HOUSTON REAL ESTATE DOWNTURN: GREAT FOR STRIP CENTERS AND FAST FOOD JOINTS Who’s benefiting from Houston’s not-so-go-go commercial real estate market? “‘Cell phone stores are still doing well, and still want to open up new stores,’ [Riverway Retail retail broker Jake] Baker points out. ‘We’re also seeing companies like Edward Jones looking for, and getting good retail space.’ Edward Jones? Well, yes. ‘When you start to see your bank account shrinking, you want to start being conservative with your money,’ Baker says. ‘This is an ideal place for the Edward Joneses to expand and take a lot of retail space.’ Baker and [Weitzman Group senior VP James] Namken say that another category of tenant expansion is the franchisee. ‘With the economy so poor, people have been laid off, and are interested in starting their own businesses,’ Namken explains. ‘Many of them want to become franchisees. That’s where most of the growth has been recently, and will likely continue to be.’” [Globe St.]
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Franchises and Chain Stores
COMMENT OF THE DAY: FAST FOOD TOWNHOUSES “I’ve been in Houston for 3 years and I’ve noticed how many expensive townhouses and condos back up to fast food restaurants and other potentially noisy businesses. It would drive me nuts but I would also look around the neighborhood before I purchased or rented something there. I can’t imagine having to listen to the Jack-in-the-Box drive-through traffic all night long. ‘YA WANT FRIES??'” [Apartment dweller, commenting on 2520 Robinhood Vs. the Merry Men of Hans’ Bier Haus: It’s Come to This]
From new travel-eating blog Eating the Road: This handy decisionmaking flowchart, to help you decide which chain restaurant to eat your next meal at. For a number of Outside the Loop neighborhoods, this may be the only restaurant guide you’ll ever need. And it works in a few other cities too!
Yes, that’s Yountville’s unchained French Laundry sitting all alone in the center — sadly, there’s no way to get to it from the decision tree. And what’s in the fine print to the right of Hooters?
Gift poster editions of the chart are available, though there seem to be a few problems with the online ordering system at the moment. Also from Eating the Road: Fast Food, Freezer Aisle, and Cereal editions.
- Where Should I Eat? Chain Restaurant Edition (Flowchart) [Eat the Road]
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Just a couple items this time:
- Closing: The Dunkin Donuts at 5406 Bellaire Blvd. near Bissonnet, after more than 2 decades in the same spot. When it’s gone, there’ll be just 4 of the chain’s locations left in the Houston area. The Bellaire Examiner‘s Steve Mark:
[Owner Henry] Tsao’s current agreement with the donut chain is expiring; the company requires new agreements to last a 10-year duration with a new set of parameters for facility and mechanical upgrades totaling as much as $400,000. Tsao, 62, doesn’t want to make a long-term commitment at his age and isn’t inclined to make the required financial reinvestment, so his store will close Oct. 24.
- Moved to the Rice Village: Dog- and baby-friendly Olivine has taken over the former location of Back Be Nimble at 2405 Rice Blvd. Making the trip from Uptown Park: owner Helen Stroud’s collection of linens, loungewear, and reproduction and slipcovered furniture. In the back: baby clothes. Cote de Texas’s Joni Webb reports:
Helen spent all of September getting the new shop ready – and if you ever wanted to check out wall to wall seagrass, this is your chance – I think she bought out all the rolls of it available in town.
