Everybody’s business
Downtown area
sees increase in
restaurants
By Brandon Schulte
Staff writer
Survival of the fittest may work for the animal kingdom
but the same could also be said of the restaurant industry,
more particularly downtown Lincoln establishments
In a business where more fail than thrive, it may get
even more difficult for existing restaurants to survive
downtown.
Just in the past year, the Green Mill (141 N. 9th) and
Arturo’s (813 Q Street) have opened in the Haymaiket. The
arrival of Ruby Tuesday’s at eighth and Q streets and Kerry
O’Ryan’s French Quarter at 700 O Street in the near future
will only add to the competition. u~
With so many cuisines to choose from, many establish
ments have turned to university students and staff to stay
competitive.
Brian Giles, manager of BW-3’s on P Street said that
students make up nearly one-third of his business.
“It’s good that we’re near campus,” Giles said. “At night
college kids make up a majority of our business, yet our
downtown location also allows us to offer the business
lunch.”
Downtown Valentino’s at 13th and Q caters to the stu
dent populous by offering a late night pizza bar and to the
general public with its reputation.
“I think Valentino’s is a mainstay,” said Travis
Shallenberger, manager of the downtown restaurant.
“Around Lincoln the first pizza place that comes to mind is
us. We’re an institution.”
Another institution in Nebraska, Runza, knows all
about the fierce competition downtown after closing and
remodeling their 14th and P, “Rock ‘N Roll” Runza for
three months to re-establish itself in the downtown market.
During the closure it changed its style to provide for
fast food as well as sit down meals while at the same time
keeping its fifties style theme.
“Downtown restaurants struggle from the clumping of
restaurants in the Haymarket,” Runza manger Mark Kurth
said. “People must decide to go to Runza whereas the
Haymaiket provides many restaurants in the same area
with more parking. The consumer can decide which one to
go to after they are already downtown.”
Scott Miller, president of the Lincoln Haymarket
Development Corp. and Executive Vice-president of
Lazio’s Brewery and Grill and Ja Brisco’s, both in the
Haymarket, said while business is competitive he focuses
more on developing internally.
As the tirst micro brewery and restaurant in the
Haymarket, Lazio’s anchors the area. While increasing its
seating capacity it hasn’t expanded to any other locations.
“We do everything by scratch, its more expensive, but
it tastes better,” Miller said. “Our philosophy is different
than other restaurants that have a ‘cookie-cutter’ concepts
with chain institutions. We are completely independent.”
All restaurateurs agreed on the main draw back of the
downtown location: parking.
Incredibly with all of the new restaurants coming into
the area parking has actually decreased. With constuction
of Lincoln Journal Star printing plant, 9th and Q, and the
new Embassy Suite building, parking is sure to remain con
gested at best.
This lack of stalls will make it even tougher to compete.
“Parking kills,” Kurth said. “Hopefully projects like the
P street corridor will help fix the problem.”
*. * The city council has several plans in the works to
improve the situation. Lincoln is negotiating with the U.S.
Post Office and Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railroads
to add more spots to increase market share for restaurants.
If improvements don’t happen however several area
restaurants may soon become extinct.
. . . RickTownley/DN
STEPHANIE LAKE servos food to customers at the Main Street Cafe during the busy liinclt period on
Wednesday. Lake Is a resent graduate of UNL with a degree In Nuclear Engineering.
Copy shop wars waged near campus
■ The opening of Copyworks
in May will increase competi
tion, but will not force any other
shops out of business, local
owners say.
By Brock Wendlandt
StaffWriter
The UNL campus’ close proximity to
downtown Lincoln has always offered stu
dents a competitive market from which to
meet their consumer needs.
Today, one of the most thriving competi
tions among downtown businesses is the
copy service industry.
With an ever-increasing number of
stores, UNL students now have many
options to get their copy needs satisfied.
“Technology has helped create more of a
necessity for the services copy stores offer,”
said Kelly Kleiner, manager of Copyworks.
Copyworks, which opened May 17th, is
located in the lower level of the Nebraska
Bookstore.
It has set out to cater to UNL students,
Kleiner said.
“We strategically place most of our
stores (across the nation) near college cam
puses,” she said, “and we’re very in tune with
the college market.”
Kleiner described Copyworks’ appeal to
scholarly activity.
“Students are needing color and digital
output services now, more than ever,” she
said. “We are open 24 hours and our com
puters are there for students to use when
campus computer labs are closed.”
In addition to students, Kleiner said,
Copyworks is trying to make its mark among
the downtown competition for business
accounts.
“We, being a new business, will go the
extra mile for the customer,” she said. “The
competition seems like they’ve already
established their clientele and they’re con
tent with it.”
Alphagraphics, 201 North 14th Street, is
another downtown business that offers walk
in copy services, but it offers much more,
said Jay Wilkinson, president of
Alphagraphics of Nebraska^
“Our most significant feature is that
we’re a full service printing service, and our
business clients appreciate this.”
Alphagraphics’ typical transactions are
much larger than the downtown competi
tions’, Wilkinson said.
“We specialize in large volume orders,”
he said. “Our typical account is $1,000 to
$30,000 a year.”
“We’ve built our business by establish
ing long-term business to business relation
ships,” Wilkinson said.
Although Alphagraphics deals predomi
nately with business accounts, Wilkinson
said, it still values university service.
Alphagraphics prints many brochures,
directories and business cards for die various
student and Greek organizations. It also pub
lishes course packets for professors.
Copycat, 300 South 13* Street, also has
a limited but valued student clientele, said
manager Dennis Lickliter.
“We’ve been in business for over 40
years,” he said. “And there has been a defi
nite growth in the number of students who
want quality work done.”
Wilkinson agreed and said, “There is no
question that the bar is rising for students to
create more professional pieces for classes.
Students are wanting to one up each other
and professors are starting to expect that.”
Lickliter described the downtown com
petition for copy work as another fierce bat
tle.
“It’s similar to mechanical work,” he
said. “If you (the client) get treated fairly,
then you’ll go back.”
“I think our longevity shows that we’ve
been doing a quality job.”
However, Lickliter said, room exists for
several copy service stores to remain in the
market for a long time.
“Most of the shops all offer separate
things;” he said. “Sure there’s competition,
but there’s enough business that everybody
can do a good job.”