Ferrell's downtown I.F. building for sale

After 52 years at its Broadway and Park Avenue location, Ferrell's is looking for a smaller place to do business.

"We've got three floors and we only use one of them," said owner Brant Tueller, who has been with the store since 1963. At present, Ferrell's sells only men's clothes, but there was a time not so long ago they had women's apparel, western clothes and everything you needed to be a Boy Scout or Scout leader.

"We used to be a full department store," said Tueller. "(Now) we just take what Wal-Mart leaves us. You can't compete with a company that makes more money than a lot of third world countries."

Sixty-eight years old and ready to retire, Tueller said he can sell the business easily enough. Ferrell's has loyal customers and stocks quality products. It's the 14,000-square-foot building, which he owns, that could take some time, he said. "Real estate is so soft now. The economy is the biggest problem right now. I've been through a lot of bad economies, and this is really serious."

If they do manage to relocate, he anticipates it will be somewhere other than downtown Idaho Falls, which is better suited to smaller, more specialized retail. Ferrell's started in 1950 in the building that now houses Destinations Inn. In 1959, the business moved in when J.C. Penney moved across Broadway. But both Penney's and the Bon Marche moved out in the '80s, and other department stores like Block's went away then, too.

"It's been a good business," Tueller said. "I've raised six children here."

Men's Wearhouse opens in Ammon

I consider it good news when any empty storefront (who hasn't seen plenty of those in the last two years?) gets a new tenant, so I was encouraged this week to see Men's Wearhouse has moved into the Ammon Town Center where Hollywood Video used to be.

The Texas-based chain has been around since 1973, when it was George Zimmer. It operates under the names Men's Wearhouse, K&G Superstores (an off-price retail chain featuring discontinued items) and Twin Hill Corporate apparel.

The chain runs television and radio commercials featuring Zimmer, and the oft-repeated slogan, "You're going to like the way you look; I guarantee it." According to Business Week, Men's Wearhouse targets the common man, with "the neatly displayed clothes in Zimmer's stores [being] designed to cater to the unpretentious guy who wants to do as little as possible to maintain his wardrobe."

Carl's Jr. opening two I.F. locations

Today's scoop comes in answer to my co-worker Cyndi, who asked yesterday what's going into the old Schlotsky's Deli on 17th Street, in the Grand Teton Mall parking lot.

Two words: Carl's Jr. I have no idea how many people here in Idaho Falls will be transported into the realm of delight at this news, but I'm reasonably sure there are at least a few fans out there. In which case, here's something that ought to make them twice as happy. Carl's Jr. is not only putting in a location on 17th Street, but also at the intersection of North Holmes and Yellowstone Avenue, where the Sinclair station used to be.

A building permit has been issued for the 17th Street restaurant, said Brad Cramer, city of Idaho Falls assistant planning director. Because of the limited size of the North Holmes lot, some variances will have to be obtained before work can begin there, he said.

Kelly Grieve, spokeswoman for CKR Enterprises, said they don't have a date set for the opening, but confirmed that two would be opening in Idaho Falls in 2011 or early 2012.

Carl's Jr. has 11 locations in Idaho, most of them in the Boise area, the nearest one in Twin Falls. Its corporate office is located in Carpenteria, Calif. The chain dates back to 1941, when Carl N. Karcher and his wife, Margaret, borrowed $311 on their Plymouth and added their $15 in savings to buy a hot dog cart. His first day in business, he took in $14.75.

In less than five years, they opened their first Carl's Drive-In Barbecue. Karcher died in 2007, at the age of 90. Today, there are more than 1,200 Carl's Jr. restaurants, most in the West and Southwest.

RE/MAX agents join Keller Williams East Idaho

Here's a new development in the local real estate market. Chris Pelkota Lee and several of her colleagues have left RE/MAX Homestead Realty to join Keller Williams Realty, which was Win Star Realty until September 2010.

Lee reports the merger occurred when the local RE/MAX office owners decided not to renew their franchise, opting instead to join the Keller Williams East Idaho office. They have stayed in the RE/MAX building, at 3525 Merlin, and the Keller Williams agents have moved in from their old offices on nearby Elk Creek Drive. A new Web site has been set up, http://www.kwreastidaho.yourkwoffice.com/

"Most of the RE/MAX folks have stayed through the merger, although a new smaller RE/MAX office has opened with a new owner," Lee said.

Chris is one of the more communicative real estate agents I've met, and does a great job of posting interesting links on her Facebook business page, http://www.facebook.com/?ref=hp#!/IFListings. I'm sure she'd like it if you liked her.

First Monday in October

I'm happy to report that in its first month, BizMojo Idaho received nearly 600 pageviews. At least I think I'm happy to report that. Maybe that's an abysmal number I ought to keep to myself. But having embarked on this with no idea of what to expect, I'll take what I can get.

The big winner for the month -- 73 pageviews -- was the news on Chick-Fil-A, which plans to open Nov. 17. Given my Shoptalk experience during the golden age of "When is Olive Garden coming?" I am not surprised by this. Tied for second place was the post about 3's Co. Catering opening its location on downtown.

The stats indicate our visits are coming almost exclusively from Facebook, which is not surprising. Like everyone, we're still trying to figure out how to make Facebook work more effectively for us. We launched BizMojo Idaho the same month that Facebook did its big makeover, the source of much online caterwauling. I'm not sure what sort of effect this had.

I have my own opinions about the effectiveness of pay-per-click advertising, having spent $25 on Facebook (thankfully, no more) to advertise a gig my band, Happyville, was playing at Vino Rosso and seeing no discernable results. I've got plenty of experience with advertising, and can tell you about the two slam-dunks I've engineered, one of which was online, the other on the radio.

I suppose a link to Twitter is next, although I remain unsold on its uses for anything other than celebrity gossip or Middle Eastern street demonstrations.

The number of followers seems to have hit a plateau, but I've been told that's all right, that pageviews is what I want to watch. We haven't received any comments other than two welcome back messages and a couple of likes on Facebook (heartwarming, especially the one from my sister, Marty, in Virginia).

All told, I'm hoping to build on what's been done. I will soon be writing up the new restaurant downtown, Il Castello, where I had lunch Friday (it was good). There will be much, much more to follow.