Daddy Warbuck's

Underwood still shaking up Dickson Street

The last beam in the Underwood project along Dickson Street was put in place recently. The tiny evergreen tree and the American flag are both noticeable on the southeast corner of the massive structure. It’s not unusual for the Underwood to be making statements on Dickson Street. They have for years. Never once, in all of Bill Underwood’s ads—newspaper, television and radio – did the master jeweler ever fail to mention they were “on Dickson Street, near the campus.” And that worked. Boy, did it ever. Bill has worked hard to become one of Arkansas’ most successful businessmen.

The addition to his jewelry empire, folks tend to forget is his foray into apartment development in Fayetteville along with his development partner, that Lindsey fellow, Jim, in the project named The Cliffs. Even today, almost more than a decade later, this development is one of the truly shining stars in apartment living in Washington County.

But back to the Dickson Street structure. Yes, it is towering, yes it is big and yes, oh, yes, unlike other mega structures built or being built in our city’s Condo Phase – it will soon be full. Just wait and watch.

For a businessman like Bill Underwood and family this isn’t a new concept: Offering up great products (jewelry, apartments, condos, etc.) at a fair price – just keeps on making them one of the few hallmarks of Dickson Street, Fayetteville, Arkansas, U.S.A., North America, Planet Earth.

NYC BOUND
How you gonna keep ‘em down on the farm after they’ve seen NYC? Well Wal-Mart is gonna quit trying, at least in portions of their rag trade. The retail giant, finally, reluctantly, admitted it will be moving some 200 jobs to NYC to be closer to the fashion industry. A bad move for us here in NWA. Just watch, other Wal-Mart satellite offices will be opening elsewhere soon.

TIPPERS TIP
Mr. Businessman and Ms. Businesswoman watch where you eat and how you tip! Part of the pleasure of doing business away from home is eating out. But some places in NWA area being outed for taking a cut in the debit, credit card tips from servers. Now that’s low, very low, for a national chain restaurants. The upset amounts to about a 3 percent VISA or MASTER CARD charged for a transaction on the cards, which the restaurant skims off the tips. Tell us where this is happening. There are other choices on where to dine out.

GOT GAS?
Northwest Arkansas folks need to take notice of the “online comment period” that the Arkansas Public Service Commission is taking on the proposed acquisition of Arkansas Western Gas by Source Gas. AWG has long been a fixture in NWA and the state and it may be about to go away. The only place to comment is on the web. Check it out at
www.arkansasgov/psc/employment.htm

BEEFY CUTS
Tyson Foods is again slashing its beef production costs. This time shuttering an Emporia, Kansas plant and giving 1,500 workers the old pink slips. The cost of corn, the high cost of beef and the labor costs are causing the new management at Tyson to make some hard choices these days.

FREE SPEECH
On the positive side of the pop business ledger, Tyson Foods, did win a minor victory last week when a federal judge said the USDA erred in trying to limit the chicken producers claims of antibiotic free chicken on the supermarket shelves.

BIG ACTS
Little Feat, Sonic Youth and more big name musical acts are rumored to be part of a new and better Springfest planned for this year. Stay tuned.

FOO
The Foo Fighters concert originally scheduled for Jan. 28 in Barnhill Arena, has been rescheduled for Feb. 29. Not a bad deal, since the original show was on a Monday night and the rescheduled show is on a Friday night. Doors will open at 6 p.m. and the concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for the previous date will be honored, but the show remains sold out.

ZAXBY’S STALLED
The Sixth Street location of a proposed Zaxby’s Chicken Restaurant looks like it has been stalled. Wonder what’s going on there?