In the KC Star today is a story about NFM adding a BBQ restaurant with a fire pit and big screen tv's & booze so people can buy furniture, eat, get drunk & watch some mediocre KC sports before going home. The space was formerly a Quiznos. The outdoor area for the BBQ place will be 4,000 square feet.
I notice a few posts above this one where Grandpasmucker said that as long as Warren is alive they wont move the Omaha store. He's half right. Berkshire subsidiaries have to justify capital expenses to Warren. The KC store and the Dallas stores were no brainers. Within months or years NFM KC ran a local megastore out of business. Dillards stores usually offered furniture but when they came to Omaha they didn't bother. Other stores didn't even try to come to Omaha.
I don't think its a matter of Warren not "letting" them move or upgrade the Omaha store. They just don't need to. Had there been a compelling reason to move or improve the Omaha campus it would have been done decades ago. Mrs. B bought a farm west of 120th and Dodge a long time ago thinking it would make a good location some day. Think about the costs, both in building the new store and doing whatever with the property the current one sits on. It's a huge property and an odd layout. What really could be done with the current land? It's wide and shallow.
Given the profits the KC and Dallas stores are throwing off why bother with Omaha? Sad but true.
Here's the KC Star story.
https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/cityscape/article231561108.html
What would I be if I didn't bring some Detroit to the post? Here in Detroit there is a company called ArtVan. Pretty much the same product mix as NFM with a few exceptions. The difference is that ArtVan has over 200 stores in nine states. Thus here in metro Detroit for example the whole metro doesn't need to shlep to one store that is mobbed. I agree that both concepts work and it can be either one mega store or multiple stores in a metro but there is something more civil than a crowded megastore and waiting at the warehouse to pick up your purchase with hundreds of others.
In the KC Star today is a story about NFM adding a BBQ restaurant with a fire pit and big screen tv's & booze so people can buy furniture, eat, get drunk & watch some mediocre KC sports before going home. The space was formerly a Quiznos. The outdoor area for the BBQ place will be 4,000 square feet.
I notice a few posts above this one where Grandpasmucker said that as long as Warren is alive they wont move the Omaha store. He's half right. Berkshire subsidiaries have to justify capital expenses to Warren. The KC store and the Dallas stores were no brainers. Within months or years NFM KC ran a local megastore out of business. Dillards stores usually offered furniture but when they came to Omaha they didn't bother. Other stores didn't even try to come to Omaha.
I don't think its a matter of Warren not "letting" them move or upgrade the Omaha store. They just don't need to. Had there been a compelling reason to move or improve the Omaha campus it would have been done decades ago. Mrs. B bought a farm west of 120th and Dodge a long time ago thinking it would make a good location some day. Think about the costs, both in building the new store and doing whatever with the property the current one sits on. It's a huge property and an odd layout. What really could be done with the current land? It's wide and shallow.
Given the profits the KC and Dallas stores are throwing off why bother with Omaha? Sad but true.
Here's the KC Star story.
[url=https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/cityscape/article231561108.html]https://www.kansascity.com/news/business/biz-columns-blogs/cityscape/article231561108.html[/url]
What would I be if I didn't bring some Detroit to the post? Here in Detroit there is a company called ArtVan. Pretty much the same product mix as NFM with a few exceptions. The difference is that ArtVan has over 200 stores in nine states. Thus here in metro Detroit for example the whole metro doesn't need to shlep to one store that is mobbed. I agree that both concepts work and it can be either one mega store or multiple stores in a metro but there is something more civil than a crowded megastore and waiting at the warehouse to pick up your purchase with hundreds of others.