Museum of Clean opens in Pocatello

I find this more than a little ironic.

Last month, Pocatello was voted the “dirtiest city in America” by a Web site called Alice.com. The ranking was based on nationally compiled sales figures for stuff like Lysol, Tide, Tidy Bowl or whatever.

I questioned it then and on Friday, as if by magic, Pocatello’s Museum of Clean opened to the public.

Located in the old six-story Salt Lake Hardware building at 702 South First Avenue, in Pocatello's old warehouse district, the museum offers visitors the opportunity to immerse themselves in the history of housework, even back to Ancient Egypt. (It seems that neat freaks have always been with us, just not at my house.) The very first vacuums are on display, as well as an exhibit of toilet seats through the ages.

Five years in the making, the museum comes from the mind of Don Aslett, founder of Varsity Contractors, a veteran of more than 50 years in the cleaning business and the author of 40 books.

A self-described urinal colonel, porcelain preacher and king of the toilet ring, Aslett told local news reporters that the point of museum is “selling the value of clean."

"I think the word clean is more important than any word except for probably faith," he said. "And we're talking about the scope of it: clean water, clean air, clean sheets, clean floors; everything clean is beautiful.”
http://www.museumofclean.com/wp/

INL parent company gets airtime on NPR

Battelle Technology, parent company of Battelle Energy Alliance, the contractor for the Idaho National Laboratory, got a nice shout-out on National Public Radio this morning. For those of you who didn't hear it, here's a link:
http://www.npr.org/2011/11/21/142583959/youre-probably-using-battelle-technology-and-dont-even-know-it

Mangini's Take and Bake marks birthday, plans move

Saturday marks the second anniversary of Mangini's Take and Bake Pizza, with big changes planned in the next few months.

Mangini's Take and Bake owner Leo O'Ryan

Even though the price of cheese has been skyrocketing, Owner Leo O'Ryan said business has been good enough since they opened Nov. 19, 2009, that they are moving from 525 Second Street to a bigger location at 531 Lomax Avenue.

A sign is already at the new location, but O'Ryan said it could be late December before they move. "There are a lot of details that need to be taken care of," he said.

The new store will be almost double the size, and O'Ryan plans to gradually expand the menu to include pasta dishes. The biggest advantage of moving will be the traffic. Going by the city's traffic count, 6,500 cars will pass by on Lomax every day, and on North Holmes Avenue, where they will have a sign, the count is 7,000.

How many cars drive by the Second Street store? "Sixty, probably. I've never counted and don't think the city ever would," O'Ryan said.

Ammon retail center moving forward

Work is proceeding on Comfort Construction's 11,000-square-foot retail strip center at 3379 E. 17^th Street, next door to Ace Hardware. Developer Dean Mortimer has three tenants lined up, Domino’s Pizza, Subway and Salon Suites. The project is slated to be finished in May 2012.

Domino’s will own its own part of the building, while Subway will lease. Salon Suites, another one of Mortimer’s companies, leases beauty salon and massage therapy spaces to contractors who want to operate on their own.

By the numbers

In the interest of posting content on this blog every day, here's something that might be of interest to BizMojo Idaho readers.

We can speculate, opine, whine or whatever, but when it comes to development, numbers tell the story. These are the city of Idaho Falls' Jan.-Oct. building permit numbers for the past six years:

No Trader Joe's anytime soon

A quick update on the "specialty grocery" news from yesterday, which hit like lightning and elicited quite a few comments on Facebook. We all love to ponder possibilities, and the most excitement seemed to be over whether Trader Joe's might be interested in locating here.

Before we go on, let me say that easy access to Two Buck Chuck would probably not be a good thing for me (although in its absence I have embraced Foxhorn Cabernet Sauvignon, which sells for $5.85 a 1.5 liter bottle at WinCo. It's Australian, with a screwtop, but I swear if you decanted it and served it at dinner your guests would rave about it. I recommend it highly for a "house red," if you're looking for one.)

Anyway, in the service of enquiring minds I called Trader Joe's headquarters in Monrovia, Calif., and spoke to Amy in customer service. She would not tell me her last name (company policy), but she did they me they eventually plan to come Idaho. Now for the bad news. It won't be anytime soon. "We're expanding into several states, but we do it a year-and-a-half at a time and (Idaho's) not on the list right now," she said.

Another possibility mentioned yesterday, at the other end of the spectrum, is Sav-a-Lot, more of a WinCo style store. One reader asked, "Why would they come when WinCo and Sam's Club are already here?" To which I answer, why do Lowe's and Home Depot more often than not build right next to each other?

Regardless of who's coming and when, the purpose of this blog is to stay on top of these things and build readership by encouraging endless speculation. So hang in there, readers.

Albiston named new EITC president

Steve Albiston will take over as president of Eastern Idaho Technical College at the beginning of 2012, replacing Burton Waite, who announced his retirement earlier this year.

The announcement came Wednesday afternoon, slightly more than a month after Albiston, EITC’s vice-president for instruction and student affairs, was named as one of five finalists for the job.

“We had a strong pool of applicants,” said EITC Presidential Search Committee Chair Emma Atchley of Ashton.

Other members of the search committee included:
Christian Godfrey -- faculty representative, EITC
Ken Erickson -- workforce development/staff representative EITC
Sharon Parry -- Idaho Falls City Council, former school board member District 91
Lyle Castle -- Dean, Idaho State University, University Place, Idaho Falls
Bobbi Crosser -- Director, Professional-Technical Education Programs, District 93
Daniel Turner -- Student Body President, EITC
Jeff Thompson -- Idaho State Legislature, District 33
Michael Clark -- EITC Advisory Board, INL
Vera McCrink -- Deputy Administrator, State of Idaho Division of Professional-Technical Education