Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

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Post by Coyote »

Big E wrote:Barock Dunkel?

Sounds socialist.
I think it is actually Obama's second cousin twice removed.
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Post by guy4omaha »

I must have missed it. What and where is this other place you go to? I'd like to check it out!
My son got a 27 on his ACT. No this score is not as high as what Jeff's son achieved. But one has to remember the paternal gene-pool my son has to overcome. On a PGPAB [Paternal Gene-Pool Adjusted Basis], my son's score is a 37 and Jeff's son's PGPAB ACT score is 19.
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guy4omaha wrote:I must have missed it. What and where is this other place you go to? I'd like to check it out!
Davidsons Liquors, 5555 Boatswork Dr., Highlands Ranch
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (VP)

Post by Coyote »

Brix celebrates All Things Nebraska
Sarah Baker Hansen: World-Herald staff writer wrote:Tastings of food, wine, beer, meads and spirits made in Nebraska will be part of the event Saturday at the Village Pointe Brix. This sampling event will also benefit Food Bank for the Heartland, with a $5.00 admission fee to sample from more than 35 items.

Participating businesses include James Arthur Vineyards, Mac’s Creek Winery & Vineyards, Schilling Bridge Winery & Microbrewery, Soaring Wings Vineyard, Superior Estates Winery, Whiskey Run Creek Vineyard & Winery, Empyrean Brewing Company, Lucky Bucket Brewing Company, Nebraska Brewing Company, Zipline Brewing Company, Moonstruck Meadery, Cooper’s Chase Vodka, Cut Spike Vodka, Chili Dawg’s Pepper Spreads and Little Red Barn Beef Jerky.
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Post by Coyote »

Stargazer (Aug 6, 2009) wrote:I give them a year.
Almost 5 years later... :cheers:
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (VP)

Post by Uffda »

Coyote wrote:Brix celebrates All Things Nebraska
Sarah Baker Hansen: World-Herald staff writer wrote:Tastings of food, wine, beer, meads and spirits made in Nebraska will be part of the event Saturday at the Village Pointe Brix. This sampling event will also benefit Food Bank for the Heartland, with a $5.00 admission fee to sample from more than 35 items.
Of course it is 1-3 and I work until 3. :(
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (VP)

Post by Coyote »

Update: Most people know that I am a Beer Snob, so after I went here when it first opened (I can't believe it has almost been 5 years now) I was very disappointed. It had a good wine selection (I think, I am not a good judge of that) but it's beer selection was a joke. So I am on a mission to get to 200 unique beers (125 right now) and I stopped by to see if they might have anything that I would try (I found two beers at Trader Joes that I had never tired before, why not Brix), and was surprised by their selection these days. Not only that but they have beers on tap now, and a barkeep that knows his beers. So I take back my negative comments from 5 years ago :cheers:

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Brad
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (VP)

Post by Brad »

I am assuming 200 Unique Beers on "UN-Tapped" Correct? I would assumed you have had way more than 200 different beers in your life?

I wish I had the Un-Tapped app since I was 21. It would be awesome to know how many unique beers I have had. I am not sure if my number is closer to 500 or 1000, or even more! I am over half way finished with my third Beer Tour at Old Chicago, those are 110 beer each, but some repeats from tour to tour.. Plus all the other places I have been...
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (VP)

Post by Coyote »

Brad wrote:I am assuming 200 Unique Beers on "UN-Tapped" Correct?  I would assumed you have had way more than 200 different beers in your life?

I wish I had the Un-Tapped app since I was 21.  It would be awesome to know how many unique beers I have had.  I am not sure if my number is closer to 500 or 1000, or even more!  I am over half way finished with my third Beer Tour at Old Chicago, those are 110 beer each, but some repeats from tour to tour..  Plus all the other places I have been...
Yes. Unique. I had over 1000 beers my freshman year in college, mostly Miller High Life. I also can't say how many Unique beers I have had in my life because of faulty memory. There used to be a Pizza joint in the early 80's on the NW corner of 90th and Maple (now the deceased Hollywood) that carried beers from around the world that we would always try at least a couple every weekend...
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (VP)

Post by Coyote »

Here is the 'unique' beer I found at Brix: Peace Tree Brewing Co. (Knoxville, IA) American Imperial Double Stout (Brewers Special Release Series)

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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (VP)

Post by Seth »

Nice. I always enjoy a good stout.

I believe the Sidedoor at 35th and Leavenworth had some beers from Peace Tree last time I was there.
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (VP)

Post by guy4omaha »

Coyote wrote: Yes. Unique. I had over 1000 beers my freshman year in college, mostly Miller High Life. I also can't say how many Unique beers I have had in my life because of faulty memory. There used to be a Pizza joint in the early 80's on the NW corner of 90th and Maple (now the deceased Hollywood) that carried beers from around the world that we would always try at least a couple every weekend...
That place on 90th. I am struggling to remember its name. Does El Fredo's sound right? I loved their pizza.
My son got a 27 on his ACT. No this score is not as high as what Jeff's son achieved. But one has to remember the paternal gene-pool my son has to overcome. On a PGPAB [Paternal Gene-Pool Adjusted Basis], my son's score is a 37 and Jeff's son's PGPAB ACT score is 19.
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (VP)

Post by Coyote »

guy4omaha wrote:
Coyote wrote: Yes. Unique. I had over 1000 beers my freshman year in college, mostly Miller High Life. I also can't say how many Unique beers I have had in my life because of faulty memory. There used to be a Pizza joint in the early 80's on the NW corner of 90th and Maple (now the deceased Hollywood) that carried beers from around the world that we would always try at least a couple every weekend...
That place on 90th. I am struggling to remember its name. Does El Fredo's sound right? I loved their pizza.
I don't know if I could remember the name even if you told me...
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (VP)

Post by guy4omaha »

Curiosity got the best of me and I did an internet search. I was aided by the fact that I thought I remembered hearing a radio ad for El Fredo Pizza while traveling through Sioux City once.

Today I found this link to their stores up there and the logo and the cartoon Chef look like what was at 90th and Maple.

http://elfredopizza.net" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I don't know about the beer menu but I think a road trip is in order for the Pizza.
My son got a 27 on his ACT. No this score is not as high as what Jeff's son achieved. But one has to remember the paternal gene-pool my son has to overcome. On a PGPAB [Paternal Gene-Pool Adjusted Basis], my son's score is a 37 and Jeff's son's PGPAB ACT score is 19.
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (VP)

Post by Jason4225 »

I used to live in Sioux City and El Fredo's pizza is one of top pizzas in the city. They have a party room in the back where I saw J. Medicine Hat a few times. I'd definitely recommend it.
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by omaharichard »

Greg S wrote:Both locations closing:

http://www.omaha.com/go/nightlife/brix- ... ef8c1.html
Damn it, you beat me to it!
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by Brad »

Greg S wrote:Both locations closing:

http://www.omaha.com/go/nightlife/brix- ... ef8c1.html
That's too bad, I really liked the concept and I thought the Midtown Crossing Location was an awesome fit for MTC. However you gotta wonder in this day and age of smaller and smaller footprints for both retailers and restaurants, if their stores were just psychically too big for what they were doing.
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by skinzfan23 »

Brad wrote:
Greg S wrote:Both locations closing:

http://www.omaha.com/go/nightlife/brix- ... ef8c1.html
That's too bad, I really liked the concept and I thought the Midtown Crossing Location was an awesome fit for MTC. However you gotta wonder in this day and age of smaller and smaller footprints for both retailers and restaurants, if their stores were just psychically too big for what they were doing.
That is sad to hear. Even though we didn't go there often, I really liked the MTC location. I agree with you, Brad. It was a great fit. All of our family from out of town loved the concept and location when they visited.
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by Greg S »

Yeah we went more to the one at Midtown. It was nice to drop in and get stuff when we were going to Mid Town's outdoor concerts.

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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by Coyote »

It was nice to get something there before Jazz on the Green...
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by nebugeater »

I wounder if they spread themselves too thin with the second location.
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by nativeomahan »

I really liked their concept. And it was just a relaxing place to shop. Except, on my last visit a few weeks back I went in to buy some Baileys and could not find anyone working the front registers. Not a soul, despite waiting at the check out for about five minutes. Others were also waiting to pay for their purchases. I had to wander the entire store (which was packed with people) in order to find a clerk, all the way at the other side of the store. I groused that they had no one manning their registers, and customers could simply walk out the door with whatever they chose to leave with.
The clerk apologized, and exclaimed "I told them we needed more people working on busy nights. No one seems to care."
Last edited by nativeomahan on Sat Jan 14, 2017 11:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by Omaha_corn_burner »

nebugeater wrote:I wounder if they spread themselves too thin with the second location.
What do you mean? Thin on staffing?
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by omaha79 »

This is too sad to hear and bad for Midtown Crossing.

I often wonder if that development is in trouble. The establishments aren't always overly full and some of the businesses that are popping up there make you wonder...like the Persian rug store and Goin Postal.

I've heard rumors that the development has been struggling for a while and, at least among people I know, it's not the destination area for weekend outings that it was a few years ago.
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by Greg S »

omaha79 wrote:This is too sad to hear and bad for Midtown Crossing.

I often wonder if that development is in trouble. The establishments aren't always overly full and some of the businesses that are popping up there make you wonder...like the Persian rug store and Goin Postal.

I've heard rumors that the development has been struggling for a while and, at least among people I know, it's not the destination area for weekend outings that it was a few years ago.

I know they really struggled at the beginning (their timing was bad with the recession going on then). They were doing really cheap leases. I think it's better now, but not where they want to be. Once they get the surrounding development up and going (Turner Park East or whatever it's called), you should have the critical mass needed to really go.

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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by omaha79 »

I've heard they are still doing really cheap leases according to a few people I've talked to. How else would places like a Persian Rug store and Goin Postal be able to afford to be there? How would places like the Chicago Dawg House remain viable without discounted rent? I've honestly never seen that place overly busy.

Also, at what point do we reach oversaturation on these mixed use lifestyle centers/strip malls. MidTown Crossing was pretty cool when it first opened, but now we have MidTown, Ak-Sar-Ben Village, Southport, and soon to be Lot B downtown. At the same time, other areas have been resurrected like Blackstone (essentially a seperate area from midtown as they cater to a different crowd and not enough to entice people to walk between the two) and Benson.

Of all of these areas, I worry the most about Mid Town crossing. It doesn't have a niche crowd like Benson or Blackstone and the 30 something crowd it tries to attract with Brix, Grane, and the restaurants is probably a less popular option to that segment than Ak-Sar-Ben due to both location and shop variety.

We will see, I guess. Maybe the expansion of midtown to 480 will breathe new life into this development, but I'm worried about it. I work in the area and it's pretty dead even during the Mutual lunch time at alot of these places. There still isn't enough people with means living in the area to make these upscale eateries and bars viable.
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Re: Grane @ Midtown Crossing

Post by debradomayer »

According to a news report I saw on KETV tonight, an employee of the VP Brix has been arrested for embezzling over $100,000. So many business are just breaking even & when someone steals that amount of cash, it's no wonder they had to close. The owners don't seem to be the bad guy here. There's always more to a story I guess
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by Omaha Cowboy »

This news is kind of a bummer.. I've been a fairly regular customer of the Brix location at Village Pointe over the past few years..

The good news for me, is I never purchased, nor was a recipient of one of their gift cards..

In the end, Beertopia and Stoneybrook/Linden Market HyVee's will continue to be my craft beer go to's. Casual Pint may fill the void and become my 4th option...

Ciao..LiO...Peace
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by nebugeater »

Omaha_corn_burner wrote:
nebugeater wrote:I wounder if they spread themselves too thin with the second location.
What do you mean? Thin on staffing?

No, I wounder if with the second location their customer based did not grow as much as some of it shifted. Now they had two locations to staff, pay for, stock, etc. but the customer base didn't grow to match it. I was there a few times and it seemed to me that they were a place that people would drive a distance to go to. It seemed to be a place you would go to and be back regularly or not go back at all for the base that really spent $$.
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by jessep28 »

Gift cards to local businesses are a crapshoot. They are technically unsecured debt, so if the business closes, recovery of the cash value is not guaranteed.

Unless the gift card is to a large, stable company like Amazon you're better off just giving people cash.
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Re: Grane @ Midtown Crossing

Post by jessep28 »

I'm curious as to how the credit card tip fraud worked. Obviously the employee was loading bogus gift cards and using them on cash transactions to pocket the money.
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jessep28 wrote:I'm curious as to how the credit card tip fraud worked. Obviously the employee was loading bogus gift cards and using them on cash transactions to pocket the money.
Former Brix employee accused of $110,000 theft
KETV wrote:After reviewing reports on all active gift cards, management found ten cards on which McLaurine allegedly added $113,577.09.

According to the affidavit, Brix management believe McLaurine allegedly used a loophole inventory software that allowed the gift cards to be exploited. The gift card transactions took place under McLaurine's user profile at times when he was the only employee present at the store.

During this same time, the affidavit indicates McLaurine made numerous cash deposits to his bank, totaling more than $59,000, that were not account for in his wage and income.
Omaha World Herald wrote:Further investigation indicated that company software would allow an employee to add funds to a gift card via a cash transaction and then void the cash transaction, leaving the funds on the card. In addition, the transactions could be completed without re-swiping the physical gift card
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by choke »

omaha79 wrote:I've heard they are still doing really cheap leases according to a few people I've talked to. How else would places like a Persian Rug store and Goin Postal be able to afford to be there? How would places like the Chicago Dawg House remain viable without discounted rent? I've honestly never seen that place overly busy.

Per Omaha-World Herald:
One lawsuit filed in Douglas County District Court by East Campus Realty against Midtown Bistro Inc., a corporation representing Brix’s Midtown Crossing location, says Brix owes $112,811 for past due rent from the months of October 2016 through January 2017.
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by GRANDPASMUCKER »

It said in todays paper Mutual Of Omaha Bank also lent this outfit 400,000 for the Brix start up that they will most likely never see. :hammer: Let us hope this is an isolated incident and not evidence that Mutual of Omaha is going to be sorry it ever got into the banking and landlord businesses. :hair:
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by bigredmed »

GRANDPASMUCKER wrote:It said in todays paper Mutual Of Omaha Bank also lent this outfit 400,000 for the Brix start up that they will most likely never see. :hammer: Let us hope this is an isolated incident and not evidence that Mutual of Omaha is going to be sorry it ever got into the banking and landlord businesses. :hair:

The rent there was roughly $28k/month. Given the area and the location, I guess that rent is understandable, but now you wonder what happened along the way to cause this. Seems unlikely that this is due to the "grift cards". Seems more and more likely that this place was poorly run and could no longer compete with Wohlners and other outlets in the area.

Have to say that we go to MTC every week during Bocce and eat there every week, and in 3 years, we have never gone there.
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by GRANDPASMUCKER »

What do you want to bet....... the employee that got caught stealing money through the gift card scam saw that the whole place was upside down and being run into the ground. The employee decided he would get his and soon enough the place would crash and burn and he would skate off unnoticed. The gift card scamming guy is just a little bull snake and the guy behind the curtains running the Brix business that took Mutual of Omaha for half a million dollars is an 8ft python.
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by omaha79 »

choke wrote:
omaha79 wrote:I've heard they are still doing really cheap leases according to a few people I've talked to. How else would places like a Persian Rug store and Goin Postal be able to afford to be there? How would places like the Chicago Dawg House remain viable without discounted rent? I've honestly never seen that place overly busy.

Per Omaha-World Herald:
One lawsuit filed in Douglas County District Court by East Campus Realty against Midtown Bistro Inc., a corporation representing Brix’s Midtown Crossing location, says Brix owes $112,811 for past due rent from the months of October 2016 through January 2017.
Chump Change
That was essentially one of their anchor stores at MTC. I would like to see what kind of rent they are charging Goin Postal, Persian Rugs, Chicago Dawg House, Hutch, the nail salon, the bubble tea store, etc.
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Re: Brix Wine and Spirits (CLOSING)

Post by bbinks »

Anyone who patronizes Grane is a fool. The owner likely allowed the sale of gift cards the morning before its closure. He likely knew, and did zilch to protect the consumer.
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