[needing more]

Hey there!! We finally made it down there after almost a yr of researching online only.. Nothing like seeing a place for the first time Nothing can substitute for personal experience

We drove into AR on 37 in Gateway.. Dont blink! You'll miss it..lol.. Other then the town only being other services (not gas/grocery).. It doesnt seem like it was a real town. Seems like you would have to drive into Garfield for daily necessaties. Which makes me wonder what makes up the credentials of a "city" then... (just a side note?!)

Garfield was a little larger.. I wasnt too sure what was up with the grocery store there. We heard thru our realtor that she just opened up 6 months ago and is still trying to figure out what people want in the store.. Seems like a little of everything since the nearest store, you would have to drive into Pea Ridge. We did get a few strange looks (if any were from someone reading this.. no offense to you) from the locals.. We didnt see many families.. mostly white people in their 40s-60s. The school there looked nice and newer.. I didnt get a change to go into it though.

We stayed off of 127 down by the lake. Which we might have stayed some place closer to normal roads if we knew that road wasnt fun to drive down several times a day.. Roads in thats area and north on the way to Eureka suck. Infact my 3 year old threw up all over from the motion sickness on saturday afternoon. Which was NO fun..lol We drove either the speed limit or under a little and had other tailgating us most of the time on the curvy roads.. I just didnt think driving 45 with no shoulder and a steep cliff next to you with someone tailgating you since you were not driving up to their speed was fun.. Hope its not normally like that.

We went into Pea Ridge once. We ended up chatting with a police officer at the gas station for a while. He was nice and gave us lots of local info since he was new to the area too. Pea Ridge seemed like it had lots of new businesses and buildings.. Is the population growing there? It seemed that way to me. We went to the town park which was nice for the kids.. Having a park to go to is important to us. Everyone was nice there and seemed very normal to here.. Kinda what we are used to already.

We went into Eureka Springs and realized that it might be hard to put our business there. I talked with several locals and it seems like the norm is to work 3 jobs and rent/lease for a building was expensive 1200+ a month and most closed down nov-march even though lots of locals told us they wished moew restaurants stayed open since it was the slower time when the locals could finally go out to eat and relax a little. Also heard theres one broker who owns most of the town and he might be a little hard to work with on things.. So Eureka Springs might not be the best place for us.. There was also nothing on the way so it was very sucluded to live by there year round. Plus with all the steep curves making you slow down next to nothing.. I cant imagine it with snow or ice on it in the winter. But we did really like the town.. Everyone was so nice. We ate at the Eureka Grill and it was SO good. We also were the only ones in town with kids... So it didnt seem like a family place. I loved a lot of the stores and can imagine going there often to buy thins from the locals..

From Eureka we drove north up to Holiday Island.. On the way we saw a house inbetween.. not sure how to describe it.. There were lots of statues, sculptures and art out front. 2 LARGE houses with weird roofs. Looked like their were still being built since there was no doors or windows in them.. Does anyone know what that place is?? It was VERY cool!!! We took lots of pics of it though Holiday Island didnt seem like a city either.. It was a bunch of strip malls together.. I didnt see a downtown area or any city buildings.. Did I miss something??

We went to the goblin parade in Rogers on friday afternoon.. We actually got lost trying to find it and had to call the city of Rogers phone # to ask for directions.. The lady who answered was rude and acted like I was bothering her for even asking.. So we stopped and talked to a police officer instead.. He was much nicer Rogers seemed like it had hit its prime in the 80s. Many of the buildings seemed older and I never did see a newer area.. Like there wasnt much growth going on in the actual city.

We didnt check out Springdale, Bella Vista or Bentonville areas.. Just not enought time and it wasnt on our "to do" list.. Maybe next time

We did check out Fayetteville twice. It was kinda ironic that the University was playing a MI team and it was homecoming weekend.. So it made our trip a little more fun We walked downtown on friday night and watched the parade as we ate dinner at a Thai restaurant on the stripe. We loved that it was so busy. The people were nice and friendly. It was diverse. Lots of options for places to shop or eat at. The nest day we drove on the east side of Fayetteville and over to Elkins area. We LOVED the areas. It seemed like you could drive 5-10 minutes down an easy-to-get-to country road and be out in the country very easily but drive into the city if you forgot milk quickly w/o a hassel. The air seemed fresh there (some of the places by garfield and clifty smelled weird) As long as we can try to find a unique idea for our restaurant.. I think Fayetteville will be where we are going.

The rolling hills and vast mixture of trees and pasture is what we liked the best. On 62 between rogers and ES seemed too curvy and steep to have some open acreage for horses and a big garden. Not to mention it was too far out there... We really liked the country side east and south east of Fayetteville. Is the area directly to the south the same way??? Towards Greenland??.. WHat about the smaller cities of Farmington, Praire Grove, West Fork or Wheeler??? How big are they? Do they have gas,grocery stores, schools or is it a tiny town like gateway was with no daily services? We also heard if we want rolling hills and smaller chance of tornados to stay east of 540. Is that true?? If we put a business in Fayetteville we would want to live 20 minutes or less from it. So we would have to stay within 10-15 miles from Fayetteville. Any areas you recommend?

We also noticed there was a large population of mexicans, latinos and other spanish speaking people in Fayetteville. We didnt see anything in Rogers or towards Pea Ridge out of the normal either.. Is there any reason Fayetteville would have a higher immigrite popuation?

So from what we saw over the week.. We really liked Fayetteville best for a place for our restaurant. Anything I should know more about this area? Or with starting a new business there?

It is a beautiful area and we were very glad to be able to check it out. Thanks for sharing your state with us

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by needing more

Hey there!! We finally made it down there after almost a yr of researching online only.. Nothing like seeing a place for the first time Nothing can substitute for personal experience

We drove into AR on 37 in Gateway.. Dont blink! You'll miss it..lol.. Other then the town only being other services (not gas/grocery).. It doesnt seem like it was a real town. Seems like you would have to drive into Garfield for daily necessaties. Which makes me wonder what makes up the credentials of a "city" then... (just a side note?!)

Garfield was a little larger.. I wasnt too sure what was up with the grocery store there. We heard thru our realtor that she just opened up 6 months ago and is still trying to figure out what people want in the store.. Seems like a little of everything since the nearest store, you would have to drive into Pea Ridge. We did get a few strange looks (if any were from someone reading this.. no offense to you) from the locals.. We didnt see many families.. mostly white people in their 40s-60s. The school there looked nice and newer.. I didnt get a change to go into it though.

We stayed off of 127 down by the lake. Which we might have stayed some place closer to normal roads if we knew that road wasnt fun to drive down several times a day.. Roads in thats area and north on the way to Eureka suck. Infact my 3 year old threw up all over from the motion sickness on saturday afternoon. Which was NO fun..lol We drove either the speed limit or under a little and had other tailgating us most of the time on the curvy roads.. I just didnt think driving 45 with no shoulder and a steep cliff next to you with someone tailgating you since you were not driving up to their speed was fun.. Hope its not normally like that.

We went into Pea Ridge once. We ended up chatting with a police officer at the gas station for a while. He was nice and gave us lots of local info since he was new to the area too. Pea Ridge seemed like it had lots of new businesses and buildings.. Is the population growing there? It seemed that way to me. We went to the town park which was nice for the kids.. Having a park to go to is important to us. Everyone was nice there and seemed very normal to here.. Kinda what we are used to already.

We went into Eureka Springs and realized that it might be hard to put our business there. I talked with several locals and it seems like the norm is to work 3 jobs and rent/lease for a building was expensive 1200+ a month and most closed down nov-march even though lots of locals told us they wished moew restaurants stayed open since it was the slower time when the locals could finally go out to eat and relax a little. Also heard theres one broker who owns most of the town and he might be a little hard to work with on things.. So Eureka Springs might not be the best place for us.. There was also nothing on the way so it was very sucluded to live by there year round. Plus with all the steep curves making you slow down next to nothing.. I cant imagine it with snow or ice on it in the winter. But we did really like the town.. Everyone was so nice. We ate at the Eureka Grill and it was SO good. We also were the only ones in town with kids... So it didnt seem like a family place. I loved a lot of the stores and can imagine going there often to buy thins from the locals..

From Eureka we drove north up to Holiday Island.. On the way we saw a house inbetween.. not sure how to describe it.. There were lots of statues, sculptures and art out front. 2 LARGE houses with weird roofs. Looked like their were still being built since there was no doors or windows in them.. Does anyone know what that place is?? It was VERY cool!!! We took lots of pics of it though Holiday Island didnt seem like a city either.. It was a bunch of strip malls together.. I didnt see a downtown area or any city buildings.. Did I miss something??

We went to the goblin parade in Rogers on friday afternoon.. We actually got lost trying to find it and had to call the city of Rogers phone # to ask for directions.. The lady who answered was rude and acted like I was bothering her for even asking.. So we stopped and talked to a police officer instead.. He was much nicer Rogers seemed like it had hit its prime in the 80s. Many of the buildings seemed older and I never did see a newer area.. Like there wasnt much growth going on in the actual city.

We didnt check out Springdale, Bella Vista or Bentonville areas.. Just not enought time and it wasnt on our "to do" list.. Maybe next time

We did check out Fayetteville twice. It was kinda ironic that the University was playing a MI team and it was homecoming weekend.. So it made our trip a little more fun We walked downtown on friday night and watched the parade as we ate dinner at a Thai restaurant on the stripe. We loved that it was so busy. The people were nice and friendly. It was diverse. Lots of options for places to shop or eat at. The nest day we drove on the east side of Fayetteville and over to Elkins area. We LOVED the areas. It seemed like you could drive 5-10 minutes down an easy-to-get-to country road and be out in the country very easily but drive into the city if you forgot milk quickly w/o a hassel. The air seemed fresh there (some of the places by garfield and clifty smelled weird) As long as we can try to find a unique idea for our restaurant.. I think Fayetteville will be where we are going.

The rolling hills and vast mixture of trees and pasture is what we liked the best. On 62 between rogers and ES seemed too curvy and steep to have some open acreage for horses and a big garden. Not to mention it was too far out there... We really liked the country side east and south east of Fayetteville. Is the area directly to the south the same way??? Towards Greenland??.. WHat about the smaller cities of Farmington, Praire Grove, West Fork or Wheeler??? How big are they? Do they have gas,grocery stores, schools or is it a tiny town like gateway was with no daily services? We also heard if we want rolling hills and smaller chance of tornados to stay east of 540. Is that true?? If we put a business in Fayetteville we would want to live 20 minutes or less from it. So we would have to stay within 10-15 miles from Fayetteville. Any areas you recommend?

We also noticed there was a large population of mexicans, latinos and other spanish speaking people in Fayetteville. We didnt see anything in Rogers or towards Pea Ridge out of the normal either.. Is there any reason Fayetteville would have a higher immigrite popuation?

So from what we saw over the week.. We really liked Fayetteville best for a place for our restaurant. Anything I should know more about this area? Or with starting a new business there?

It is a beautiful area and we were very glad to be able to check it out. Thanks for sharing your state with us

I am so glad you had a chance to see, at least part of what NWA is all about. I know you thought Eureka Springs might be a good location, but, no it isn't really condusive to year around activities. Next time I hope you will check out Bella Vista plus, I might add Gravett.

There is poster on here that did start a restaurant on the square recently in Bentonville. I will try to find her name or posting so you can talk more to her.

I didn't realize Fayetteville did have a larger immigration population. It is more diverse because of the university, that is for certain.

Take care,

Nita

Here, I got the info: check under 10/22/2009, the subject coney island and her user name is: staciacrooks. Hope this helps.

[hydigger]

If you missed Hot Springs Little Rock you missed the best part of the state.

[needing more]

Here, I got the info: check under 10/22/2009, the subject coney island and her user name is: staciacrooks. Hope this helps.[/quote]
Thanks Nita!!! I sent her a message.

I thought it was strange that I didnt see anyone other then white folks everywhere till I went to Fayetteville then we saw a bunch of asians and spanish speaking families.. (dont get me wrong.. we are prejudice by any means) .... Just thought it was weird.

We will and are planning a second trip in the springtime.. maybe april or may.. Then maybe we can check out more areas.. We were a little overwhelmed as it was

Hot Springs and Little Rock might be great but too far south for us.. We want NW only.. closer to our family in KS. Plus I'll need a higher elevation to counter the humidity and heat... Which I'm not looking forward to
Thanks for the invite though

[hognoxious]

With the presence of the university, Fayetteville tends to be a bit more diverse community made up of many nationalities, however, the Hispanic population is only about 5% in Fayetteville, whereas in Rogers, Springdale and Siloam Springs the Hispanic makeup is larger at 20-40%.

As you immediately get south of Fayetteville you start moving into the Boston Mountains so less flat and more hilly. I'd recommend you check out West Fork - basic amenities available, neat little sense of community, good schools and only 10-minutes from Fayetteville.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by needing more

Here, I got the info: check under 10/22/2009, the subject coney island and her user name is: staciacrooks. Hope this helps.

Thanks Nita!!! I sent her a message.

I thought it was strange that I didnt see anyone other then white folks everywhere till I went to Fayetteville then we saw a bunch of asians and spanish speaking families.. (dont get me wrong.. we are prejudice by any means) .... Just thought it was weird.

We will and are planning a second trip in the springtime.. maybe april or may.. Then maybe we can check out more areas.. We were a little overwhelmed as it was

Hot Springs and Little Rock might be great but too far south for us.. We want NW only.. closer to our family in KS. Plus I'll need a higher elevation to counter the humidity and heat... Which I'm not looking forward to
Thanks for the invite though [/quote]

Actually you will see the spanish speaking throughout the NW area, probably more near Fayetteville and Sprindale as many work for the chicken factories. As for Asians, I can't explain that, we see so few. There are some with farms in Washington county, probably other counties as well. I love to go to the farmers markets in the summer cause they are selling their produce and they really seem to know how to grow it.

Good luck and I hope Stacy has time to get back to you soon, she is really busy with her restaurant.

Nita

[PurpleLove08]

maybe I missed it but what kind of restaurant do you plan to open?

[needing more]

We were in downtown Rogers twice.. even did the Goblin Parade on friday afternoon and was in the middle of hundreds of other families and didnt see more then one or two hispanic families.. but mostly white families.. Whats why I thought it was weird I didnt see any till we got to Fayetteville area then saw tons. They didnt seem like they were students though. I had heard there was a larger popuation in Rogers/Springdale areas but it wasnt what I experienced.

I did see a few houses/homesteads in West Fork that had organic gardens and were off-grid (which was a goal of ours too) so I will check out that area. Just looking on the map it looked like it was father then 10 minutes to Fayetteville area though.. My work I will transfer to will be by the mall, which is on the northern side of Fayetteville. So I was looking into Greenland area more... but by their city website it didnt look like a family city. They were actually advertising for an industrial park to come to town.

We plan on opening a Thai/Sushi maybe some Vietnamese food as well...40-60 people seating inside and out. Family style, Carry out/ Delivery and maybe a one night a week buffet style night and the best service you'll ever see Chef is 5 star from Vietnam with attention to detail.

[hognoxious]

From the NWA Mall to West Fork your looking at 20-25-30 minutes depending on the time of the day / traffic flow on 540.

IMO a Vietnamese restaurant is gonna do best in either Fayetteville or Bentonville.

It's well known that Springdale and Rogers are the primary towns in NWA with larger Hispanic populations ... these towns have benefited from the population growth but also struggled with ESL students in their school systems and many articles on the Hispanics / Marshallese populations in Springdale and Rogers have been published over the past 10-years. Fayetteville is not all white either and is probably more diverse than Springdale, Rogers or Bentonville.

Being that you were in Fayetteville on homecoming weekend with the parade and the football game and halloween and the variety of attractions in Fayetteville on a weekend, it's no surprise people of all backgrounds come to participate - everyone is welcome in Fayetteville as long as they play nice.

[HANNU]

Originally Posted by hognoxious

With the presence of the university, Fayetteville tends to be a bit more diverse community made up of many nationalities, however, the Hispanic population is only about 5% in Fayetteville, whereas in Rogers, Springdale and Siloam Springs the Hispanic makeup is larger at 20-40%.

5% is the official estimate for Hispanics in Fayetteville, but there is a sizable illegal Mexican population that does not get counted. I was surprised by the amount of Mexicans in the town when I first moved here. A visit to the NWA mall, Lake Fayetteville etc. over the weekend will give you a sense of the real numbers. Many though could be coming down from Springdale.