Secrets of the City

Lazy Lightning points out a piece in MSP Business Journal about the ongoing success of the St. Louis Park-based Buffalo Wild Wings: Strong sales helped lift Buffalo Wild Wings Inc.’s profit by 50 percent in the third quarter compared to the same period a year ago, the restaurant chain reported Tuesday.

Lazy Lightning wonders about this: If you take a look at any of the other local restaurant surrounding Apple Valley’s BW3 and sample their wing offerings, you’re going to find meatier wings, better tasting sauces, and lower prices. Why is it that people are not flocking to Major’s or Rascal’s instead? They offer the same mix of ambiance and food (sports bar) but their food is quite a bit better.

Lambert points out that we’re at the start of the Tom Petters trial, and so can expect a lot of coverage. Some of the better stuff:

From the Strib: Thief of victim?
From MPR: Trial gets underway
From MSP Business Journal: Trial opens

Via Minnesota Independent: According to Cappello, Wells Fargo introduced a program in 2002 called “Loan Economics,” which gave loan officers the authority to offer discounts to loan applicants. The savings on lower fees and interest rates could be significant, ranging from $500 to as much as $10,000 per loan. The suit claims that the Los Angeles area Wells Fargo manager refused to allow loan officers operating in certain minority neighborhoods to offer the program. Borrowers in predominantly white neighborhoods were given access to the software.

Cappello said the suit stemmed from complaints by black and Hispanic loan officers for Wells Fargo, who said they asked to use the software in their branches but upper management refused.

From the Star Tribune: Four years after Abercrombie & Fitch refused to let a teenager help her autistic sister try on clothes at its Mall of America store, state officials have fined the company $115,264 for discriminating against a disabled person.

Minnesota Indepenent looks at the phenomenon of “stealth Stabucks” — debranded Starbucks that are meant to look like local coffee shops, to compete with actual local coffee shops in places where they are popular, such as Portland; they wonder if the Twin Cities might be next.

The Deets opted out of receiving the Yellow Pages last year, but, this year, it showed up again. So he decided to take things into his own hands and return it — along with a number of other Yellow Pages books he found on people’s porches — to the company headquarters. Scofflaw? Ant-spam activist? What are your thoughts?

This collection of creepy vintage ads has been making the rounds, and The Suggestion Boxer points out that one of the creepier ones, an image of a baby holding a razor to his face, was from a St. Paul company. Of course, Lileks has been looking in to creepy ads for a while, many from our local papers. So much for Minneapolis Cute.

Geek Girl’s Guide reprints a letter about a kyenote speech at TC programming event called Flashbelt that sounds as though it went very bad very quickly, thanks to the presenter making multiple and explicit sexual references onstage, in one instance at the expense of a female volunteer. Responses from fellow attendees via twitter were unsympthatic (” r u really that prudish & sexist?”; “I am sorry for the Hoss preso, but in the flash community he gets a pass”), although, to his credit, the organizer has been quick to respond with real concern.

The Strib reports: Creditors include the Bellagio and Mirage hotel-casinos in Las Vegas; Nevada State Bank; the city of Aspen, Colo.; his longtime jeweler, Royal Jewelers, and his business attorneys at Kaplan Strangis & Kaplan and Briggs & Morgan. He also owes the Minnesota Department of Revenue; Cessna Aircraft Co.; St. Croix Yacht Club; CenterPoint Energy, CrossLake Property Solutions (which cares for his $12 million properties in Cross Lake, Minn.) and Champps restaurant owner and business partner Wayne Belisle.

In fairness, I may also still owe the Ballagio for that one time I threw up in that one hallway.

It is not without some irony that Jacobs made his fortune buying bankrupt companies. He was a classic (and literal) rags-to-riches story, so I’m sure he’ll be able to pull his company through a reorganization. Sucks to be selling anything right now.

[via the Strib]: Jacobs said the credit collapse and weak economy have decimated sales of everything in Genmar’s product line, which includes 12-foot fishing boats, runabouts for water skiing and tubing and luxury yachts for millionaires in the United States and 40 other countries. The sales decline began in 2008 but has worsened in recent months, which are typically a peak sales period for Genmar and others in the boat business.