WICHITA — Former Eaton Steakhouse owners Steve and Stephanie Compton may reopen their restaurant in a new space.
The Comptons were evicted from Eaton Place for failure to pay rent. They’re now looking down the street at 217 E. Douglas.
Athena Jewelry owner Sophokles Anthimides owns the building and has been talking to the Comptons about leasing the space. He’s meeting with them at 10 a.m. today “to see what they want to do.”
“That’s where they want to be to start,” Anthimides says.
He also owns Century Plaza at Douglas and Main where there’s restaurant space in the basement. The well-known Lancers is one of several restaurants that was once there.
“They’re talking about later on, if they do well here, they can move over there,” Anthimides says of the Comptons.
He says he’ll update us after this morning’s meeting.
There’s no word from the Comptons on their plans because they’ve requested that Have You Heard? not contact them anymore.
27 Comments
are you serious???? IT WILL FAIL just like the the eaton .. they cant do anything right and they will get evicted from this new place also ..
I wonder what the inside of Lancers looks like? It closed in the 1970’s.
Interesting that they asked not to be contacted anymore…
“Interesting that they asked not to be contacted anymore”
Well, Carie can be a bit annoying when she wants to…
Anyway, I’d like to see them move, but any buildng at Anthimides owns needs ALOT of work… If they do move, I hope they open a patio in the park.
ok…this is another closure waiting to happen! Who would rent to them knowing they have a track record of not paying rent, disgruntled employees, etc. As far as not being contacted by “Have You Heard”, the blurbs int eh paper and onthe web got them a lot of free publicity…..they certainly weren’t advertsing. Sort of like kicking a gift horse in the mouth, isn’t it????
“Well, Carie can be a bit annoying when she wants to…”
What’s that saying? Say whatever you want about me, just spell my name right.
Hah. Kidding. Just being annoying again.
Carrie
After Lancers the Century Plaza restaurant was a Chinese restaurant…maybe they’ll do Kung Pao Brontosaurus….(that was the name of one of their overprices steaks).
I like your go getter attitude, good luck, you will succeed. These folks that who slam you, they have never temped opening their own business and don’t have the guts to try. Keep it up, you will succeed!
Luckyguy and Bond must be like Finkel and Einhorn, a la Ace Ventura. One in the same. Welcome back, Bond. I see you haven’t been spending your downtime working on that whole spelling/grammar thingy…
This is a great location for the Comptons!!! It’s three blocks closer to the Sedgwick County Courthouse! Think of all the time they’ll save commuting to their inevitable court dates!
After reading this article, I have to wonder if the regular negative “news” of the owners not paying their rent added to the demise of Eaton Steakhouse. I always wonder what good it does for a community when a newspaper publishes negative hearsay. We lived in OK before moving here and the Daily Oklahoman did not publish such negative, gossipy stories that I remember. I enjoy the positive, uplifting information of a community and really don’t want to read about problems between landlords and tenants which may or may not be accurate. And, I wonder…who would be interested in that?
Alowe, not paying their rent, their taxes, their employees, their bills and whatever else contributed to their demise, not a story about them not paying. While stories that are positive and uplifting are great, truth is more important.
Dear Alowe,
It’s not hearsay when there are multiple court documents and a business is evicted. It’s not hearsay when employees win wage claim hearings.
Who might be interested in that? Vendors. Future landlords. Diners — some of whom may want to frequent an establishment more regularly to help save it, some of whom may not want to lend their support to people who don’t pay employees.
It’s not my desire to report negative news. But my job is to follow local businesses and what’s happening with them.
Sincerely,
Carrie
Carrie, maybe the Daily Oklahoman is hiring. Then you could focus on stories about puppies and rainbows!
“And, I wonder…who would be interested in that?”
As Carrie correctly notes – I WOULD! The reason – as a small business owner I find myself extending credit to customers. I’d like some advance warning when a company is collapsing so I can hopefully minimize my bad debt write-offs. Cheerleading like you prefer is fun but doesn’t pay the bills.
I’ll give you a hint, I’m a former employee. I’d like to share with you some findings from the State of Kansas on my wage claim…
“…the eveidence establishes that the actions of the repsondents (Compton’s/Eaton Steakhouse) in not paying the amount due to the claimant (former employee) were willful.”
“…the eveidence also establishes that Mr. and Mrs. Compton permitted the violation with full knowledge of the facts. Therefore, the facts and law require the inmposition of individual liability for the wages, interest, and penalty.”
So, these are the people, who by fact, have failed to pay rent. These are the people, who by fact, paid vendors with bad checks. These are the people, who by fact, willfully did not pay employees.
This isn’t gossip. This is sad that people do this kind of thing. I’m glad they’re opening a new restaurant. It’s just more opportunity for people to find out that these are dishonest people. Willfully.
I am laughing. Why? It’s funny that the stories just above and just below the story about the Eaton is about two other businesses that are closing due to financial strains. Financial strains due to the economy.
This is my point, I believe that the Eaton Steakhouse closed its doors due to the bad economy. Yes, they didn’t pay rent. Yes, they may have stiffed some vendors. And yes, it sounds like they didn’t pay some employees.
But this IS a bad economy. I laugh because I wonder why the Comptons did not see the storm coming and close with dignity and pride. Instead they allowed themselves to be splattered in the newspaper as people who do not pay their rent, vendors, and employees.
And I do feel for them. But when will the lesson be learned? Has this experience tought them some lessons? Has this experience wisened them to realize that people won’t stand for being stiffed on their money when the economy is bad?
It’s best to just close your doors. Others are doing it. LUCKYGUY, I hope you are right. I hope the Comptons are good people. I hope that they succeed in their new location. I just hope that the same history doesn’t repeat itself.
But at the sametime, LUCKYGUY, take the advice of LIEDTO, check your grammar and spelling. It would do you lots of justice in being credible.
Alowe, Carrie’s right that this is not gossip. Anyone offering to extend credit to a potential customer such as the Eaton would find this information invaluable. I’ve called on the Comptons in the past, and right now, I’m feeling pretty good that I didn’t gain their account. Collecting past due accounts doesn’t make me a dime!
Oh, and I won’t be calling on them in the future.
People, people, it they relocate in downtown Wichita they are doomed to failure. Location! Location! Location.
Not sure who the bigger crook is in this deal… Neither party is known for their upstanding business practices. It will either be a match made in heaven, or will end in disaster.
“It’s not hearsay when there are multiple court documents and a business is evicted. It’s not hearsay when employees win wage claim hearings.”
God help me… again. I’m gonna have to back Carrie up on this one, too. Once court documents are filed, its not only NOT gossip, it really does become newsworthy… at least in the context that others above have very ably noted.
That said, I think it got a lot more attention than it deserved, but I seriously doubt that it finished them off. If anything, as Carrie pointed out, it might have prompted increased business. Personally, I got bored with it, especially with the employees who kept posting their stories of woe but who also said they had not yet filed any claims. Glad to see someone did and that they found some vindication (assuming their post is accurate).
Now, I do have to get on my soap box for a second… to those who keep saying that reports like this are about the extension of credit… let me introduce you to a new and unique tool in making those decisions… its called a credit report or a D&B profile. Ever hear of those? Actions in court to recover rent, etc. would appear there and THAT would be a much better source for information to deny someone credit as opposed to the blog on a newspaper website.
For me, the bottom line looks like this: Pay your bills and your employees and you won’t have to worry about getting too much bad press.
For claiming to be a Wordsmith you don’t read very well. We all filed claims, and nowhere does it say otherwise. The tales of woe you refer to, I believe, are my posts suggesting that the Labor Board did not react in a timely manner to our filed complaints (I make this assumption since you pointedly called me a whiner.) Our rulings are coming in now, all, so far, in our favor, with significant penalties assessed in almost all cases. As for you being bored, sorry about that. Always being right must be a real heavy cross to bear.
Where did I call you a whiner… and actually, no, I wasn’t referring specifically to you. I hate to tell you this, but the story of the Eaton Steakhouse does NOT revolve around you and your own personal struggle.
Sorry if the State of Kansas did not meet your expectations in responding to your claims… However, I have seen it take 6 months and longer to get claims through the state and over a year to get them through the US Dept of Labor. Its a slow government process.
Here’s a little life lesson: If the company you work for fails to pay you once, and makes it right. Then, by all means, keep working for them. If they fail to make it right, or keep failing to pay you, its time to go to work for a better company. Shame on them for not paying you, but shame on you for continuing to work for someone who doesn’t make their payroll. At some point, you have some accountability in that, as well. Absolutely, they are obligated to pay you, but I think you also have an obligation to use a bit of common sense. Its hard to feel too sorry for you when you didn’t wise up and move on.
And, yes, being right this often has its burdens.
Well…
“WichitaWordsmith
Posted October 15, 2009 at 11:50 am | Permalink
To the former employee who said you’ve let it go and moved on… really. Not judging from the lengthy whining post above.
That said, if you were pursuing your rights instead of expecting the government to do it for you, you’d be getting some traction. Sounds like you need to stand up for yourselves.
Less whining. More action.”
You are right. You did not call me a whiner. You inferred it. My bad.
Keep your life lesson. The number of incorrect assumptions you use to make your point make it useless.
As for this story revolving around me… Well, I never said it did. I did not even infer such a thing. I will however infer that the same could be more correctly said about you.
Wordsmith, we do use D&B and other credit reporting services and have a fairly rigid credit revue process. There’s nothing new or unique about them. Their reporting is after the fact and will not fully show the character of your prospective customer once they do get in a bind. Unless you deal strictly in cash, you’re extending credit no matter what the amount.
Curiously, I wonder what the city/county/state policy is for granting a license to operate a business when there is so much litigation in progress? At a minimum, the Comptons will probably have great struggles to achieve a liquor license.
I agree with WichitaWordSmith, this story got a lot more attention than a typical business closing. I think the momentum was fueled by we commentors, but also the hideous damage control the Comptons attempted to hide and minimize what was happening. The piteous pleas of “save our LOCAL business” from ourselves, their comments on the employees simply being disgruntled and their claims without merit, and then to the multiple posts from “friends” who are obviously Stephanie Compton. I believe the Comptons should have just paid their bills from the beginning, however their handling of the situation(s) is worse.
Future employees and vendors beware…they don’t sound remorseful to me.