Boston's Replacing Bobbisox In Bentonville Clarion
Lunch Businesses Cater To Daters, Teachers; Metropolitan Plans Headquarters
Last updated Saturday, February 11, 2006 11:18 PM CST in Business
By Lana F. Flowers
The Morning News
The lights were turned off, the dancing ended and the clouds of cigarette smoke dissipated in July, after Bentonville's only dance club, BobbiSox, closed.
The club was located inside the Clarion Hotel and Convention Center at 211 S.E. Walton Blvd., but sounds of socializing and cheers may resound once again.
Pam Mock, general manager of the Clarion Hotel and Convention Center, said the hotel has bought a franchise from Boston Pizza Restaurants LP, a privately held company based in Dallas.
"Boston's was established in Canada and is moving to the United States. We were interested in getting on the bottom of a restaurant that is about to explode in growth in the United States," Mock said.
Mock said Boston's, a sports bar that serves pizza, pasta, salads and alcohol, will open April 1 in all 6,500 square feet that BobbiSox once occupied.
The restaurant will seat 200, with a glass wall to divide a family dining area from the sports bar. Boston's will serve lunch and dinner seven days a week, Mock said.
Work is progressing on renovating the former dance club into a Boston's, but Mock declined to reveal costs.
Date & Dine for Valentines
Ah, Valentine's Day -- the Hallmark Holiday that can make anyone who doesn't have a significant other feel like bologna at a swank steakhouse.
The holiday of hearts approaches in a mere two days, but those without a date shouldn't despair yet.
Rogers attorney Victoria Morris and business partner Joyce Ellis may be able to hook you up over lunch.
Morris and Ellis opened a lunch and dating business, Date and Dine, in July. The pair has a 1,200-square-foot office at 421 W. Walnut St. in downtown Rogers. Morris and Ellis work there full-time and have three part-time employees.
Morris declined to say how much she's spending to play Cupid. However, the business came naturally out of her law practice, where she often saw newly-divorced adults looking for a place to safely meet other singles.
Date and Dine arranges lunch meetings for potential soul mates at local restaurants. Initial meetings are on a first-name basis only, "and then if they want to exchange information, they can," Morris said.
She conducts background checks to make sure people are not married have no felony charges in their pasts.
Teacher Takeout
A former teacher is parlaying her knowledge of educators' schedules and her love of cooking into a business.
Leslie Kester of Rogers on Jan. 9 submitted plans to the Arkansas Department of Health to open Lunches by Leslie Inc. at 2111 W. Perry Road.
Kester was a teacher for 11 years, then majored in business and decided to turn the detached garage on her five-acre property into a professional-grade kitchen for a home-based business.
The detached garage has 1,000 square feet and Kester said she is investing $40,000 in equipment and startup costs.
She will cook and deliver meals to teachers and other school employees in Rogers who don't have enough time to leave campus but might tire of cafeteria food every day. Kester said her business will have two full-time employees.
Those who want a meal delivered can go to a Web site, pay online and Kester will begin delivering lunches in March.
When school is out, she plans to deliver lunches to large offices in the area and cater some daytime events.
"We are going to start really small and see what happens," Kester said.
Metropolitan Eagle Spreads Wings
Representatives from Metropolitan National Bank, based in Little Rock, traveled to Northwest Arkansas last June to announce they planned to spend $30 million to open 12 branches in three years.
Metropolitan, whose logo includes an eagle head, so far has kept good on its promise and is building or has built branches in Bentonville, Rogers and Springdale. Signs abound saying "Future Nesting Site of Metropolitan National Bank."
Metropolitan representatives gathered Tuesday to start building the bank's main nest, a headquarters building at 4033 N. Shiloh Drive in Fayetteville.
Drew Davidson, Metropolitan's retail executive, said the headquarters will have 9,000 square feet and be finished in late summer or early fall. Davidson said 20 to 30 people will work in the building, which Fayetteville building officials value at $1.84 million.
MORNING NEWS BUSINESS REPORTER LANA F. FLOWERS COVERS RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT NEWS. PLEASE FORWARD QUESTIONS AND TIPS ABOUT CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY TO: LFLOWERS@NWAONLINE.NET
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