The Home Depot to open in Grand Forks?

Rumour has it that The Home Depot is looking at two sites in south Grand Forks for a new store. The home improvement giant currently is not in the Grand Forks market. As of now, Home Depot has only one store in the Red River Valley, in Fargo, but plans have recently been revealed for a new store in Moorhead, Minnesota. Grand Forks already has a mammoth Menards store and a new Lowes store...it was only a matter of time before the Home Depot, the country's second largest and the world's third largest retailer, set up shop in Grand Forks.

The two locations that The Home Depot is currently looking at are both on 32nd Avenue South and include one site between Sam's Club and Hansen Ford and another site directly west of the new Tractor Supply Company store which sits west of I-29 near the Big Sioux truck stop. In my opinion, both locations would be pretty good for such a store. The Sam's Club/Hansen Ford location offers a site located right in the center of the city's main retail heart and the Tractor Supply location offers room for expansion...plus, a large new store there could become the catalyst for more retail growth in that area.

I would imagine that we can expect some news on the possible new store over the next few months. It will be pretty interesting to have Mendards, Lowes, the local Lumber Mart store, and The Home Depot all within the same stretch of 32nd Avenue South.

You just might be the 1,000 visitor to Grand Forks Life!!!

Today, someone will walk through the doors of Grand Forks Life and will be greeted with flashing lights, ringing bells, and a grinning man holding two tickets for a vacation in Maui.

OK, none of that will happen...trust me. This isn't a grocery store or a car dealership. It is just a plain and simple little blog about life in a relatively small Midwestern city. However, I am proud to say that this plain and simple little blog will pass somewhat of a milestone today...its 1,000 visit.

I just think that it is really great that some guy (GrandForksGuy in particular) can be just a college student who lacks any power or traditional media visibility, but can turn around and have his views seen by hundreds or potentially thousands of individuals. This new world we live in is really great in many ways.

I will continue to work at bringing you, my readers, new and interesting information and opinion on a regular basis. We have plenty to talk about.

Another Grand Forks blog...

KNOX radio's Dakota Huseby has been keeping her own blog lately...check it out. It has quite a bit Grand Forks related content.

Red Pepper to open new GF location

The Red Pepper, a true Grand Forks/UND instutution, will soon be opening a new location in the city. The new restaurant will be located in the building that houses Dakota Textbook Company. This building sits in a new apartment/retail development directly west of the UND campus. The new location will feature a drive-through window and will be strategically located within steps of the biggest base of Red Pepper customers...UND. For the past few months, the Valley Dairy on 42nd Street has been selling Red Pepper foods. Sounds like they were testing what the market for them was like in the western part of town. They must have been happy with the results of the experiment. I would think that the new store might mean the end of the Valley Dairy partnership...or who knows...maybe a rollout to all Valley Dairy locations? No word yet what any of this news means for the current Red Pepper location near downtown. Although I have never been in the place or enjoyed any Red Pepper food, I would be sad to see a local landmark like this close. Anyways, kudos to the people at the Red Pepper for seeing that local businesses have to be creative and adaptive if they want to survive in the long run.

===UPDATE-1/12/2006===
I have now heard that the Red Pepper does plan to keep their current location open. Good news for downtown.

My nomination for Small Businessman of the Year!

Larry O'Connell, the proprietor of the Uptown/Downtown (Grand Forks' own "gentlemen's club" - featuring only the area's finest young women gyrating in g-strings and pasties), is back to his old tricks. The bar/strip club has come under fire recently for alledgedly violating the city's laws which prohibit nude or near-nude waitresses. Now, O'Connell...truly one of our area's great businessmen...is scared of the impending prosecutions and is closing the "Downtown" part of Uptown/Downtown..."Downtown" is the area with the stripping poles and the most questionable activity. Now, the fine establishment is going to be having a change of format...to a "hip-hop dance club." Given the track record of O'Connell's business practices and the staying-power of his establishments, who knows what will happen when that venture becomes unprofitable...or prosecutable...in about three months.