Speculation that national clothing retailer coming to south Iowa; update on Mexican chain on 23rd; Kansas gets small share of federal funding

Courtesy: City of Lawrence

I’m not sure what I should make of this, but every time my wife goes to Men’s Wearhouse, she inquires about the Johnny Depp department. I think she has her “wearhouse” and “warehouse” confused. If you too are confused about what Men’s Wearhouse offers, you may soon get a chance to check it out in Lawrence. Speculation is growing that the men’s clothing retailer will locate on south Iowa Street.

The national retailer hasn’t made any announcements or filed documents yet with City Hall, but there’s certainly a significant amount of talk in certain real estate and business circles that Men’s Wearhouse has decided to locate in Lawrence. The most likely landing spot seems to be near 31st and Iowa. I’ve heard the Pine Ridge Plaza mentioned, which is the shopping center that includes Kohl’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, World Market and others. There’s also quite a bit of commercial space on the north side of 31st Street near Best Buy, Home Depot and Menards.

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Again, though, this is still in the speculation stage, but it is certainly worth keeping an eye on. It also will be interesting to watch one other men’s clothing retailer in town: Jos. A. Bank at Seventh and Vermont streets. Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank are now owned by the same company. Has the demand for men’s business wear increased so much in Lawrence that the parent company now sees a need to have a dual presence in town? I suppose that is possible, as soup season certainly has taken a toll on my ties. Or, I suppose another possibility is the company is repositioning itself in Lawrence. We’ll have to wait and see. I’ll let you know when I hear more.

In other news and notes from around town:

• Perhaps you have noticed that construction fencing has gone up around the defunct Kwik Shop location at 1714 W. 23rd St., which is just a bit west of 23rd and Ousdahl. If you remember, we reported in October that the location was set to become a Qdoba Mexican restaurant. The fencing seems like a strong sign that work is set to begin soon.

The plans filed with the city call for a significant renovation of the existing convenience store building. You can see the new facade below, and plans also call for the construction of an outdoor dining area and improvements to the parking lot.

If you are unfamiliar with Qdoba — the chain had a location in downtown Lawrence in the mid-to-late 2000s — it is similar to Chipotle, but with a slightly broader menu. In addition to wraps, it also has smothered burritos, tacos, nachos, quesadillas, taco salads, kid meals and even something called Mexican Gumbo, which has me studying up on how to say “pass the crawdad sauce” in Spanish.

No word yet on an opening date for the restaurant.

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• Depending on your political philosophy, this next item may be good news or bad news. Kansas doesn’t get a lot of federal funding. In fact by one new measure, Kansas ranks last in the amount of federal money it receives.

The folks at the financial website Wallet Hub have put together a new report ranking the states most and least dependent on federal dollars. Overall, the website found Kansas was the fourth least dependent state in the country on federal funding. But in one subcategory Kansas was found to be getting the least amount of federal dollars of any state in the country.

Kansas receives the lowest amount of federal grants, when compared with the amount of federal taxes the state pays, of any state in the country. In other words, when you look at the amount of federal taxes Kansas residents and businesses pay and then compare that with the amount of federal grants Kansas receives, our ratio of grants to taxes was lower than everybody else’s. In case you are wondering, West Virginia had the highest ratio.

But that’s just one measure. WalletHub compiled data from the IRS, the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and another government data sources. It then provided an overall ranking based on how much federal spending occurs in a state — that’s everything from federal jobs to federal grants to federal entitlement programs. The website also looked at what percentage of a state’s budget is derived from federal funds.

In that overall ranking, Kansas was the fourth least dependent state on federal funding. Or said another way, it received the fourth lowest ranking in terms of federal dollars returned to the state. Here’s a look at the five states that received the lowest returns of federal dollars.

50. Delaware

49. Connecticut

48. New Jersey

47. Kansas

46. California

Here’s a look at the five states that received the highest returns of federal dollars or, said another way, were the most dependent on federal dollars.

1. Mississippi

2. New Mexico

3. Alabama

4. Louisiana

5. Tennessee

Like I said, how you view this information probably depends on your philosophy. If you think the federal government is spending too much money or you think relying on federal funding is a risky proposition, then you probably think Kansas is in a pretty good position. If you think we are going to pay federal taxes regardless, so we might as well get as much federal funding as possible, then you probably think Kansas is in a bad spot.

You can see the full report here.

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