Marshall and Terry:First,fabulous post,Marshall,and,second,in regard to your ending comment, I think for this thread to be a valuable tool for us,the 'sticky questions' must be posed and let each of us regard them or disregard them as is his wont
Regarding RAIN,while in the Woodfield Disney store today I inquired at the American Express Travel desk situated in there about DW and the RAIN grand opening.This Travel Consultant creature named Jeff Armstrong informed me that they had been informed Friday the Grand Opening had been postponed until the end of the month because construction wasn't complete.No matter what I told him,he stuck to his story so when I ate at RAIN afterword naturally I talked to the management there and they assured me that there was no truth to it.Marshall's post corraborates(sp) that also.I wonder what his supervisors will say when I mention it to them.
The particular manager I talked to was an old Hard Rock Cafe hand and made several noteworthy comments:
1)Re DW-when I mentioned I heard they did $90K the first day he assented and said business has been better each day since then.(Terry,$40M could be the conservative estimate)
2)Re Planet Hollywood-when I mentioned RAIN is outperforming them in Minn. he replied that "well,anybody can outperform them,they're doing a terrible job" which was surprising to him as he knew most of the management from his Hard Rock days.
3)Re RAIN's overall management as opposed to Hard Rock-,"(RAINs) is a lot younger but they catching up in a hurry",said with a furrowed brow.
4)Re Shaumberg revenues- he said revenues are significantly up in the last even though lines are way smaller.That the same size daily handle that would have seemed huge months ago seems almost like a slow day now (until receipts are counted
5)Re the extra floor space at AC-it's because there will be three seperate retail shops there.
6)Re Gurnee retail sales vs. Shaumburg-he agreed Gurnees are better because people come there to seriously buy.
As to possible hidden fundamental problems with DANB-
1)From S&P News Headlines"11/09/95-"Down 2...co.may be forced to pay
creditors of bankrupt former parent Edison Brothers:NYT"There is no further mention of this.
2)Copycats may be closer than I thought..In May Cineplex Odeum(CPX) struck a partnership with Sega to produce entertainment centers with high tech games,restaurants,etc.Given Brent A. Thales description of Sega being on the cutting edge of 3D video games and CPX long experience in cinema entertainment,this could present serious competition down the road.I stumbled on the Sega/CPX data.Jack could probably flesh it out.Who knows who else is out there?Something to monitor at any rate.
3)Terry,I believe you brought up the question of how they would finance expansion?Debt or issuing more shares are the obvious choices.More shares would dilute earnings short-term.Debt creates it own risks.
At any rate,thats all I can come up with.I'm still buying under 20 if possible but this gives us something to keep an eye on.Marshall,have you heard anything on DANB's liability ffor Edisons debts.Probably just smoke.
Regards,
Dennis
P.S.Marshall,thanks for researching SHMN!Where were the articles you mentioned printed?Besides aestetically,I like SHMN because they have that niche to themselves and it strikes me as an area with a good chance to make significant discoveries through serendipity.But,like you say, it's strictly a back burner thing for now. |
