Ramsey’s closure exemplifies challenges for local businesses

As employees still question what happened, the fallout from the closing of Ramsey’s American Grill on Thursday (see related story) is making a number of people in Maricopa wonder what other businesses may be facing when it comes to survivability.

A note on the door at the establishment on Thursday read that the landlord, Barclay Group, had placed a lien on the property. Calls to Deborah Fry of Barlcay Group for more details on the closing Thursday were not returned.

Mayor Kelly Anderson said he has a lot of questions on just what happened.

“Ramsey (Harkness) does a good job supporting the community,” Anderson said. “It is time for the community to step up, shop locally and spend the tax dollars here.” Anderson added that he doesn’t know the particulars in the closing of the restaurant; however he anticipated talking to Harkness in the next day or so.

Anderson said he believes Maricopa needs to do more helping businesses with their plans, especially those who are running a business for the first time. “Many of them need a helping hand,” Anderson said.

On a personal note, Anderson said he dined at Ramsey’s three to four times a week. “You always feel welcomed there,” Anderson added.

City of Maricopa Management Assistant Danielle Casey said there are economic development initiatives in place to assist existing businesses.

“Last October, Maricopa’s Economic Development Department kicked off its Business Retention and Expansion program, aimed at keeping existing businesses in the area and assisting in their growth,” Casey said. “The BRE program consists of conducting one-on-one interviews with business owners, following up with any information or special assistance needed. Assistance can range from providing additional information about networking opportunities in the community to working to recruit requested ancillary business services to the area. The data collected can be analyzed and used to identify early warning signs, or in identifying companies that could rapidly expand production with the help of additional space or perhaps venture capital financing.”

Casey noted that this past spring, through partnership with the Central Arizona Regional Economic Development Foundation, Maricopa became a member of the statewide “Building Bridges to Businesses” program sponsored by Arizona Public Service. Membership in this program has established an ongoing business retention and expansion strategy aimed at helping to develop and grow local business in the Maricopa community. The program provides a database tool, data analysis and interview training, materials and guidebooks for conducting business interviews at no cost to member communities.

“In continued partnership with the Maricopa Chamber of Commerce, the city is dedicated to ongoing communication efforts with all members of the local business community, the foundation of Maricopa’s economy,” Casey said.

For employees and patrons of Ramsey’s, though, it appears to be too little, too late.

U.S. Bar Poker owner Chris Kirkpatrick had to move quickly Thursday as a poker night at Ramsey’s had to be canceled. Kirkpatrick had poker nights at Ramsey’s on Mondays and Thursdays since early in 2006.

“We’d get anywhere from 40 to 60 people on a night,” Kirkpatrick said. “I found out yesterday afternoon of the closing and I had to scramble to try and figure everything out. We were just surprised. We had tournaments at other venues Thursday night, so people went to them if they wanted to play.”

Kirkpatrick said he had no idea the closing was coming.

“It is just odd because I talked to a number of people that worked there; nobody knew this was coming,” Kirkpatrick said. “He (Harkness) just redid his menus, remodeled the building. He’s been spending money, money, money, so it just doesn’t make sense to me. He was working on an event for a month or month and a half out, so if that is what he was planning, it tells me he didn’t know this was coming. If you have an inkling you may be shut down on Thursday, you’re not going to be planning an event two months out. It just doesn’t make sense.”

Kirkpatrick, who noted he is looking at some other establishments to host the poker nights, said he has a member base of poker players in Maricopa of more than 200 people. The players range in age from 21 to 60.

Joel Langer, general manager at Native New Yorker, 21164 N. John Wayne Parkway, said he was surprised with the closing of Ramsey’s.

“I was surprised about the money issue,” Langer said referring to speculation that financial issues prompted the closing. “I thought it was going to be about the liquor license.”

Ramsey’s liquor license was due to expire on Aug. 31, 2007; however, Harkness apparently did not file renewal papers.

Until late Friday, Harkness had not returned several phone calls to inmaricopa.com asking why the restaurant was closed and why employees were not notified ahead of time.

His manager, Rich Reeves, had to find out through a fellow employee on Thursday that the establishment was closed and he did not have to report for his 4 p.m. shift.

“We had a lot of crossover customers with Ramsey’s,” Langer noted. “I think we’ll see some extra business from this (closing), but no one wants to see anyone lose their business.”

“I think there are too many restaurants right now,” Langer continued. “I don’t think the population has boomed to what everybody thought it would be. I hear there are more people leaving than coming.”

Langer said Native New Yorker has consistently grown, but they have their ups and downs like any other business. He added that he could see a few more restaurants coming to town; however that will just cut the same pie in smaller pieces.

Photo by Dave Thomas