FOND DU LAC – As Fond du Lac continues to recover from a weekend of eating Thanksgiving dinner and leftovers, you can catch up on some local business news.
Fond du Lac Streetwise stories on business developments, Ripon College fundraising and holiday shopping caught the attention of readers last month as they prepared for the holiday season.
Here are the six top Streetwise stories from November.
Readers are continuously interested in the former Forest Mall property on Johnson Street currently owned by Midwest supermarket chain Meijer.
As of Nov. 5, Meijer still owns the property, but the company does not have a build date scheduled, according to Frank Guglielmi, senior director of Meijer corporate communications.
The latest story included a recap of what’s been done so far with the property, from Meijer’s initial interest in 2018 to the demolition of most of Forest Mall in 2020.
About a month after Big Lots closed in Fond du Lac, the building already started getting ready for new tenant Ollie’s Bargain Outlet.
Expected to open in the winter, the store offers discounted merchandise acquired through closeouts, overstocks, package changes and other means.
Last month, Ripon College received $20 million from an anonymous donor, the largest gift commitment in the college’s history, which helped the Forever Ripon campaign exceed its $100 million goal several months early.
The money will be used to enhance student housing and expand programming for students’ personal and academic growth.
Part of the county’s plan for the former University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Fond du Lac campus, the Prairie Theater and Event Center has started hosting local events and performances. This is the new designation for the side of the administrative building at 400 University Drive that held the Prairie Theater, commons area and library.
Chris and Jane Flieller are manager and assistant manager of the center, respectively, overseeing the rental of the theater and three gathering spaces for live performances, meetings, weddings and more. Both have theater experience, and they recently relaunched their nonprofit theater group In Tandem Theatre with a two-weekend run of “All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914” from Nov. 21 to Dec. 1.
The top “Remember When …” column of November looked at Happy’s Restaurant from the 1930s through the 1970s.
The original owners physically moved their building to North Fond du Lac in 1960, where the restaurant’s name changed to Mrs. Harden’s Restaurant.
The Happy’s Restaurant business stayed behind in Fond du Lac and reopened under new owners in a different Main Street building.
Though Small Business Saturday has passed, a Streetwise list of 14 Fond du Lac business ideas for holiday shopping may still come in handy for those wanting to shop small for the holiday season.
Created with the help of readers, the list includes a variety of spots to buy décor, jewelry, popcorn and other gifts.
Daphne Lemke is the Streetwise reporter for the Fond du Lac Reporter. Contact her at dlemke@gannett.com.
