New business in LC

[funkymonkey]

Originally Posted by ronster

WOW! Great responses, thank you. I have spent quite a bit of time in LC and what it is really crying out for is a wine bar. I hear that it is practically impossible to open one of these, you actually need to be a grower and have, not a liquor license, but a growers licence and actually grow and produce your own wine from your own grapes! Anyone know anything about this?

You can get a beer/wine license if you also serve food I think.

Originally Posted by tecpatl

Sounds like you and fnord should be sitting down for a large cold one at High Desert and brainstorming. There's lots of opportunity out there...you just need to find that niche and fill it. I hate to see creative and forward looking people go elsewhere. Good luck err...I mean Bueno Suerte!

Grrr I hate hearing people saying there's no opportunities here. HELLO there's more opportunities because there's so many undeveloped niches here compared to a lot of other places. Some things are way overdeveloped, as you mentioned already, and other areas are sorely lacking and thsoe are the opportunities! I don't know why nobody seems to want to pursue too many of them. I would myself if I weren't already busy with my internet business.

[ibarrio]

If you go the wine bar route it must be near NMSU or in Mesilla...

[fnord]

Originally Posted by tecpatl

Ohhh yeah..maybe a nice Mexican restaurant serving typical ordinary food! You can NEVER have enough boring mediocre beans n rice to go with the same old enchiladas everyone else in town serves. Certainly not enough of THOSE around.. You could include nice Las Cruces thin dry hamburgers also! LOL.
If food isn't your thing, LC could certainly use another auto parts or tire store, there isn't one on every block YET, though i think Income tax preparers who also do payday loans and cash checks have finally reached every single block in town. lol

You beat me to it. If you want a foolproof business here, open a taco shop or a payday loan place. The icons of Las Cruces.

In other news, Tegmeyer's Salad Bar is now closed. Another one bites the dust. Too bad. I did enjoy going there every couple of months or so, but I found the $9 price a bit high for what I was getting - which was a big plate full of SALAD and a bowl of soup. They went far beyond salad bar offerings (baked chicken, beef, taco stuff) and I can only imagine the professional eaters bringing in their brood during "kids eat free" day and cleaning the place out.

Another retail space available to rent at El Paseo/Idaho! That mall is nearly a ghost town - I don't foresee that office supply store lasting much longer.

[ronster]

Fnord,
Very interesting reply. What do you know about a beer/wine license. I did not see that listed as a "type" in the licensing department website for New Mexico. You can't consume on premise with that, can you? Also, I'm not so concerned about the market not being there...it can be created with the right approach!

[fnord]

Originally Posted by ronster

Fnord,
Very interesting reply. What do you know about a beer/wine license. I did not see that listed as a "type" in the licensing department website for New Mexico. You can't consume on premise with that, can you? Also, I'm not so concerned about the market not being there...it can be created with the right approach!

Ronster, contact the DACC small business development program. The instructor I had for the classes was Michael Levine - he had all the information on getting a beer/wine license, website links, etc. You'd think it would be easy to find out, but it's not.

The local co-op here, Mountain View Market, is wanting to add beer & wine to their inventory and even they were confused about the liquor license. I told them to contact Michael Levine, too.

[ibarrio]

About Tegmeyer's...quoted from LC Sun news. At it's height, there was two locations in Las Cruces.

LAS CRUCES — Open for more than 21 years, Tegmeyer's Salad Works at 1300 El Paseo Rd., will close on Nov. 21 and reopen at a new location with a new name.

Owner Eddie Lacy said she will move the restaurant to 504 E. Amador Ave. where Mariscos Cancun Mexican Seafood and, before that, the Golden China restaurant, used to reside.

Lacy said that because of her contract, she cannot take the name Tegmeyer's with her, so the new eatery will be called Miss Eddie's. She said the restaurant will offer a menu as well as a hot buffet. The salad bar will be made smaller but there will be salads on the menu.

Lacy said her current lease expires at the end of the month and she needed to find a less-expensive location. Lacy, who has worked at Tegmeyer's since it opened in April of 1987 and bought the business in June 2004, said she has been thinking about a move for a while.

"This has been in the process for about a year and a half," she said.

She said the rise in the price of food, produce especially, has forced her to look for ways to cut costs.

Lacy said she currently has 23 employees and will hire more for the new restaurant. She hopes to be open by Nov. 25, but she is not sure on the exact opening date yet.

[tecpatl]

"Owner Eddie Lacy said she will move the restaurant to 504 E. Amador Ave. where Mariscos Cancun Mexican Seafood and, before that, the Golden China restaurant, used to reside."
Boy, I don't know how you can lose with Mexican seafood, which is wonderful, but that place completely disappointed me on every visit. I'm not sure what the explanation for mashed potatos on every plate was, other than some unneccesary carbo-loading with a side of beans as well. Have never run across that in Mexico, but maybe I just don't spend enough time in Cancun. Their Coctel de Camarones was a disappointment as well, try as I might to like it. How can you make Pescado al mojo de ajo second rate? They found a way on more than one occasion. It was just a quality issue to me, but I had a hard time taking people there or recommending it to anyone without a couple warnings added in. I hope Eddie does well at her new location.