I was at the Hard Rock today, having the finest steak and eggs breakfast in town in Mr Lucky's 24/7 coffee shop. On the way in, I walked by AJs, the steakhouse, and saw a sign saying the steakhouse will close on Dec 13.

AJs is a very good steakhouse that just doesn't have anything to make it stand out. It is bright, open, and has a nice piano bar. Prices for steaks are normally in the $40-45, plus ala carte items. I don't think the place is extreme enough to attract the wild crowd that the Hard Rock is trying to cater to. The sign said that they will be rolling back their menu to the prices they had when they opened in 1999 which will bring the steaks down to about $30.

Andre's downtown is closing at the end of the year. It's more a chef retirement than the economy crunch. A new Andre's in the Monte Carlo will still operate though.

I believe we are going to see a lot of this and a lot of empty mall stores as well!

The big parent company that owns the huge mall near us is set to apply for bankruptcy protection. They own 3 huge malls here in Wisconsin. It's scary