Bumsteads to reopen in Ozark

Owner Steve Branstetter closed the restaurant two weeks ago and put it up for auction through Mickey Duckett Professional Auctioneers. He thought he had successfully sold the building Nov. 7 until the buyer’s financing fell through. The auction process was too time-consuming, he said, and he won’t try it again.

“We’re going to reopen it back as Bumsteads and pretend like we just closed to clean up, which we did -– we spent about 40 hours cleaning,” he said. “It’ll remain open until someone comes along that wants it more than I do.”

Branstetter chose to close the Ozark restaurant because business at his Bumsteads in Nixa had boomed. In August, he closed a third Bumsteads in Branson for the same reason, after keeping it open for five months.

The Nixa restaurant, the former Garden Shed at 1528 N. Main, opened in November 2004, closed for construction in March and reopened in June. The growing restaurant market in Nixa, and the fact that it’s “a nice place in a beautiful spot,” helped boost the restaurant’s success, Branstetter said.

Brian Bingle, Nixa city administrator, said he has no figures to measure the success of restaurants in Nixa, but business owners seem to be doing well for themselves.

“We have seen a significant increase in restaurant opportunities within our community,” he said. “I can only speculate, but because of our population increase, because of the traffic volumes, because of the places of work, we are starting to apparently be able to support these types of community, commercial activities.”