Kiger's Notebook

Crowds turn out to say goodbye to McMurphy's, Aquarius

Here's a bit more on the last night of Aquarius/ McMurphy's:

"It has been a good run," says Tom Murphy as he sat in his office on his 1,546th Saturday night - his last one - at McMurphy's/ Aquarius. "I have been very fortunate."

Crowds turned out tonight to say good-bye to two of the most popular bars as well as the largest ones in Rochester.

In the Aquarius Club, people continued to stream in even with the cover at $15.

Former waitresses, DJs, shot girls and many other employees from the past turned out for the last night.

"It is the end of an era," said Leah Van Dorn, who worked at the bars for four years.

McMurphy's fans celebrate one last time

Here's a little bit of what is going on at the closing night of McMurphy's/ Aquarius, two of Rochester's most popular and oldest bars.

I was just out there for a while earlier and I am going back out soon.

Look for more on this on Postbulletin.com this weekend and in print Monday.

The mood at McMurphy's Sports Cafe tonight - its last night - feels like a family reunion.

Cameras flashing. Lots of hugs being given. Most of the stories being told begin with, "Remember when…?"

"I've had a lot of good times here," said Matt Bjergum as he sat at the bar with friends tonight.

For 15 years, he spent many St. Patrick's Days and New Year's Eves at McMurphy's as well as many nights watching sports.

On its closing night, lots of regulars and former regulars showed up for McMurphy's send-off.

"It is a lot of fun tonight to see lots of people here I haven't seen in years," he said.

For Jay Walker, his memories focused on his years as the "voice of the Vikings" at McMurphy's. His goal on Vikings football game days was to fire up the McMurphy' crowd.

"It is the best job in the world," he said sitting amid the Saturday night revelers.

He has worked at the bar since 1991, starting as a DJ during Happy Hour at McMurphy's.

Why has McMurphy's been so popular for so long?

"It is locally-owned with a type of Cheers-like atmosphere," Walker says. "It is a cliché, but everyone here really does know your name."

Next season, he plans to be at the new Dooley's being built in downtown Rochester watching the Vikings.

"It is a great place. It os hard to put into words. I hope it continues at Dooley's," he said.

End of the age of Aquarius

Here's the piece I have in today's paper about last call at the pair of Rochester bars, Aquarius/McMurphy's.

And I'm on duty Saturday, so I'll be there Saturday night for the last rounds. If you are or know a fan/employee/former employee of Aquarius/McMurphy's, I'd like to hear people's thoughts on this and their memories.

I'd also like to know where Aquarius/McMurphy's regulars plan to be next weekend.

The age of Aquarius and McMurphy's Sports Cafe, in Rochester, will come to an end Saturday night

Since Tom Murphy first built Dooley's Lounge and Grill on the site at 12th Street and Marion Road Southeast in 1977, it's been a Rochester night-life legend. Later, the attached Aquarius Night Club was built with its spaceship-style entrance, and Dooley's was re-named McMurphy's.

Murphy is changing his focus from the southeast Rochester bars to a new sports grill in downtown. He's naming it Dooley's in a tip of the hat to the bar that opened 33 years ago. He hopes to open the new place on First Avenue Southwest in May.

After the 2 a.m. closing time on Sunday, Aquarius and McMurphy's will get a facelift and a new feel. Darren Groteboer, of Rochester, and Ken Nash, of Minneapolis, will take control of the space. They have owned the buildings that house the bars for five years. The combined bars will be under one name, which has yet to be determined, said Groteboer.

Fans of both bars have been posting nostalgic goodbyes on McMurphy's Facebook page. A celebration is planned for Saturday at McMurphy's, with free hors d'oeuvres from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

While many patrons and longtime staff members have fond memories of nights at the two bars, the businesses have also attracted controversy with fights and a shooting near it in recent years.

That reputation has made closing time at Aquarius/McMurphy's a regular part of Rochester police patrols and the newly formed chapter of Guardian Angels.

A few rays of sun amid the clouds - State of Manufacturing report

Here's some from my piece on the State of Manufacturing report released Wednesday:

Minnesota manufacturers still see plenty of clouds on the economic horizon, but the sun is starting to shine.

That's the gist of the State of Manufacturing study done by Enterprise Minnesota, the  state manufacturing association.

"This year we saw more of a true optimism compared to the cautious hopefulness of last year," Enterprise CEO Bob Kill told a group of about 20 regional manufacturers Wednesday in the meeting room of Rochester's Hardcore Computer.

"We're calling it 'sunshine on a cloudy day,' that's the term I came up with, because 'guarded optimism' was getting kind of old," he said.

For the study, the association interviewed 500 manufacturing executives during two weeks in January. It also includes discussions for 13 focus groups from across the state, including ones in Winona and Mankato.

Overall, the study found more executives anticipating growth for the coming year than in the 2009 poll. Statewide, 26 percent forecast economic expansion in 2010 compared to 8 percent in 2009.

However, 53 percent expect 2010 to be flat economically. That is an improvement from the 56 percent that expected 2009 to be in a recession.

Executives for firms that make everything from tractors to waste containers to medical devices also were more positive about their companies' profitability in 2010 than they were in 2009.

The study found 21 percent expected profits to grow by more than 10 percent and 15 percent expect an increase of less than 10 percent. The dim outlook for 2009 had only 9 percent of executives projecting a more than 10 percent increase and 8 percent expecting increases less than that.

Still, 45 percent expect profit levels to stay flat compared to the previous year. In 2009, 48 percent predicted that.

"People feel better, but it is still a bumpy road ahead," Kill said.

Mayo Clinics posts $333M recovery in 2009

Here's a little bit from my piece on Mayo Clinic's 2009 financial report in today's paper as well as a couple additional comments from the presentation by CFO Jeff Bolton, CEO Dr. John Noseworthy and Chief Administration Officer Shirley Weis:

• Hiring expectations for 2010? "Essentially flat," said Weis.

• What about the wage freeze of 2009? Thawing out with pay raises returning. "Market-based wage adjustments in the 4 percent range" is how Bolton characterized the increases.

• Look for capital spending on facilities to bounce back some in 2010. In 2009, Mayo spent about $369 million on capital spending on buildings and such in 2009. Bolton says previously that number was in the $500 million to $600 million range. He says capital spending will gradually return to that level over the next few years.

Early version of today's article:

After cutting costs and streamlining operations to recover from a break-even 2008, Mayo Clinic officials this morning announced the efforts had succeeded, with a 2009 income of $333 million. Revenues increased by 5 percent, while expenses climbed by 0.4 percent.

Mayo Clinic's financial report, released Thursday morning, showed total revenue was $7.58 billion in 2009, up by about $360 million from 2008.

Staff reductions of about 1,000 employees primarily through attrition, as well as a variety of other cost-cutting measures, resulted in expenses rising just $27 million to $7.25 billion.

Mayo Clinic had 55,930 employees at all of its campuses in 2009. That's down from 56,964 in 2008. Staff numbers in the Midwest, including Rochester, declined by 596 employees from 2008 to 2009, to 46,263.

Mayo Clinic officials said Thursday that they were pleased with the 4.4-percent profit margin in 2009. They lauded staff for streamlining operations and being innovative.

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Noted national health care economic expert Jeffrey C. Bauer, of ACS Healthcare Solutions in Chicago, said this morning that the report shows that Mayo followed "the clear financial prescription" that was issued last year.

"I think Mayo, as always, has maintained its position as an exemplary health care delivery system in the United States by succeeding at doing what everyone said had to be done a year ago," Bauer said.

Mayo successfully reduced its health-care production costs at a time when doing that is a national concern, he said.

Chiropractic clinic opens in N.E. Roch.

Northeast Rochester has a little more backbone these days

Chiropractor Dr. Michael Mai opened M.A.I Spine Center last week in the Wellner Drive Center near Jenpachi Japanese Steak House.

It is staffed by two — a doctor and an assistant.

The 1,550-square-foot office in Suite 103 at 3160 Wellner Drive N.E. is Mai's fourth Minnesota clinic. He also has ones in Richfield, Brooklyn Park and St. Paul.

"We felt we needed to have a clinic in Rochester. We have many patients that have been commuting all the way up to Richfield," Mai says.

He says one thing that sets his clinics apart is that the staff speak a variety of Asian languages.

The Rochester clinic staff speaks Hmong and Laotian. Mai speaks Vietnamese.
"That offers some comfort to many of our patients," he says.

Do you come here often? Liquor @ Walmart South

 Here's the follow-up to the earlier tease about a new retail liquor option coming to south Rochester.

South Rochester shoppers looking for a bottle of something stronger than soda will soon have a new option in a familiar location.

The south Wal-Mart Supercenter is adding an enclosed retail alcohol department in the front of the store, says Lisa Nelson, senior manager of public affairs for the division.

The store is in the Broadway Commons shopping area.

The liquor store is going where Premier Bank previously had a branch. The Premier branch closed in January.

Nelson did not have a target opening date for the new department.

Mayo Clinic to roll out 2009 financials

Wondering how Mayo Clinic fared during 2009?

You won't have to wait long to have that question answered.

At 10 a.m. Thursday, Dr. John Noseworthy, Shirley Weis and Jeff Bolton will report the numbers for 2009 and answer questions.

Hormel dogs in L.A., but not Minn.

In case you missed it this morning, Austin, Minn.-based Hormel Foods has plugged the plug on its deal to serve up Hormel Hot Dogs at Minnesota Twins games.

Here's some from Tim Ruzek's story on the deal:

The corporate split comes as the Twins prepare to open their first season in Target Field, an open-air ballpark in downtown Minneapolis that replaces the Metrodome, the team's home for nearly three decades.

In 2001, Hormel began a partnership with the Twins that has consisted of supplying Dome Dogs  at Twins games as well as other promotional opportunities, said Julie Craven, Hormel's vice president of corporate communications, in a written response.

Hormel hot dogs won't be available at Twins home games in 2010, Craven said. A final decision is pending on what Hormel products will be offered at Target Field, she said, adding that Hormel has a "robust portfolio of products that are sold at sports venues throughout the United States."

Hormel hot dogs have played a prominent food role at Twins home games in the Metrodome, including Hormel Dollar-A-Dog Night on Wednesdays and the Hormel Hot Dog Row of Fame...

Craven's written statement that Hormel products "are sold at sports venues throughout the United States."That's true. While you won't be able to get a Hormel hot dog at a Minnesota Twins game this season, you will still be able to get one (Hormel-owned, anyway) while watching the L.A. Dodgers play in California.

In 2005, Hormel bought Clougherty Packing, a southern California pork processor and the creator of Farmer John brand pork products, for $186 million

Farmer John makes Dodger Dogs that are sold at all Dodger games.

No Hormel dogs at Minnesota games, but you can get them in L.A.? Hhhmmmm....

More on Walgreens North and International Buffet

Here's more detail on the Walgreens North and International Buffet project:

A new Walgreens is expected to open by the end of the year on Civic Center Drive and 11th Avenue Northwest. The International Buffet at the busy corner has closed and soon will be demolished to make way for construction of the planned 7,000-square-foot store.

"The project has passed all city approvals. We will probably start demolition in the next 30 to 45 days," says Howard Bergerud, president of Semper Development of Minneapolis.

Semper will build and own the store, and Walgreens will lease it from Semper.

On Feb. 11, Semper bought the property for almost $2.4 million from Les Nelson of Clear Lake, Iowa, who owns many Rochester commercial buildings. Nelson bought the site in 2004 for $1.2 million.

The restaurant leased the building, formerly a Blockbuster Video store, from Nelson.

In addition to the International Buffet building, four housing units directly behind the restaurant will also be demolished.

Bergerud says all of the buildings are expected be empty by the end of this month.

This will be second Rochester store owned by the largest drug store chain in the U.S. The first one, which marked the re-appearance of the Walgreens name in Rochester after an absence of decades, opened last November in the new Crossroads Plaza commercial center on South Broadway.

Expect the north store to pretty much mirror its older sibling on the south side.

"It is very similar in size with the same kind of drive-through, same size parking lot and same interiors," Bergerud says. "The only major difference is its location within the city."

Once demolition has cleared the Civic Center site, he expects construction will start as soon as possible.

"Work will probably finish by Oct. 1, and then fixtures and stock will be brought in," he said. "It will probably open in November, like the south store did."

Typically Walgreens leases the building for up to 75 years, but the corporation does have first option to buy the store after it is completed.

It is unclear if the International Buffet restaurant will re-open in another location. Owner Liu Yong Hao, who opened the buffet at that spot in 2007, said last year that he would look for a location. He was unavailable for comment for this story.