![]() ![]() I do know that Von Maur opened in August of 1995. ![]() I am not sure when the Omaha location closed. The new owners slowly began shuttering the various Bishop’s locations. That was the story at the time but in all actuality, K Mart had probably bitten off more than it could handle. Additionally many of Bishop’s locations were in malls, which were rumored to be on the decline. The belief was that cafeteria style restaurants were falling out of fashion. In 1988 K Mart sold 133 Furr’s Cafeterias and all 35 Bishop restaurants. K Mart had previously bought the whole Furr’s Cafeteria chain as well. Oddly enough, K Mart bought the whole regional Bishop Buffet chain in 1983. (The one at the Gateway did not have as cool as a layout as the Westroads, in my opinion, but the food was the same scrumptiousness.) I found that Bishop’s filed a lawsuit against Westroads for a dispute over rental agreement and public space fees in 1979. There was one in downtown Omaha and one in Lincoln too, at the Gateway Mall. The Iowa based buffet chain grew to 35 Midwestern locations known as the Bishop Buffet and Cafeteria System. “One of twenty famous eating houses of the Bishop Buffet and Cafeteria system.”īenjamin Franklin Bishop started the cafeteria chain in 1920 out of Waterloo, Iowa. This is the postcard for the above location-at northeast corner of 15th and Douglas Streets. Cooper Cinerama and Bishop’s storefronts. October 1961.ĭouglas Street between 14th and 15th street. To the right is Bishop Cafeteria and then the Cooper Cinema Theater. The northeast corner of 15th and Douglas Streets. Creator: Bostwick, Louis and Frohardt, Homer. To the right is Bishop’s Cafeteria and then the Cooper Cinema Theater. The old Rialto Theater on the northeast corner of 15 th and Douglas Streets had become the Tully’s Clothing for Men Store. Bishop’s was one of a handful of businesses when Westroads opened in 1968. The smoking deck was above this entrance and to the east a ways. Bishop’s was on the first floor and if you continued to walk to the north, past Bishop’s there was a Baskin Robbins’ Ice Cream Shop and one of the south entrances to the Westroads. The cafeteria’s location was on the east side of the mall where Von Maur has an entrance now. Heavy drapes, thick carpeting, substantial tables and chairs with leather, wood paneling. Like a preppy uncle’s den, woody and proper but not pretentious. I always thought the Westroads one was a little higher end than the others. They all looked very similar, decorated in earthen tones and feel but somewhat different. My favorite Bishop’s was at Westroads Shopping Center in Omaha. How and Associates Inc are listed as architects of the mall. Bishop Buffet is listed along with Montgomery Ward, Hinky Dinky (grocery store-why?), Zale’s Jewelry, Kilpatrick’s, Earl May Garden Center, Singer Sewing Center, Fox Theatre, Penneys, Singer Sewing Center and Florsheim Shoes. Most likely I will need more chocolate pie.Īd that ran in the Sunday World Herald back in Septem“for the New Westroad’s.”Įarly 1968 Westroads Shopping Center sign. As it is my last time at Bishop’s, I will need Exactly More. I will try to find a reason to turn on the little light so that the wait staff will stop by to offer me more of something. All three areas are decorated a little differently. I will try to find a table in the middle fireplace room or the furthest west room. The woman at the end of the line will quickly add up everything on my tray and place a small receipt on said tray. ![]() They wear hairnets and some of the men wear big, tall toques. The women wear panty hose and sensible shoes. They are all wearing brown dresses with white trim. As I pass through the line, I see the same line attendants that worked there throughout my childhood. Chocolate-pudding-ambrosia-French-silk concoction, covered in a creamy whip, coated in chocolate, curly Q’s from heaven. Fried chicken on an illustrated kid’s plate. My Always Order: Iceberg lettuce wedge, slathered in mayonnaise, thick with bleu cheese crumbles. Everything looks divine but I won’t be swayed into ordering any of that. I enter the cafeteria and can view the day’s special under a glass or plexi dome on a rolling cart. I believe this was the middle dining room.) I don’t remember being notified that they were closing or I would have ordered many, many more slices of that blessed chocolate ambrosia pie. Honestly, if I knew I was going to spend the rest of my life dreaming of Bishop’s Buffet, I would have put up more of a fight when they closed. ![]()
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