A good thing: Steinert's is opening in downtown New Albany.

Every New Albanian has an opinion about Steinert's -- what it used to be, what it became, and whether it was good or bad. I won't kid you and say I went there often in more recent times, but there were periods in the "old days" when I was a regular.

My first experiences at the original location was in 1980 or thereabouts. It was what the Brits would call a "boozer," basic and catering to the shot and beer crowd.

The Steinert family then executed a power move of epic dimensions, closing for extensive remodeling circa 1983, and emerging a few months later with a barroom that looked more like Cheers than anything else ever seen hereabouts previously.

I remember seeing the dazed looks of the older regulars, who soon were supplanted by a new, young and freer spending crowd, which grew older with the reinvented business. Undoubtedly it was a sharp move to reinvent, and contributed to enhanced value when the business ultimately was sold by the family.

Remember this: You never stop reinventing your business, or yourself. If you do, you die. Steinert's is now reinvented for downtown New Albany, as the article below makes clear.

Some will scoff.

I don't.

This is an established local name moving from further outside the center into downtown. This is a very good thing for downtown, whatever the circumstances that brings Steinert's to within spitting distance of the Ohio. I just hope they'd like to sell locally brewed beer on draft ... but there's plenty of time for that.

Welcome to the 'hood, guys.

Steinert’s Bar and Grill reopens in downtown New Albany, by Daniel Suddeath (News and Tribune).

The first six months after Steinert’s Bar and Grill burned beyond repair, co-owner Rick Geoghegan was overwhelmed by the same questions.

When will the bar — which originated in 1877 and eventually located along Charlestown Road in New Albany before the May 2008 fire — reopen and where?

Geoghegan and business partner Jerry Roby won’t have to respond to those inquiries after Tuesday, when Steinert’s will celebrate a new beginning at the former Redman’s Club building, located at the intersection of East Main and Fourth streets.