Some yellow and white stripes have appeared recently at the northwest corner of Shepherd Dr. and Richmond Ave., just north of the similarly colored Subway signage. The upside-down Vs mark the spot where Honey Art Cafe is setting up shop in the former home of Ace Cash Express, next to Cigar Emporium in the retail strip bookended by Mattress Overstock and Accents By Phillipe. Longtime readers may be interested to note that the storefront is being painted up and built out by art duo Lulu Lin — which includes the same Lulu whose doodles and digital paintings often jazz up Swamplot’s Comments of the Day.
The pair is pulling their Houston Art Lessons business out of its River Oaks Shopping Center home to expand both the size and scope of operations under the new name; on top of regular classes, plans for the new space include gallery shows, artsy food and drinks, and meetups for creative types. The cafe is also looking for a leg up from the local Internet — the duo’s Kickstarter campaign, which is offering sweets, art, and classes in trade for some help with buildout costs, is running from now through early September.
***
The central space of the retail strip showed up for lease on LoopNet last December. The cafe is moving in a few doors down from fellow arts afficionado Joel’s Classical Shop; across Shepherd lie a Valero station and a branch of adult novelty chain Cindie’s. Other nearby lubrication options include the Havoline Xpress Lube and Stickerstop Express, both south of the intersection along Richmond.Â
- Honey Art Cafe [Kickstarter]
- Store Info [Honey Art Cafe]
Photo: Lulu Lin
I’ve always wondered how just about every store in this strip has been able to keep it together for so long. Always nice to be proven wrong on the death of brick and mortar stores though. Wish them all the best through the Shepherd tear-up that’s soon to come.
About once a year I stop in and buy a record from Joel’s (most recently a Shostakovich) and occasionally some pipe tobacco or cigars from Cigar Emporium. I saw them working on Honey Art Cafe the last time I was picking up some pipe cleaners. It does seem like a not-so-great location and I wondered why they had chosen it, but here’s wishing them success!
“across Shepherd lie a Valero station and a branch of adult novelty chain Cindie’s. Other nearby lubrication options include the Havoline Xpress Lube and Stickerstop Express,”
Well played.