Openings

Maybe it’s not time to write off downtown Reno just yet. There are a lot of new business openings planned for the next couple of months.

Chocolate Bar – They have just opened up their new location downtown on Sierra Street in the old Divine Ultra Lounge space. Great spot for an after movie chocotini.

– The planned 1 September opening of the Great Basin Food Coop at Flint and Court Street has unfortunately been delayed, but look for an opening before the end of the year. This will be a really cool facility, and will allow local restaurants to buy local. And you can, too.

Campo is scheduled to open up in October in the Palladio. This restaurant has a stellar pedigree and should be a great addition.

– Disco – The Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Musuem is set to open to the public Saturday. This may be the game changer we have been waiting for, and it is a 100% privately funded venture. RGJ had a nice gallery a couple of weeks ago, and it got me wondering what the weight limit is on the Cloud Climber – I wanna do it!

– Bowl / Rawz – Twin eateries from the folks behind Sezmu are scheduled to open in October in the West Street Market. Sezmu is dearly missed, and I wish them success at WSM. Maybe they will be the catalyst to get the facility back into the black and not a drain on the Redevelopment Agency.

– Almost forgot, CommRow. Grand opening is scheduled for 1 October, with a soft opening a couple of weeks earlier. The T-shirt shop has been evicted from the newly painted (and already tagged) parking garage, and I expect a decidedly more upscale retailer to be announced soon. Don’t be surprised to see activity in the adjacent old Golden Phoenix casino on Virginia Street, either. Nando gave a pretty insightful (if rambling) interview to RNR hinting that even the Old Reno Casino and Mechantile Building may be in play, though I speak fluent developer and this may all be a red herring to generate interest. Downtown Makeover has this scoop with the first interior photos.

– Not sure if it counts as an opening, but the old Riverboat Casino with the never opened Longs/Thrifty/ CVS (I thinks that’s the right order) sold at the end of June for $4.6M to “Warner Sierra LLC” after a quick stop with Judith Topal. How the Topols can tank Lake Ridge and Boulevard South and still have the cash to put 50% down is an issue for another post. But unless the play was for the 163 weekly motel units, there may be action here soon.

We’re not dead yet, Reno. Get out and support these businesses that are investing in us.

17 comments

  1. inclinejj

    Rite Aid bought Thrifty Drug Store Chain

    CVS bought out Longs Drugs

    At least down in the Bay Area

  2. Rory

    Not to mention the positive activity happening just south in what is called “Midtown”. Craft, Sup, and Midtown Eats are all thriving along the S. Virginia corridor despite being surrounded by holdover slumlords from the 70’s and 80’s.

  3. Canton

    There is typically a lot more money to be made in being a slumlord than in running a restaurant. Funny those connections. Some of the nicest houses in Reno, the ones many people like to refer to as evidence of Reno’s “upscale market” are owned by those very same slumlords.

  4. Rory

    Very true Canton.

  5. Guy Johnson

    The Rib Cook-off is also thriving. I read in the RGJ that 500,000+ attendees consumed 119 tons of ribs over the six-day event — 13 tons more than consumed during last year’s event.

  6. Exterminator

    Canton speaks much truth. Some of the worst run down places, and most dangerous, in the downtown Reno area are the weekly motels (many on the 4th street corridor). These places are cash cows to the people who own them, but the cash never goes back into improving these places. It goes to pay the gardners and landscapers at the pristine residences of the owners in places like Caughlin Ranch and Arrowcreek.
    It’s hard to connect the dots, however, as most of these fleabag crack places are owned for record by trusts inside of corporations wrapped around partnerships.

  7. Grand Wazoo

    500,000 attendees at the rib cookoff means every single man, woman, and child in Washoe count attended plus 150,000 people from out of town showed up. I know for a fact that hotel rooms were plentiful last weekend – so where did everyone stay?

  8. Sully

    The same place 800,000 people stay for Hot August Nights.

  9. Ed

    Hotels were sold out, at least that’s what they told me. GSR sold out. Stayed at Sands and they had signs saying they were sold out.

  10. Marino

    So for 4 days last week, John Ascuaga’s Nugget was the second biggest city in Nevada.
    Sure it was.

  11. Sean

    A lot of People come from the sacramento/roseville area just for the day to go to the rib cookoff so they wouldnt be filling hotels. I personally know of 6 or 7 friends that do this every year. I believe the larger numbers than previous years. I got there at 1120am on saturday and it was already packed. Great Ribs- Awesome Aussies and Carson City BBQ were my favorite!

  12. MikeZ

    I went to the Rib Cook-Off on Sunday and it was packed. I’m guessing that the head count comes from n tons of ribs divided by an estimate of m lbs of ribs per attendee. We had about 1 lb. each, that would put the head count at 250,000, not 500,000.

    Anyway, regardless, 13 tons more ribs sold this year means attendance is up by 10-15%.

  13. Rory

    Good point MikeZ. Suffice it to say, you can tell outside visitors flooded town if you follow Yelp reviews. The number of reviews for the cookoff in the last few days has been brisk. And with little exception, every one if from someone in the neighboring California counties. The Nuggest Cookoff definitely draws people to town regardless of the crowd estimates everything is hung-up on.

  14. Cornell

    So for 4 days last week, John Ascuaga’s Nugget had a population the same size as the State of Wyoming.
    Sure it did.

  15. Ciphers

    Gee, maybe if they put Hot August Nights together with the rib cookoff, there could be 1.3 million people here.

  16. Daniel

    I hear they are expecting 750,000 people for the Balloon Races, and up to 1,000,000 for the Air Races.
    Surely this has to mean great things for the local housing market.

  17. inclinejj

    Call the hotels when they are sold out. I am sure they can find a $250 a nite or $300 dollar room to put you in. For a 3 night Minimum

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