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The spirit of competition among the drinking and eating establishments in Little Rock’s River Market District is hard to detect.
A customer sitting at the bar inside the Flying Saucer may lean over to ask the bartender to recommend another hotspot in the area. A few years ago, when the district was revving, that bartender would struggle to give an answer because there were so many options.
Nowadays, that bartender struggles with an answer because there are far fewer options.
That’s what it’s been like in the post-pandemic era of the River Market District, said Slade Wright, the assistant manager at the Flying Saucer, which celebrated the 25th anniversary of its grand opening last month. The latest series of bar closings recently has dampened morale — and there’s a need for a shot of optimism.
“You don’t want to see bars close around you,” Wright said while sipping on a cup of coffee Wednesday morning at Nexus Coffee & Creative, down the block from his bar. “If someone comes to the Flying Saucer and sees that it’s packed, they’ll want to try someplace else. But if there’s nothing else, they aren’t going to come back to the River Market at all.”
The mindset for business operators in an entertainment-driven district like the River Market is that success needs to be enjoyed by all. They like the thought of their establishment being a top dog, but it’s never a dog-eat-dog environment. All boats should be raised by a high tide of customers.
Not too long ago, the River Market was a shining example of what a downtown district should look like, said Jimmy Moses, a Little Rock-based commercial real estate developer. It was doing so well, he said, that business owners and city officials in Memphis wanted to see whether they could capture some of the same magic for its famous Beale Street Entertainment District.
“Now, Beale Street is enjoying an upward trajectory,” Moses said. “It made a comeback. What we need is for the River Market to make a comeback.”
In the wake of three bars permanently closing since January — Charlee’s Good Time Drinkery, The Library and Cannibal and Craft — there has been talk about whether the River Market District is in need of a strategy overhaul.
There are some obvious reasons for the lull. There was the covid-19 pandemic, which came on the heels of the newly designated River Market Entertainment District, a bar-dense area where patrons could walk outside with alcoholic beverages in their hand.
An ordinance allowing open containers of alcohol along a strip of President Clinton Avenue went into effect in August 2019 after an intense lobbying effort at the local and state level.
There were immediate benefits from that change, but the business community that pushed for it was playing the long game. They expected to see the full dividends the next spring and summer – a full warm-weather season of drinking outside. The pandemic prevented that.
“One of the best years we ever had was 2019,” Wright said. “Covid really stifled that momentum. Actually, no, it didn’t stifle it. It completely halted it.”
Another monkey wrench came in the form of Interstate 30 construction through Little Rock and North Little Rock, which has led to detoured routes from the interstate to downtown. That has dissuaded some from visiting the River Market District because access isn’t as easy as it was, Wright said. The construction has also affected parking. The construction project,which includes a new I-30 bridge, is scheduled to be finished in July 2025.
On top of that, the employees of so many downtown businesses, which have served as the lifeblood for so many River Market District businesses, don’t work in those high-rise offices as much as they used to. Remote-first and hybrid workforces have almost certainly had an impact on the volume of customers who visit the district, Wright said.
“I think we need to change the way we think,” Wright said. “It’s not 2013 anymore. It’s 2023.”
ATTRACTING CUSTOMERS
There is also the matter of opening a business that works.
Those bars that closed may have been doomed to fail because of a misguided concept, said Greg Robinson, owner of Rock City Eats, a blog that focuses on the city’s food and beverage businesses.
“You can’t cater to college-aged kids,” Robinson said. “That isn’t the demographic you should be going after. Little Rock is not a college town like Fayetteville.”
Robinson said the concept behind The Library, which started in Oxford, Miss., was that college students would tell their parents, “Hey, I’m going to the library,” when unbeknownst to the parents, they were headed to a local bar to drink. That joke works well in a place like Oxford, but it didn’t carry over to downtown Little Rock, Robinson said.
Additionally, a bar that serves food should serve a specialty entree or two that people want to come for, he said. It can’t be another bar that serves garden-variety bar food. Robinson said that was the problem that Cannibal and Craft, The Library and Charlee’s ran into.
“The food wasn’t anything special at those places,” Robinson said. “It wasn’t anything exceptional. It was there to fill the [Alcohol Beverage Control] requirements.”
Charlee’s, he said, occupied a space of about 7,000 square feet. The location at 500 President Clinton Ave. is owned by WEHCO Media, Inc., the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s parent company. A spokesman there said the restaurant moved out by the end of January. It stayed in business for about 13 months.
Robinson said the River Market District and its entertainment district need to do a better job of attracting locals. That’s the customer base that keeps your businesses covering the rent and overhead.
“Nexus [Coffee & Creative] does an effective job of bringing in locals, but that’s pretty much it,” he said.
By comparison, the downtown district on the other side of the Arkansas River has been very attractive to locals.
ARGENTA’S ‘PERFECT STORM’
Within walking distance of the River Market District is the Argenta Arts District – and it’s thriving.
Michael Marion is the general manager of Simmons Bank Arena and has helped oversee the surge in residents, businesses and foot traffic in the Argenta Arts District in downtown North Little Rock.
“Even when we don’t have something going on, I walk down Main Street to the Argenta section and I’m shocked at how many people are there,” Marion said.
The Argenta Arts District is less than a mile from the River Market District.
North Little Rock’s downtown prior to 1997, Marion said, was mostly empty before the arena was built. Then came Dickey-Stephens Park and a community theater.
Restaurants went up and so did housing. Marion referred to it as a “perfect storm” of good fortune and strategy, one that was made possible by a private-public partnership. Past mayors and county officials worked with the private sector to turn a 1990s ghost town into a thriving downtown with an emphasis on “real estate rejuvenation,” he said.
There is so much housing in and around the Argenta area that all of the restaurants and other businesses have a large patron pool to work with – and they have done an effective job marketing the district to those locals, Robinson said.
“The Argenta district markets itself to the local residential population,” he said. “The River Market businesses don’t do as good a job of that. They’re not trying hard enough to attract locals. That’s what you need to do to pay the rent.”
Gabe Holmstrom, executive director of the Downtown Little Rock Partnership, said the popularity of Argenta and Little Rock districts branded as East Village and SoMa, or South Main Street, is a new development that the River Market District needs to take into account to reclaim its glory days from a decade ago.
“We have to put all of that into context,” Holmstrom said. “When the River Market opened [in 1996], there was nothing else like it. There are a lot more options for people now. It needs to figure out how to stand apart again.”
Bud Hallinan of Hot Springs Village regularly visits downtown Little Rock with his girlfriend. They were having lunch Wednesday at the Flying Saucer, one of their favorite places. Hallinan said he has witnessed the area’s ebb and flow and wonders why it isn’t always flowing.
“I think what’s missing is people,” he said. “I mean, this place has a beautiful riverfront. The city needs to attract more people and figure out a way to get them to live here. Real estate is what matters for a place like this.”
OTTENHEIMER MARKET HALL
The anchor for the district has been Ottenheimer Market Hall, a food court-style venue that winds down early in the day – something that area business operators have bemoaned. The offerings aren’t as plentiful as they were years ago, and that also is a consequence of the pandemic, which caused it to be closed for about 10 months.
“It’s just a mishmash in there,” Moses said. “It’s the heart and soul of the neighborhood, and because it’s weakened so much, it needs to be revamped. The whole area will continue to struggle until it is fixed.
“There are good folks who have operations and businesses in there, but I still have to be honest about what we’ve got going on there, and it isn’t good,” he continued. “It’s a problem and we need to address it.”
He pointed out that the current iteration of the Ottenheimer Market Hall is a lunch spot. When it started, he said, it was a daylong attraction with more variety.
“It’s too big of space and too important of a space for it to only be open for two or three hours,” he said.
The venue is operated by the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Libby Lloyd, a spokeswoman for the bureau, said the plan is to reinvent Ottenheimer Market Hall. The city is soliciting bids from firms to do that job.
The city’s Tourism Master Plan — conducted by JLL, a Chicago-based commercial real estate consulting firm — addresses what to do about the River Market District’s centerpiece.
“The vision [for the market hall] is for a culinary attraction that will attract both visitors, downtown workers and residents from across Little Rock,” the plan states.
The venue might also include live music, extended hours and days of operation and a license to sell alcoholic beverages, according to the plan.
All of the above is needed, Holmstrom said.
“Really, we should be talking about changing the market hall’s appearance and changing how that space is being used and what times it should be used,” he said. “When you bring a new concept in there that’s friendly for the evening hours, that’s going to have to include an alcohol license.”
Lloyd said a study was conducted in 2019, one that suggested a $3.6 million redesign of the market hall. The bureau started making a push for private interest and funding, but those efforts were derailed, at least partially, because of the covid-19 pandemic, she said.
But there is a renewed urgency to revamp the hall, she said.
POTENTIAL SEEN
Robinson said a couple of the issues in the River Market District can easily be addressed.
Crime, for starters, can be reduced with more police patrols.
“Crime is a pretty fixable thing if the city devotes resources to it,” he said. “It’s just a matter of putting more boots on the ground. It’s three blocks, so it’s really not that hard.”
Wright, who lives downtown, insisted that he has never felt unsafe living and working in the River Market District.
Moses said there was a time 30 years ago when the area was far from safe. If the life of a small section of downtown is measured by businesses and visitors, then the area now known as the River Market had no heartbeat whatsoever.
“When we started working on the River Market in earnest during the early 1990s, it was a public effort incorporated with a private effort,” he said. “Let’s just say that area has changed dramatically.
“We’ve seen the River Market have its ups and downs over the years,” he continued. “We’re in a down period now, sadly.”
It hasn’t been bleak for everyone. The upscale restaurant offerings in the district — including Cache Restaurant and Sonny Williams’ Steak Room — have continued to remain solvent. That’s because they are ideal spots for the 25-to-50 demographic, which is who the district needs to focus on, Moses said. The area doesn’t need more bars and clubs for the 20-something crowd, he insisted.
Marion said he thinks the River Market District can enjoy a similarly sustained rejuvenation as Argenta has because it’s happened there before.
The River Market District has bar and restaurant offerings, a market hall, a riverfront amphitheater, museums — even a streetcar. It has too much going for it for the slump to last long, he said.
“They’re right there, if you ask me,” Marion said. “It’s not like they have a long way to go. A tweak here and there and things should get better for them.”
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