Best Eats at Emerald Isle.

After three plus years having a home on Emerald Isle NC we believe we now know the best places to dine out. Maybe we can save you time hunting for a good one and save you some money as well. So without further ado here goes. 

Rucker Johns...Hands down the best place for overall dining out on the island.  Quality food, top of line taste, first rate wait staff, and most importantly at a fair price. You can pay more for dining out food, but we honestly do not believe you can find better quality food.  The prime rib and steaks are always excellent and they are Certified Angus Beef.  Be sure to try their salads and the house made hot bacon honey mustard dressing.  We find little here that is not excellent from the Tuscan Turkey Sandwich, one of our favorites, to the Crab Cakes which everyone seems to like.  The Cajun Shrimp Wrap is to die for according to my wife, oh and use the aforementioned honey mustard hot bacon dressing there as well.  If you like a steak salad, it is not on the menu, but ask for it and I can personally say it is mighty good. They bring a honey croissant with the salad which I could make a meal out of myself and you can order a basket of these babies.  Simply put you can not go wrong with a meal from RJ's as the locals call it.  They like children too.  Prepare for a wait during the summer season, but the kids can be entertained outside with the turtles in the canal behind the restaurant.  Worth the wait. Located behind Food Lion on the island so go find it. Open lunch and dinner. 

Mikes Restaurant...Locally owned place that can fool you when you ride, which we did for over a year,  by the sorta hole in wall looking place. Excellent cheap fast served breakfast for your mornings, go with the home fries.  The wait staff is fast and friendly.  We have yet to try their lunch menu, since we remain hooked on breakfast, but we understand that is right good as well and again not budget busting. They have a Sunday Buffet breakfast with is about $10 and offers up plenty of good eating. Prepare for a wait during summer season since lots of people already know about the place, but the line moves quickly. Located across from BB&T Bank on the island.  Open only for breakfast and lunch. 

Circle Pizza...We admit we rode by this place dozens of times without stopping even though we had heard their pizza was top notch.  We tried it about three months ago and will never go anywhere here for pizza pie.  The pies are loaded and got lots of cheese.  The wait staff is good too and told us the first time we went we would be hooked and they were right.  We understand the burgers, which are said to be huge, are might good too.  Located down the island a ways from the bridge in a strip center, but right on the main drag sound side so easy to find. 

Village Market...We like this place for the friendly people there and their very good food.  We get their Boarshead Turkey for sandwiches at home and I personally like the potato salad.  They have a good breakfast and a regular lunch special that is good and could be considered healthy food.  They of late have begun to offer take home suppers too.  Located on the main drag down from the third light on sound side. 

Sweet Spot...Despite several places on the island offering ice cream we still find Sweet Spot our favorite.  The owner is usually there and keeps the place running like a Swiss watch when lines appear.  The girls who serve up the ice cream are well trained and personable.   Lastly they serve Hersheys brand which we find to be better than other brands we have tried. There is other novelties in the store you might consider and a big selection of fine chocolate and candies.  Oh, and if your timing is right you get to sit in the rocking chairs out front and watch the world go by and converse with others enjoying their delight. Located almost directly across from Mikes Restaurant. 

T&W Oyster Bar...Yes we know this restaurant is not on the island, but it is worth the less than 10 minute trip right across the EI bridge and straight on up NC 58 on the right.  Excellent seafood restaurant with a full selection of Eastern NC seafood and all of it very good.  Be prepared to restrain yourself on the excellent hushpuppies.  I like mine even more by dipping them in the butter offered at the table. Weight gains beware.  This place is a legend around here and frankly had some bad years after Earl sold it.  He bought it back some years ago and the quality is back and so is Earl who will most likely visit your table personally to make sure you are getting what you desire. 

There are other restaurants on the island and some are good and some we have not tried, but the ones above we can personally tell you that you most likely will go away happy. 

Walmart coming to town.

Been there, done that as they say.  We personally have lived in and managed a business in 4 Eastern North Carolina towns where Walmart located a Super Center while we were there.   So when this Onslow County raised boy posts what we is about to post about the coming of Walmart to two Onslow County towns we know of what we speak and frankly we know many of you will not like nor accept what is about to be written here.  So here goes.

Richlands has a new Super Walmart and Swansboro is about to get one, both towns are in Onslow County.  Like it or not the when Walmart comes to town it is a good thing.  Let's just look at some examples where we have actually done business, before and after Walmart's arrival. 

Simply put if you are in a dying market Walmart can indeed hurt the prospects of local merchants. But dying or weak markets is more a sign of bad government than it is which new retailer comes to town.  On the other hand if the market is growing or stable then Walmart actually helps the market. Walmart helps the market by drawing MORE customers into the town because they want to shop at Walmart.  In return these new customers who would likely go elsewhere will usually spend money on other items Walmart does not sell while in town like dining out, higher end clothing, insurance,banks, new cars and trucks, furniture, appliances, and use local services like dentist, doctors, carpet installers, and more you get the picture. Smart and clever merchants quickly find niches and opportunities to feed off these new people coming to the market. 

Clayton NC is a perfect example.  What was already a growing town got even stronger with Walmart locating there.  Few retailers closed and the downtown area actually picked up new traffic with the new Super Center.  Like in most new Walmart locations a dozen or more new retailers popped up right around Walmart.  Wendys, Hardees, Starbucks, Zaxbys, Lone Star, Maurices, and even Dollar Tree right beside Walmart just to name a few.  Think about that a DOLLAR TREE located right beside Walmart.  All feeding off the new traffic, all providing new jobs, all providing new property and sales tax revenue. 

Even in weak markets like Smithfield NC the coming of a Walmart Super Center helped business. Again Belks, Dollar Tree, a local optometrist, Subway, a local mexican restaurant, two local cell phone retailers, McDonalds, Taco Bell, a bank, etc all located in or near Walmart.  Again more jobs and tax revenue.  Not to mention the housing that grew up to be near shopping.  Yes some local merchants died and some have shrunk, but they were mostly those who refused to find ways to use new customers or just had a bad attitude toward the new Walmart. 

That last sentence above is important, "had a bad attitude".  One can think and want your small town to stay the same or even not have new shopping choices, but never have I seen the same people upset when new employers come to town or even new restaurants, so why be so negative regarding Walmart.  Have you actually experienced a new Walmart several times like we have or are you just taking in what you heard on television or from others. Here is a fact neither Swansboro nor Richlands is the same small town we remember as a child growing up in Onslow County and they will not be the same with or without Walmart twenty years from now.  Decades ago this same attitude costs Onslow County the big employer Dupont, which wanted to locate near Richlands and no one would sell them the land, so they eventually located north of Kinston NC where they could buy land.  I suppose many of you would have preferred the local Marine Base to have not located here too with all those jobs and spending in the local economy.  Do you think that since you have employment that someone else who lives in town should not have a job who needs one? Are you that selfish?  Are you of the mindset that you do not want your town to grow?  Have you lived in a town where there is absolutely no growth, we have, and it is not very pretty. Do you think that is fair to others to want a no growth dying town? Do you think that Walmart will bring more crime and trouble?  Seriously get real on that last one as that is foolish thinking. 

Our small towns will prosper and do well with a Walmart coming to town offering hundreds of new jobs and traffic to help existing merchants.  Besides no one puts a gun to someone's head to shop anywhere else than they do now. But as our wife says often the prices at Walmart are good and she is not going to make someone else's pocketbook her personal charity just because they do not reduce their prices.  

As for each town Swansboro will likely do well with their new Walmart since the town is close to the base and will draw military shoppers into town and will now keep more dollars from well off retirees who are located on nearby beaches and in the area who will now shop at Walmart and stay in town for other needs instead of heading off to Morehead or Jacksonville. Richlands will likely see some new traffic from towns and areas west of Richlands like Beulaville, which got some of Richlands customers some years ago when Bojangles came to that town.  I expect it will be a net plus there as well and in time Richlands will see new restaurants.  The land in front of the new Richlands Walmart across from Liberty School looks to us to be a perfect spot for a restaurant. 

In the end look at Walmart as a positive and not a negative.  

Boring, Boring, Boring. Stock Market.

When we talked with our financial advisor yesterday we both searched for words to describe this market and both came up with only one word "boring."  After thinking about it for awhile we decided that indeed that was exactly what we had with both the economy and this market. 

Well we are here to tell you, boring is good, in fact mighty good.  We value the market as fairly priced considering the near zero interest rate environment,  near dysfunctional US Government, and near no growth economy.  The market truly reflects the environment right now.  Let's examine what it means for investors and traders. 

For traders like us we find we must work a lot harder to find trades and score profits.  But we are ahead of last year's pace by a good bit and we expect the rest of the year to be the same.  A boring market means little chance for losses and specifically large losses.  On the other hand it provides good opportunities for above average profits for those willing to do the research and take the time to wait for trades and not chase them.

For investors there is the steady drip of stock market price appreciation via the Obama spending spree/Federal Reserve low rate environment and the financial engineering of corporate stock buybacks and dividend increases. Therefore a regular monthly investment in index S&P 500 funds and letting them drip, drip, drip to gains is the obvious choice.  This certainly is not get rich quick, but it is get rich slow and that is just fine with us. 

Boring is beautiful it seems.