Keefer’s Island plans grand opening Thursday

William and Eldora Keefer and their children in the early 20th century. Twins Fred and Frank are on either side of their parents. (Photo courtesy Museum of Idaho)

When the crew at the Shilo Inn were looking for a new name for their catering business, all it took was a look out the window, where Keefer’s Island sits right in the middle of the Snake River.

Formerly O’Callahan’s, Keefer’s Island Restaurant and Catering will be having its grand opening Thursday, starting with a ribbon cutting by the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber Ambassadors at 10 a.m.

Complimentary breakfast Danishes and beverages will be served.

In the evening at 6, there will be Champagne, hors d’oeuvres, dinner and drink specials, and live music by Happyville (the band in which I play guitar, if you don’t know that already.) For the historically minded, there will be a display of items from the Keefer Family Collection, provided by the Museum of Idaho.

The Keefers were one of the most important families in Idaho Falls’ history. William W. Keefer came to town with the Utah & Northern Railroad, and once the bridge and shops were built he decided to stay. With a developer's eye, he began buying real estate.

Keefer was a builder and a brewer, and his most lasting impact may have been on the Snake River itself. In 1909, he and his twin sons, Fred and Frank, built a dam and retaining wall north of Broadway, creating the actual falls and providing water for hydropower generation.

Fred and Frank were the most colorful of William and Eldora Keefer’s seven children, and it was Fred who filed a mineral claim on the island in the Snake below John’s Hole, then built a cabin. In 1962, he deeded it to the city of Idaho Falls on condition that the cabin stayed and that the island be called Keefer’s Island.

The menu features American cuisine, new and traditional, burgers, seafood and southern-style cuisine. Breakfast, brunch and buffets are served, and its hours are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. The lounge is open until 1 a.m.

For more information, call 523-1818. For catering, 523-4318.

Local gasoline prices edging lower

Just like many of you, I've been waiting to see local gas prices nose below $3 a gallon, and today it looks like we have a winner. The Tesoro station at 125 S. 25th East has regular unleaded listed at $2.919 a gallon.

Don't everybody head out there at once. Although we have been lagging behind other parts of the country -- on Tuesday, Idaho gas prices were reported the seventh highest in the nation -- we can expect lower prices between now and the end of the year, said Dave Carlson, AAA Idaho spokesman.

Today, the nation's average is $2.76 -- 52 cents less than a year ago and the lowest average price since the 2010 holiday season.
 
Even some parts of Idaho have been following suit. Last Tuesaday, the average price per gallon in Coeur d'Alene on Tuesday was $2.80, and in neighboring Post Falls, typically higher than in Coeur d'Alene, it was $2.79. In Idaho Falls, however, it was more in line with the statewide the average of $3.06.

I know some of you have been tearing your hair over this, but let's keep things in perspective. This is the lowest price since February 2011 and 71 cents cheaper than it was on Labor Day.

"Lower pump prices should be around for a while," Carlson said. "Gas prices are down thanks to lower oil prices, weak demand here and abroad and plentiful unconstrained gas and oil supplies."

On the global front, Saudi Arabia's oil minister told fellow OPEC members on Thursday it was a bad idea to cut output. The Saudi view is to keep the spigot turned on in order to undermine the profitability of North American producers. This strategy could work over time. It costs the Saudis a lot less to get their oil from desert compared to the highly involved fracking process American producers have been using. But we're likely to see oil prices to continue dropping.

Carlson said Idaho's Idaho prices have stayed higher on the national scale because there is less incentive for retailers to cut prices. "An isolated market means less competitive factors," he said.

Also, any retailer who has bought gas at a higher wholesale price has to keep the price higher to make any sort of margin. It the station across the road gets a new shipment at a lower rack price, that's when the first retailer is more likely to slash prices in order to stay competitive.

Melaleuca moves to new headquarters; open house still pending

The empty parking lot at Melaleuca's old office building on South Yellowstone Highway.

Melaleuca, Inc., moved its operations last week from South Yellowstone Highway to its new $50 million complex near Interstate 15 Exit 113, but there are a lot of finishing touches to be made.

Company spokesman Anthony Lima said employees are settling in, but many of the common areas still need to be finished. He estimated the work could take another few weeks and that an open house may come after the first of the year.

Melaleuca broke ground nearly two years ago on its 371,000-square-foot corporate headquarters nearly triple in size of the office space it was occupying. The new location puts it closer to the company's research and development building and warehouse.

The stage for expansion was set in July 2012 with the announcement of a $399,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to Bonneville County for sewer line extensions, a lift station and roadway widening. Melaleuca contributed $1 million of its own money to the project, bringing its total infrastructure investment in the area to $2.3 million.

At the time of the groundbreaking, Melaleuca CEO Frank VanderSloot said he expected the project to result in new jobs, but declined to estimate how many. Melaleuca passed $1 billion in annual sales in 2011. The company makes and distributes close to 350 health and wellness products through a network of "marketing executives" who earn commissions based on product purchases by customers they refer.

Although the majority of Melaleuca’s business growth has been in the United States and Canada, global sales accounted for 45 percent of the company's 2013 revenues. Melaleuca does business in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, the Bahamas, Jamaica, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Broulim's confirmed as Sandcreek Commons tenant

Broulim's first store, on Rigby's Main Street.

Ball Ventures and Woodbury Corp., the developers of the Sandcreek Commons shopping center in Ammon, confirmed today that regional grocer Broulim’s will be one of the anchor tenants, joining Cabela’s and Hobby Lobby.

The new grocery store will be constructed near Cabela’s off Hitt and Sunnyside Road. It will be roughly 60,000 square feet and the company’s plan is for it to open in spring 2016.

Broulim’s is a family-owned grocery chain founded by Charlie Broulim with the first store opening on Rigby’s Main Street in 1922. The Ammon grocery location will be the tenth store for the chain. Broulim’s has stores around eastern Idaho and western Wyoming, including Rexburg, Driggs, Afton and Montpelier. The Ammon store will add roughly 100 jobs, taking the company workforce to well over 900.

The new location in Ammon isn’t the first time Broulim’s has served the Idaho Falls’ area. “My grandfather Charlie Broulim and his brother actually opened a store in Idaho Falls in 1928. It was the first store in Idaho Falls to include a bakery,” said company president Robert Broulim. “We are excited to be returning to the Idaho Falls area. This is an opportunity we have been looking forward to for many years.”

Eric Isom, Ball Ventures’ chief development officer, called Broulim’s an ideal fit for the new Ammon retail center. “We have enjoyed working with such a respected Idaho company and are pleased to be part of bringing them to Sandcreek Commons.”

Sandcreek Commons is a 40-acre development located in Ammon, currently home to Zions Bank and Wendy’s. D.L. Evans Bank is building a branch, and Mountain America Credit Union filed site plans this week to build a location next to Wendy’s. Overall, the plan is for a mixed-use development with retail, restaurant and other uses. For more information, call (208) 523-3794 or visit ballventures.com.

A map of the Sandcreek Commons Shopping Center (click to enlarge)

Idaho Falls company sells mermaid tails worldwide

Fin Fun's seven mermaid princesses (from left): Brynn, Zoey, Destiny, Crystal, Jia, Waverlee and Serena

Landlocked Idaho Falls is the last place you might expect to find mermaids, but a local company has turned one young girl’s fascination into a global enterprise.

Fin Fun, a company with its headquarters on Sunnyside Road, is now shipping mermaid tails and suits to 86 countries. The company has grown to 40 people, and has 100 seamstresses spread out across the upper Snake River Valley, from Blackfoot to Rexburg.

“Our market is little girls all over the world,” said Melinda Turner, the company’s marketing director.

It started in 2009, when Karen Browning of St. Anthony got a puzzling request from her granddaughter Emily, to make her a mermaid tail. "Having sewn for over 50 years, I laughed and said, 'I don't know how to make mermaid tails,'" Browning said. "Well, she soon showed me that by ingenuity and working together, we could do it."

Using spandex swimsuit material and rigid material for the fin, Browning applied her sewing skills to the project. "It proved so popular as she and her sister Sarah swam in them that soon her friends were asking where they could get their very own tail," Browning said. She knew she was onto something. She began selling them on eBay and set up a store on Etsy.

Demand took off, so much so that Browning’s sons, Eric and Steve, came back to eastern Idaho to run the company. Forging a relationship with Elevate Fulfillment, a third-party logistics company on Lindsay Boulevard, the company grew.

From a marketing standpoint, Fin Fun offers a great lesson in what the Internet has made possible. Turner has set up a Web site, www.Finfunmermaids.com, that features not only the company’s products but art, photos, videos and a Meet the Mermaidens blog written by Emma Turner, 16, a student at Hillcrest High School. The Facebook page has more than 27,000 likes.

The company also makes shark fins for boys and just this Monday released a merman tail. Turner said the hottest markets of late are Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and the Philippines, where there are classes that teach girls and boys how to swim with the fins.

With 39 grandchildren, Browning has a special place in her heart for young people. “We have been delighted to be a part of making dreams come true for so many little (and bigger) mermaids,” she said. "Even now, after so much growth, we are proud that all of our suits, costumes and monofins are still made here in the USA.”

In addition to offering the best product they can make at an affordable price, Fin Fun donates a generous amount of its profits to children's causes. In 2013, these included Primary Children’s Hospital, Make-A-Wish Foundation, World Association for Children and Parents, Idaho Falls Humanitarian Center, Unicef, Mentors International, CASA, Amazima Ministries, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Operation Smile and Idaho Art Lab.

“We hope to do even more to bless the lives of children,” Browning said.

Here’s a YouTube video: