BizMojo Idaho marks second birthday

Today marks the second anniversary of this blog, BizMojo Idaho. Time flies. My first post, "Picking up where I left off ... " ran on Sept. 5, 2011. I won't reprint the whole thing, but here's some of what I had to say:

"I suppose there's a bit of presumption on my part getting back into the saddle, but over the past three years enough of you have told me you miss my writing to make me believe my name is still worth something. ...

"My old approach to the weekly business column was three-pronged: pay attention to what's going on around town (new construction, signs, etc.); answer people's questions, no matter how trivial or far-out they seemed; and keep the tone personal and conversational. That approach worked, and I see no reason to do anything different. The timing will be different, however. Instead of once a week in print, our plan is to update BizMojo Idaho all the time -- online, on your iPhones and Droids, on Facebook and Twitter."

The counter has told me I have posted 724 times since then, which is almost every day. There have been a few interesting lessons learned along the way. Number one, share everything on Facebook, not just what you think will be interesting to readers because it happens to interest you.

This community remains as restaurant-obsessed as it was in the days when people were asking me "When are we getting an Olive Garden?" Now the focus is on Costco, which would be nice to have, but informed sources tell me that it's still a ways off -- if it's going to happen at all.

The nicest thing about this project has been reconnecting with the community. Two years in, I think I've finally reached the point where I don't have to explain to everyone what I'm doing. People have even approached me about advertising (this I have found gratifying). Regular readers check in every day, and I feel an obligation to have something posted for them.

The effort has rewarded me with constantly improving numbers. July and August were the best months ever, both for visitors and page views.

If you have any questions, call me. Likewise if you see anything interesting. Take a photo with your camera and email it to me. We live in an age of conversation and sharing. I don't mind at all. In fact, I love it.

A+ Credit Union to merge with Mountain America

A+ Credit Union of Idaho Falls will be merging with Mountain America Credit Union at the end of the year.

Formerly the Idaho Falls Teachers Credit Union, A+ was originally established to serve educators in the Idaho Falls area. Mountain America dates back to 1934, when it was originally the Salt Lake Telephone Employees Credit Union. It changed its name to Mountain America after merging with Postal Workers Credit Union in 1984. In 1988, Mountain America merged with Utah State Credit Union, becoming the second largest credit union in Utah and today it has branches in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. It also belongs to an extensive shared branching network as well as several ATM networks, including the CO-OP Network,which allows members to complete surcharge-free transactions at more than 28,000 ATMs nationwide.

A spokeswoman for A+ said the merger will allow their members to enjoy a much wider array of services. The A+ office at 525 Sunnyside Road will remain open.

Copper Rill Restaurant opens in old Rutabaga's location

Jud Wilcox and Shandi Fujimoto, who opened Copper Rill Restaurant on Saturday night in the old Rutabaga's location.

Those of you who mourned the passing of Rutabaga's on River Parkway will be glad to know that a new restaurant, Copper Rill, has opened there and that the chef, Jud Wilcox, used to handle the dinner menu for Rutabaga's.

Wilcox and his partner, Shandi Fujimoto, opened the restaurant Saturday and are bringing it up to speed this week. While Wilcox worked for Rutabaga's in the days when it was owned by Wesley Beard, most recently he was at Whitewater Grill.

He received his culinary training at Johnson & Wales University near Providence, R.I., where he was also on the wrestling team ("It was the only college in the country with a culinary school and a wrestling team, so it's where I went," he said.) He spent four years as a chef tournade for the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo., consulting in restaurants and kitchens for executive chef Ziggy Eisenberger.

The key to a successful restaurant is having the right people. "Staffing is huge," he said. "And just caring about what you do."

Although he learned the fundamentals of classic French cooking in college, the menu at Copper Rill is broader and more eclectic, ranging from mahi-mahi tacos ($11) to filet mignon ($28). The Web site is not active yet, but the menus will be posted as soon as it is, Fujimoto said.

To whet your curiosity (and perhaps your appetite), here is Copper Rill's lunch menu:

Stats show local economy chugging along

Surveyors from Primary Construction of Boise mark out the ground on Utah Avenue where the foundation for Panda Express will be dug and poured in the next week.

Maybe it's the conditioning we get from school, but I've always considered September the beginning of a new year. Summer's almost over, and in the 30-plus years I've lived in the Rocky Mountain states it's always seemed like the weather can be counted on to change the Saturday or Sunday after Labor Day.

There wasn't much at the Idaho Falls Building Department this morning, so my fallback position was to look at the numbers from our favorite sources to get a feel for the local economy. The real estate market has been cooking this year, according to Patrick Malone of High Desert Realty, whom I ran into at the City Hall annex. Following up on our conversation, I looked at the marketing statistics from the Snake River Multiple Listing Service and compiled this chart:

As you can see, sales are up significantly, as are prices and new listings.

I also found it interesting that unemployment seemed to have dropped significantly from last year. I'd be curious about any reports of underemployment -- people working at part-time rather than full-time jobs, or for less money than their training or experience would warrant in a robust economy.

Last of all, here are building statistics from the city of Idaho Falls, which show a lot of action on the new construction of single family dwellings:

Progress on Dad's at Hitt and Yellowstone

Construction this week at the new home of Dad's Truck Stop, at Hitt Road and U.S. 26

For those of you who haven't been out to this end of town, here's the latest progress from Hitt Road and U.S. 26, where Dad's Travel Center is moving into a new building.

Located on 47 acre, the 3,000-square-foot store is to be a smaller version of what they have south of Idaho Falls at Exit 113, said Kevin Bird, the company's general manager. Doug Andrus had planned to develop the site in 2007, but when the economy went into recession they decided to hold off. Push came to shove, however, as the 10-year lease on the store across the road neared expiration. That was when they decided this year was as good as any to build, Bird said.

The contractor on the project is Bateman-Hall, which just recently completed the new Stinker Station at First Street and Holmes Avenue.

The 11,000-square-foot Dad's south of Idaho Falls is home to Frontier Pies. Bird said they plan to have a food vendor in the new store.