Roundup: Athleta, WB Pizza, Sabbatical, Blaze BBQ

November 27, 2012
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  • Athleta logoAthleta, the Gap-owned women's activewear retailer, plans to open its first Indiana location at the Fashion Mall at Keystone. The retailer has been chasing the fast-growing yoga specialist Lululemon, which opened a store at The Fashion Mall in July 2011. Athleta is taking about 4,000 square feet, presumably in a new bridge between the mall's west and east wings that replaced a dated food court with upscale shops. Athleta operates about 30 stores in the U.S., compared to more than 100 for Lululemon.
  • WB Pizza, a homegrown restaurant at 62nd Street and Allisonville Road, is adding a second location along 86th Street near Township Line Road. Owner Will Barnes is taking about 1,500 square feet and plans to open in January. Reported on @PropertyLines on Nov. 13: Follow.
  • Sabbatical, a homegrown small-plates restaurant from David Queisser, has taken over the former home of La Jolla on Broad Ripple Avenue. Menu offerings include quinoa polenta, seafood and chorizo torta, brie stuffed turkey meatballs, corned beef and kale slaw sliders, sweet potato truffle chips and Stella blue cheese dip. Tried it yet?
  • Blaze Modern BBQ, a new casual barbeque concept from Columbus, Ohio-based White Castle, plans to add the new concept to an existing White Castle restaurant along Emerson Avenue just south of Interstate 465 in Beech Grove. It's just the second location for Blaze, which "is lighting a fire under traditional BBQ" with pulled pork, beef brisket and pulled chicken that "won't hurt your budget." Blaze will be open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., while White Castle will remain open 24/7.
  • Earth Fare, the natural and organic grocery, has opened its store in the former Borders space in Hamilton Town Center. The chain is also building a store at 116th and Rangeline Road in Carmel in a center Kite Realty Group is revamping.
  • Cerulean, an "ingredient-driven" fine dining experience led by Indiana chef Caleb France, has opened at CityWay. Reported on @PropertyLines on Nov. 23.
  • Coal Pizza has closed after less than a year, continuing an unfortunate streak for the space at the northwest corner of Washington and Pennsylvania streets. Prior short-term tenants include Hue Dine and Taste of Tango.
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  • Marketing
    MikeWNovember 27, 2012 2:13 PM
    I'd like to throw this out. I hate seeing that its "West Washington Streets'" fault as some of these places not lasting. I question the business practices of some of these places. I NEVER saw an external advertising of these restaurants outside of what is on Urban Spoon, Facebook, and their sign. Why? Why aren't all these new restaurants going crazy with marketing, ads, partnerships. That is the only way I can see smaller independent stores like this surviving in the downtown market that don't have brand identity and other competitors. I went to Coal Pizza twice, enjoyed the atmosphere, food,and smell and told many of my friends and they were like...what is Coal Pizza?? I think these restraunteurs are forgetting the major building block of a business....MARKETING. Thoughts on this?
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    • WB Pizza is awesome
      MDBNovember 27, 2012 2:35 PM
      When I worked for a local shopping center developer, we needed a pizza place in our Glendale center and wanted WB Pizza badly. We couldn't make it work. Their current shop is a "rough" hole in the wall, but the food is great and mostly made from scratch. Very glad to hear they are expanding.
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    • WB Pizza
      IrishNovember 27, 2012 2:47 PM
      Agree on WB Pizza, just had one last weekend. I just hope that WB does not spread himself too thin with the new location. Part of what makes WB Pizza work is having WB answer the phone and make your pizza himself. You know that you are getting a quality product each time.
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    • Property Lines
      Mark ChaplinNovember 28, 2012 10:52 AM
      As an aspiring entrepreneur that loves to hear what is coming to Indy or expanding, I would love to hear about new ventures more frequently. Anyone know how to find out about these new ventures, or even how to get involved?
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    • Marketing2
      Garden GalNovember 28, 2012 10:59 AM
      Mike - I agree marketing is a central component of opening any business small or large. Too often its an afterthought and easily removed from most budgets to balance. The first few years are especially critical. Might they have invested everything in their prime real estate and hoped locale would do the work for them? They forgot Hoosiers lack a sense of adventure.
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      • Why the Need to Disparage?
        SunnyNovember 28, 2012 11:28 AM
        Regarding the comment about Indianapolis residenets not being adventurous: Generalizations about people are usually incorrect and often convey a lack of respect. Personally, I don't like being "put in a box."
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      • 3 Time Diner at Coal Pizza
        Colleen DrakeNovember 28, 2012 12:46 PM
        I agree. The location certainly isn't the problem. People need to frequent downtown establishments more and invest in Indianapolis. My husband and I went to Coal Pizza three times before it closed. We really need to hold on to the businesses that were established here during Superbowl. Keep the action downtown.
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      • Location isn't the problem
        SassafrasNovember 29, 2012 3:56 PM
        Coal Pizza (and Taste of Tango, and Hue) didn't survive not b/c that location won't support local establishments. Just look at the Libertine down the street, doing good business. Coal Pizza didn't survive because bad word of mouth spread. I deliberately avoided Coal Pizza because it got too many mediocre reviews on Urban Spoon, Yelp, etc. If you follow those sites, anything with less than 3.5 stars (Yelp) or below 75% favorable (Urban Spoon) tends to go out of business within a year or two. Such is the case with Coal Pizza. A well-run restaurant should do fine at that location.
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        • Marketing
          GregNovember 30, 2012 1:06 PM
          Coal was weird. I never went in because it looked too fancy to provide a quick lunch and there's other pizza places that have a more established credibility around town.
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        • Not good enough
          PeterWDecember 1, 2012 2:59 PM
          I went to Coal for lunch once, and while it was okay, it wasn't good enough to entice me back (I didn't vow never to return, but I just never made it back.) And, yeah, based on reviews, it had a lot of problems: the Nuvo review used terms like "disaster," "lack of flavor and poor execution," and "quantity means nothing if said ball of meat is mushy and under-seasoned."
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        1. liek the rest of America

        2. These quaint,obsessed musings by the stalkers are certainly entertaining, but I'm trying to figure out what, if anything, all the yelping below has to do with Zak Brown.

        3. It's evident that Moffett was pushing the right buttons and corporate America is now trying to squash him. He just wanted to withdraw the free pilot services provided to the company by the pilots to try and put some pressure on a company that has not been interested in negotiating a contract in over 5 years. The company does not provide a contract because not having one has saved them a bundle of money. Shame on any Republic pilots not standing behind their union leader just because things are getting tough, can you not see such strategic moves by the company as putting the last union president in a corporate position and into THEIR pocket. Do you really believe the last union president is so appalled at the attempts by Moffett, do you not remember his oppositions to the company? We stood behind him. It has been proven over and over again for thousands of years without fail, a man cannot serve two masters. Anyone that believes people vote contrary to their paycheck and livelihood deserve to be taken advantage of, the recent statements by the former union president are laughable as he denounces the current union president from his new corporate position. Have you ever seen a drafted sports player score points for his previous team, it cannot be done, he is not on the pilots side anymore, he gets his money a different way now than you and I do, and he should not be allowed to remain on the seniority list. A drafted player brings strength, credibility, tactical knowledge, and a strategic advantage to his NEW team, he would not be drafted or paid were it otherwise. We are all forced to choose only one side to play for and support, not doing so has many references in life such as insider trading and shaving points, all illegal for good reason. This basic fact is why corporate moguls, scientist, and engineers all sign non-discloser agreements and non-compete clauses, as protection in case they are lured into switching sides as our former union president has done. No NFL coach ever drafted a player so that both teams could benefit and better understand each other, they are recruited to win the game against that former team, period. Likewise the company does not recruit the former union president by accident or mutual understanding, its strategy. Don't confuse playing the game with good sportsman-like conduct in support of common business and prosperity goals, with the requirement to only play for one side. Good men we all love and favor fall subject to this manipulation, often without their knowledge, and it is not a betrayal of their friendship to oppose them when they switch sides. If we did not love and trust them, they would not have been chosen and lured to the other side in the first place. The deception by the drafted player is not made at a conscious level, it's just human nature and it's all about money and power which corrupts our ability to be objective and loyal to two masters. This is why our court system created the defense attorney, and why our military created counter intelligence. Its strategy and its propaganda, and it works, and that's why the "powers to be" manipulate the chess pieces by sometimes changing their colors. Some players know they are being manipulated when their color is changed, but it brings them more money and power so they do not care. The rest have good intentions but do not even realize they are being manipulated. This tactic is also known by another name, Divide and Conquer. In battle sending an imperfect message with an imperfect team is obviously not ideal, but it's still being sent by YOUR team, your union leader, a leader that has common goals and common rewards with you, they are the best, because we have elected them to do a job for us. If you are not backing Moffett but believing the spin by those that have recently switched sides, you are taking food out of your own mouth. Showing unity and backing an imperfect situation still results in taking just as much ground, it's about unity and bargaining power. It's not necessary to wait around for that perfect attack because it will never come, the company will spin and attempt to destroy anyone that gets in their way. Ultimately it's not about any specific attack anyway, ASAP or whatever it makes no difference, it is and always has been only about power. If this company cared about safety it would not build pairings with 8 hour overnights, come on, are you that naive? Besides, do you really think Hoffa cares, no, he got a call from corporate America and was squeezed into denouncing Moffett. If he didn't they would spin the safety card against him and the Teamsters National with implication for truckers, future contracts, insurance rates etc...saying something like the Teamsters use safety as a bargaining chip, blah blah blah... Do you really think any pilot is going to do something unsafe for the contract, absolutely not, the only ones threatening safety here is the company with reduced rest, fatigue, and poverty. Do you not find it odd that Hoffa and the Teamsters are opposing a Teamster president publicly? Would the Teamsters National not normally support and work with one of their own? Why did they not sit down and help him strategize, correct any mistakes, and charge ahead? Would the Teamsters National not normally support and leverage a contract for all those pilots that have been paying Teamster dues, isn't that why we have all been paying Teamster dues in the first place? I sure haven't been paying dues so that the Teamsters National could come along and write this kind of an article undercutting our union leader and our unity. Whose side is the Teamsters National really on, it's obviously not the Republic pilots side.

        4. No matter what Moffatt does the company is going to spin it like he is the terrorist and brainwash people like you into believing it, wake up, back your players that are trying to change things for you and your livelihood. Where has Hoffa been for the last 6 years, except collecting our dues. Seriously, do you really think an FO going for upgrade, signed off by a checkairman ready for the upgrade, who then fails, is not even capable of returning as a First Officer.

        5. whoa!

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