A Sam's Club and Academy Sports are among anchors of a new 400,000-square-foot shopping center to open at the southeast corner of Interstate 40 and Dave Ward Drive in Conway.
The $65 million development will be called Lewis Crossing Shopping Center and also will include Ross Dress For Less, Bed Bath & Beyond, Michaels Arts and Crafts, Ulta, Petco, Dollar Tree, Aspen Dental, AT&T and David's Burgers.
A fall 2016 opening is planned by Charlotte, N.C.-based Collette. Roger Cole of Elrod Real Estate in Little Rock is the leasing agent.
3rd LR-area Newk's added in expansion
The fast-casual Newk's Eatery will open its third Little Rock-area restaurant Monday as the Jackson, Miss.-based company expands north and west into Arkansas and south into Louisiana. The new Little Rock location is at 11610 Pleasant Ridge Road, Suite 100, off Cantrell Road.
Other central Arkansas locations are in North Little Rock, midtown Little Rock and in Hot Springs. Newk's franchisees also have a store in Jonesboro and eventually will have three in Fayetteville. All told, there are about 85 locations in 13 states.
Newk's menu features made-from-scratch soups, fresh salads, artisan pizzas, toasted sandwiches and desserts.
Alan Wright, chief marketing officer for the company, said Newk's considers Arkansas a "foodie-friendly state."
"Arkansas for us, and Little Rock in particular, is a very coveted market for company-owned restaurants," Wright said.
The company plans to have 200 stores open by the end of 2018.
State index up 8.40 as 17 stocks climb
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, gained 8.40 to 319.46 Wednesday.
"U.S. stocks finally bounced higher on Wednesday, ending at the highs for the day as China volatility continued to be the main focus," said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. "The Arkansas Index shot higher as 17 stocks advanced and one declined."
P.A.M. Transportation jumped 5.2 percent in light trading.
Four more Arkansas stocks rose more than 4 percent each -- Bank of the Ozarks, ArcBest, Dillard's and Home BancShares.
Total volume of the index was 28.4 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 08/27/2015