with Kyle Tut, Co-Founder of Pinata on March 23rd: Omaha-based Web3 company, Pinata, has been killing it longer than NFTs were the hot thing every newscaster wanted to talk about. Back in August 2022, they raised $21.5M to scale NFT media infrastructure. Scale Omaha shares the success stories of technology innovators and business builders here in the Omaha region. Join others if you’d like to be a part of bringing together the startup community and are interested in seeing tech grow in Omaha.

This Upcoming Events section is sponsored by Eagle Mortgage Company, is a locally owned and full-service mortgage company in Omaha.

Eagle Mortgage can help you realize your dream of owning a home.

People in the News

Sponsored by Baird Holm Attorneys at Law

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digital rendering of Flatiron District project buildings

The Greater Omaha Chamber announced that Tim Burke, former CEO of Omaha Public Power District, will serve as interim president and CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber following the departure of Veta Jeffery yesterday. Jeffery had been in charge of the chamber since last May.

Union Pacific Corporation has appointed Brian Barr as senior vice president of transportation, effective April 15th. In this role, He will report to Eric Gehringer, executive vice President of operations, and will be responsible for overseeing transportation operations for the Omaha-based railroad. Barr most recently served as senior vice president of network planning and services for Jacksonville, Florida-based CSX Railroad.

Scooter’s Coffee has hired Malorie Maddox as Chief Market Officer. She was most recently Chief Marketing, Communications and Strategy Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield Nebraska. Prior to that, she was an on-air journalist at WOWT-TV. Omaha-based Scooter’s has nearly 700 stores in 29 states.

NP Dodge Real Estate has welcomed new residential sales associates including Bryan Fernandez, Drew Tilgner, Jeannette Ayala, Leaston Moo and Michelle Sodoro.

E&A Consulting Group, Inc. has added several new employees: Joan Green, transportation & public works department manager; Zach Roza, environmental services scientist; and Ethan Anderson, environmental services scientist.

Frontier Bank has promoted Cole Groteluschen to director of the private banking division. Groteluschen co-founded Frontier Bank’s private banking group in 2017. The Omaha-based bank also hired Mike Brummer as senior portfolio manager, Amanda Smith as a treasury management specialist, and Ethan Bohn as a credit analyst.

Mayor Jean Stothert has selected Kathy Bossman as chief of the Omaha Fire Department. She will succeed Dan Olsen, who is retiring this month. Bossman joined the department in 1997. During her career, she has been promoted to captain, battalion chief and assistant fire chief.

The “People in the News” section is sponsored by Baird Holm LLP. Baird Holm’s dedicated team of real estate lawyers has extensive experience in all aspects of real estate law, including purchases, sales, zoning and land use, leasing, and dispute resolution. Click HERE for more information.

Wall Street: The Week in Review

with George Morgan

The author is founder of Morgan Investor Education of Omaha.

Sponsored by Baird Holm Attorneys at Law

Views and opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author.

Twice this year Jim Cramer has offered the investment world something pithy and insightful. On Monday, he looked straight into the camera and said, “There are a lot of index investors out there who don’t care what I think!” DAH!

Let’s parse this just a little bit. First of all, not all index investing is investing without activity. Part of index investing is forgetting the needle and buying haystack. But, if you check out the most active stocks list in the Wall Street Journal, you’ll find that SPY is consistently one of the top ten. SPY is the most popular S&P 500 ETF.

There are hedge funds and other institutional managers who trade the whole haystack on a regular basis. You can also throw in a few twenty somethings living in their parents’ basements, hammering on their lap top, doing the same thing.

Next point is that 40% of the total assets of the stock market are either in an index mutual fund or index ETF. A majority of this money is in 401(k) or IRA rollover accounts.

Cramer and his cloistered acolytes are correct: a lot of this is not actively traded. However, it’s important to recognize that on a regular basis, employers and employees add money to these accounts. How much? We don’t know. We also don’t know how many dollars are needed to move the price of an individual stock.

One thing we do know is that Jim Cramer has admitted publicly that when he was running his hedge fund, he could manipulate stock prices with just a few million dollars. Another thing we don’t know is exactly which stocks he was manipulating. It may be true for a stock with a relatively small market cap, but I seriously doubt that $1 million is going to move the price of Apple or Tesla. Maybe that’s why Kramer doesn’t have a license anymore.

We interrupt this laconic commentary to bring you a Breaking News Bulletin. The nation’s commercial banks are on the precipice of the biggest collapse in the history of the world.

Whoops, sorry, that was the news bulletin from ten minutes ago. In case you were involved in something productive, you may not be aware of the fact that the Feds took control of Silicon Valley Bank, causing a catastrophic swoon in the market. All – I repeat – all the bank stocks took a big hit as INVESTORS scramble to find a safe haven. Next day, all the bank indexes marched boldly upward over 2.5%.

I close with an insightful statement that summarizes this whole schlimazel: “Sometimes stock prices don’t reflect the economic fundamentals.” – Becky Quick, a.k.a. Warren’s favorite CNBC reporter.

NAI NP Dodge News Update

Nebraska Warehouse Company has leased 54,000 sq. ft. at 9995 I Street in Omaha. John Meyer and Trenton Magid of NAI NP Dodge represented the tenant in this industrial lease.

Nebraska Warehouse Company provides custom, local storage and transportatin for business clients. Existing locations are at 10064 South 134th Street at 9090 F Street.

Have You Watched Grow O on Video Yet?

Jeff Beals, Trenton Magid and a guest in the KFAB 1110 Radio Booth

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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