Bobbie’s Kitchen, on South Sixth Street in Brainerd, is closed and the building offered for sale. The restaurant is on a busy corner at Willow and South Sixth streets. Roberta Jane Lewis bought the restaurant in 2005, based on Crow Wing County land records. The restaurant was previously home to Lou’s Dairy Way and owned by Lou and Alice Carlson. The restaurant has had a few different operators over the years.
The business operated as KatiAnn’s Diner for a time, closing about 2001. In 2002, it became the Dairy Sweet with about 38 diner seats and additional counter seating.
As Black Friday deals, some already in place, begin with the month of November, keep in mind a little spending at a local business goes a long way to help lakes area neighbors who have struggled through the pandemic, particularly small businesses on the retail side, service industry and restaurant business. The effort helps keep businesses and jobs and a vibrant local economy in the lakes area and that has ripple effects to the numerous other companies who count small businesses as their customers.
A lot of the local small businesses have an online shopping presence as well. We know shoppers who were already trending in that direction will continue to seek out those options this winter. Curbside service, which has continued with many stores and has become even easier with phone check-in and designated parking, will likely become prominent again. There are opportunities to support local small businesses and provide gifts based on activities to do, services to get or gifts that aren’t found everywhere. Even if shoppers just put some of their normal online shopping to help local businesses, it could make the difference for them this year. So keep shopping local in mind this season when it is more important than ever.
Netflix is raising its fees by $1 and $2. Bloomberg reported: “Netflix raised prices for its most-popular plan for the second time in two years, betting subscribers are willing to pay more for a huge library of shows and movies as the pandemic rages on.”
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Netflix has lots of competition but Bloomberg notes it is the world's largest streaming video service. Subscribers will pay $14 for the main subscription with high definition, for a $1 increase, and pay subscription by $1, to $14 a month. The subscription price for ultra high definition, or 4K, went up by $2 to $18 a month. The entry-level tier didn’t change at $9. Netflix has more than 195 million subscribers worldwide.
"We're updating our prices so that we can continue to offer more variety of TV shows and films," the company said in a statement. "As always, we offer a range of plans so that people can pick a price that works best for their budget."
For shareholders, that’s good news. “Netflix shares rose as much as 5.7% on the news and finished Thursday's session up 3.7% to $504.21. The stock is up 56% this year,” Bloomberg reported. There was concern among stock watchers that Netflix would lose value, looking at the competition and at the costs it is paying to produce original content.
But the increase in the stock price is negating some of those concerns, no doubt fueled in part by more people staying home and needing distraction and Netflix’s efforts to curtail the number of accounts that aren’t paying but are going past the subscription agreement and sharing their accounts with more people outside their household members than are allowed by the agreement.
New shows coming for Netflix include season four of the popular “The Crown” series.
Renee Richardson, managing editor, may be reached at 218-855-5852 or renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/DispatchBizBuzz.
