Don Luna

 The South 51 section of Carbondale now has another food option beyond McDonald's and what you can find at the two convenience stores there. Don Luna has opened a Carbondale location in the old Arnold's Market building. Drive through only and the hours appear to be 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Don Luna

 New Mexican restaurant, Don Luna, going into the old Arnold's market building on South 51. Already have locations in West Frankfort and Harrisburg so glad to see a location opening here.

Arnold's Market

Windows on the now closed Arnold's Market on the south side of town have been boarded over. Not a good sign for the future of the property. From a retail standpoint, the location has two problems:  1) it is on the south side of town, which is not the section of town showing growth and 2) it is on the 51 south cutoff which makes it even harder to get to the store. Due to the rerouting of 51 some years ago, customers have to make an effort to get to the store's location. Anyone reopening Arnold's or another store in the building would have to make quite an effort to make it a destination store so as to encourage customers to make the extra turn to get there.

Arnold's Closing

Been reading articles and people's posts bemoaning the announced closing of Arnold's Market. It is not as if it was a surprise. Like the Bookworm, the business has been on the market bur the better part of a year. In both cases the owners wanted to retire or move onto something else. They wanted to see the business continue but no one was interested enough to step up and take it on. I happened to catch a piece in today's Southern about a Farm Fresh store that a customer had enough interest in to purchase and work to keep running. The owner of Arnold's has the right to shutter it if they want. If someone else wants to keep it open, they have about another week or so to do so.

Arnold's Market Closing

According to this post on Facebook, southside staple Arnold's Market will shutter its doors on Dec. 18th. The grocery has been up for sale for a few years now with no takers, much like Bookworm, so the owner decided to close up and retire. Spin off business Arnie's Sandwiches is under new ownership but will have to find a new supply source.

SIUC Image

Regarding the comments made about SIUC turning the corner (again) this fall,  I had the opportunity to listen to Chancellor Rita Cheng speak at a meeting about a week or so ago and the topic of the marketing firm the university had hired to help with the university's image and brand came up.  One of the things that came up during the discussion was that the firm had found the university 1) did not have a strong brand and 2) still has a reputation as a party school.

If this is indeed the case, then the university might want to look at hiring another marketing firm as, if the university still has a reputation as a party school over a decade after it started actively taking steps to quash that image, that is the university's brand image.  A brand image is not necessarily something the organization wants to have (would any company in its right mind want the name Enron now), it is how the public perceives it and, if people still view SIUC as a party school, that is the school's brand image, like it or not, and everything the school does will be viewed by the public in the context of that image.  Maybe the marketing firm discussed that in its final report,  but for Chancellor Cheng to make a point of saying that the report indicated no strong brand image for the university, when the second point the firm made indicates that it does, just not a positive one,  makes me wonder about the firm's research and wish I could get a look at the actual report.

More Beer

At least one of the retailers that received a liquor license at last week's city council meeting has already stocked in beer and wine.  Schuncks has converted the area at the front of the store that used to house their video rental area to beer and wine.  The Neighborhood Food Co-op expects to stock local beer and wine within six to eight weeks.

Arnold's Market is the business I expect to come out the big winner in this.  Consider:  all of the other recent recipients of a liquor license are located very close to Highway 13. Westroads and Schnucks will compete for most of the mass market beer and wine sales on the west side (Neighborhood Food Co-op, I expect, will not stock lines such as Keystone, Bud Lite and Coors, stocking local wines and beers, more in accord with its image but not drawing big crowds).  Meanwhile, Wal-Mart and Kroger will fight for the market share currently dominated by ABC, One Stop, Blue Fish  (assuming they mange to deal with the ownership difficulties) etc.

There is no place to buy liquor in Carbondale south of Wall Street and we have seen a significant growth in housing, especially student, in the Pleasant Hill Road area.  Liquor purchases tend towards the impulsive, i.e. "Let's stop and get a 24 pack on the way home" or "Hey, time for a beer run."  Since convenience plays a big factor in the decision and assuming Arnold's does not follow the Co-op's plan of stocking locally sourced beer but carries widely popular, the store should see a huge influx in sale as students (and others) stop there on the way home or head there when they discover they are low, as opposed to making the trek to the next closest location, Pinch Penny Liquors on E. Wall.