Having seen customer traffic slide, a hotdog restaurant at the FairOaks Mall which employs individuals with special needs will move to a downtown location — if it can garner enough financial support from the public.
Special Dogs & More, which opened in October, hopes to relocate to the former Eagles Club at 217 Washington St., across from the Bartholomew County Courthouse.
A crowdfunding campaign will be launched Saturday with a goal of raising $50,000 by July 31, said Randy Lapidus, who co-owns the restaurant with his wife, Robin.
Lapidus said the couple opened the business — which serves gourmet hot dogs, ribbon fries, chicken sandwiches and other items — with plans to stay at the mall for two or three years. However, customer traffic has plummeted since the late-April closing of Carson’s department store, leaving Dunham’s Sports — which replaced Kmart in 2015 — as the only remaining mall anchor store.
Fourteen businesses are currently operating at FairOaks Mall, said Kim Showalter, general manager of the mall. However, one of them — Nite Life Boutique — is slated to close its doors by the end of the month, said owner Cheryl Stuck.
Stuck indicated that Carson’s closing wasn’t a factor in her store’s pending change. Instead, it was her commute from Louisville, she said.
Showalter said the mall continues to have talks with prospective tenants about filling vacancies, but declined to comment further.
For more on this story, see Friday’s Republic.
