Lining the walls of Maggie Lin's Chinese-American restaurant, Chopsticks, are pictures of not only her family, but of her customers.
"We just want to keep that good moment," she said. "We treat our customers like a friend. So, there's no reason you wouldn't want to take a picture with your friend."
Lin has run the family restaurant with her husband, Ling Xin Huang, since 2015 in the Clocktower Shopping Center, located at 70th and A streets. The east Lincoln plaza includes more than a dozen businesses.
Lin and Huang met in Florida and had been living in Nebraska for nearly five years when they heard a friend was selling his restaurant, Hot Wok.
"We wanted to help him, and after he sold his restaurant, we finally set up our own business," Lin said.
Chopsticks, she said, grew in popularity just months after they opened.
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As for the photos on the wall, Lin said they are a bond with the residents of Lincoln, a city she described as a "big city, small world."
"If I have some customer's picture in the back, someone will walk in like, 'Oh, he’s my friend’s father! Oh, I know him! I know her!'" she said. "The people feel more comfortable; they have a common place to go."
Home for Husker fans
Across the plaza from Chopsticks sits Best of Big Red, a Huskers merchandise and memorabilia store. The shop is owned by Mike Osborne, son of former Husker football coach Tom Osborne.
Mike Osborne, who operates the store with his wife, Emily, started the business in 1991 as a catalog after offering to edit and distribute Husker games on VHS for the athletic department.
"It became obvious that our mailing list was valuable, so we started adding extra products, posters, hats and shirts," he said. "It just grew from there. And then we won national championships, and it just went crazy."
It wasn't until 2010, however, that the web-based business decided to set up a physical store. Osborne described the process as "a little in reverse than what most businesses do."
"We decided we had enough people wanting to come to our warehouse or see us face to face, and we finally decided to open a retail store, and that was the Clocktower store," he said. "So by then, we'd been in business about 20 years before we opened our first actual brick-and-mortar store."
Osborne set up a second shop in the Haymarket four years later.
Best of Big Red still sells physical copies of games on DVD, which Osborne said isn't as popular as it used to be. He said he's proud of the store's variety, particularly the women's fashion apparel.
The most remarkable of the store's items, Osborne said, is a half-Nebraska, half-Oklahoma football helmet signed by Tom Osborne and former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer.
Mike Osborne said he's always enjoyed a leadership role, and Best of Big Red helped him realize his dream.
"I liked making decisions, so I kind of thought I wanted to have my own business that I liked," he said. "I liked the idea of your own hard work paying off."
A place to congregate
The Grata Bar & Lounge, located next door to Best of Big Red, opened in February 2012. Harry Watson Jr., the bar's owner, had previously run the bar near 27th Street and Yankee Hill Road.
Before owning Grata, Watson had no experience in running a bar, having been in the lawn care business since 1996.
"I'm pretty analytical, and I was able to look around and see what works in bars, what doesn't," he said. "My business background kind of helped a little bit in all of that, but of course, nothing's ever what you expect it to be, especially when you're going into something that you've never done before."
Since its move to Clocktower, Grata has added more features, including a full kitchen and party room. The bar also has a dance floor and boasts trivia and Bingo nights.
Watson said he wanted Grata to feel like a hotel bar, which he admired for their upscale feel but also the flexible dress code. He said the bar is "constantly evolving," which he said is critical for any business.
"There's always that aspect of, 'How big can I get this thing? Where can I take this?' Watson said. "Because if you’re not changing or evolving, you're going backwards in business."
Watson said Grata is striving to provide more healthier food options, including dairy- and gluten-free meals. He said he's also planning on opening a catering kitchen.
Compared to downtown bars, Watson said the aim of Grata was to attract customers of all ages.
"I kind of wanted to be like, 'Hey, if you're 50, you can come out and party like you're 20; it doesn't really matter. And vise versa.'"
With big events like game days and the Farmers Market, Osborne said traffic in and out of the Best of Big Red in the Haymarket can swing wildly.
"Whereas at Clocktower, the difference between regular, run-of-the-mill days and game days isn't as stark," he said. "I would say a lot of local people prefer Clocktower because of the free parking and the convenience of just being able to walk in there."
Lin, who has traveled across the country, said she's met the nicest people in Lincoln, and loves seeing her customers, especially the regulars, at Chopsticks.
"I'm just happy to be here," she said.
For Watson, his favorite part of running Grata is the people he gets to see every day, both customers and employees.
Likewise, Osborne said running Best of Big Red isn't about the money for him, but building a sense of "camaraderie" with every one he works with.
"So really, it's just about the process and the people, just like any sports team would talk about or any good business would talk about," he said. "Because in the end, chasing after that big dollar bill is really pointless."