Openings and Closings

Openings and Closings, Restaurants

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The sign at the Skinny Rita’s Grille at 4002 N. Main St. in Brooke Smith now states that the Mexican restaurant inside has closed, but a note on the door from “Management” is a little less definitive: “This location will be rebranding in the next few weeks and will be temporarily closed,” reads the undated notice — already annotated by a handwritten visitor complaint requesting the information be added to the company’s outgoing phone message. “Please come visit us when we reopen in a few weeks.” The restaurant followed in the footsteps of a sequence of differently branded Mexican restaurants in the same location when it opened at the site, which is bounded by Walton and Melwood streets, in 2014. A Montrose Skinny Rita’s Cantina closed down at 607 W. Gray St. earlier this year, after less than a year of operation.

Previously on Swamplot: Skinny Ritaâ€™s W. Gray Spot Follows March Grand Opening with February Grand Closing; Where Skinny Ritaâ€™s Will Be Squeezing in on North Main

Photos: Margo

Relabeling

77009, Brooke Smith, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

08/16/17 4:00pm

Tila’s Restaurante Has Been Booted from the Shepherd Curve

Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

10 Comments

Maybe that for-lease sign up in the window at Tila’s Restaurante and Bar on the Shepherd Curve for the last few months worked: The restaurant closed for business on Sunday — after 20 years at the same location. Owner Tila Hidalgo reports on the restaurant’s Facebook page that her business was given 25 days notice to vacate the property at 1111 S. Shepherd Dr. — it will be out of the space entirely by the end of the month.

Now on Wheels

77019, Leasing, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

Bankruptcies

08/15/17 4:00pm

Joe’s Crab Shack Is Already Half-Gone from Houston

Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants

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JOE’S CRAB SHACK IS ALREADY HALF-GONE FROM HOUSTON If you’re willing to count Galveston, as of this week the number of Houston-area locations of seafood chain Joe’s Crab Shack is down to 3, cut in half after the abrupt closures of the Gulf Fwy. at Fuqua (pictured), North Fwy. at Airtex, and Pearland (3239 Silverlake Village Dr., near 288) restaurants. Nationwide, more than 25 of the chain’s 112 locations have been shuttered, ahead of a scheduled Thursday bankruptcy hearingÂ for chain owner Ignite Restaurant Group at which a $55 million sale to former owner Landry’s is expected to be approved. (Landry’s sold the chain in 2006 for $192 million, to a private equity firm that later spun out Ignite as a separate entity.) The Joe’s Crab Shack locations in Galveston (at Seawall Blvd. near 35th),Â Humble (across I-69 from the Deerbrook Mall) and on Hwy. 6 (between the West Oaks Mall and Briar Forest Dr.) are still open. [Consumerist, via HBJ] Photo of Joe’s Crab Shack at 12400 Gulf Fwy.:Â Camren O.

Bankruptcies, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

Buying and Selling

08/14/17 10:00am

The End of the Greenspoint Mall Is Upon Us

Greenspoint, Malls, Openings and Closings, Quicklink

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THE END OF THE GREENSPOINT MALL IS UPON US Greenspoint Mall may close its doors for good in as little as 60 days, a source tells Click2Houston reporter Sophia Beausoleil — after news broke late Friday that the hobbled 42-year-old shopping center at I-45 North and Beltway 8 is under contract for purchase by an investment group headed by Chinese investor Gao Feng. Global Plaza Union says it is still considering several different redevelopment concepts for its newly acquired property. Not included in the purchase, but expected to be added to it for any transformation to take place: the 3 independently owned anchor store sites within the property. The Sears store at the southeast corner of the property closed 7 years ago; the Macy’s, in the northwest corner, shut down earlier this year; the Dillard’s in the southwest corner, closest to the freeway interchange, is one of only 2 anchors still operating in the mall. (The other is a Palais Royal.) [Click2Houston; Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot] Photo: Colliers International

77060, Buying and Selling, Greenspoint Mall, Malls, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments

08/10/17 12:45pm

Corazon Now Being Removed from Its Big Red Dot Spot at Waugh and Fairview

Hyde Park, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Public Art, Redevelopment, Retail

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Corazon — your Hyde Park source for guayaberas, Lucha Libre masks, and other assorted crafty and gifty south-of-the-border imports — has lost its lease and will be leaving its longtime spot at the northwest corner of Waugh and Fairview within a month, store owner Chris Murphy reports. The 6,250-sq.-ft. lot it sits on, which includes aÂ recently demolished property at 1410 Fairview, is now under contract after being marketed as a redevelopment site.

Corazon moved into its current home in 1998 — from a location in the former Gramercy Apartments on Montrose Blvd. across from Bell Park (where the Museum Tower now stands). The corner spot at 2318 Waugh Dr. has a craft-y history: Previously a furniture refinishing shop, the building reportedly earlier had gigs as an antique store, a glass-blowing studio, a general store, and a smithy. Murphy says he expects it to be demolished — and replaced with townhomes.

The structure is perhaps best known to passers-by, however, as a frame for the fifth-ever red dot, painted by Red Dot Boys (and former Houstonians) Robert Ramos and Rick Carpenter, as shown here in this undated image from the Red Dot Boys website:

Folk Art History

77006, Hyde Park, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Public Art, Redevelopment, Retail

08/09/17 10:45am

Texadelphia’s Triumphant Return to the Westheimer Strip

Franchises and Chain Stores, Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants, Woodlake

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TEXADELPHIA’S TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO THE WESTHEIMER STRIP A little more than 2 years after retreating from its last Houston outpost — and later, having to see its former Westheimer location festooned with a giant Beaver statue — Tex-Mex cheesesteak chain Texadelphia is ready to return. Houston’s very first-in-a-while Texadelphia franchise is scheduled to open by late next month in the endcap of the Westside Plaza strip center at 8383 Westheimer Rd., on the corner of Dunvale, where it will replace the recently shuttered Potbelly sandwich shop pictured above. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: The Square Foot

77063, Fast Food, Franchises, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Woodlake

08/08/17 4:45pm

Inferno Pizza Now Heating Up at the Base of SkyHouse River Oaks Tower

Highland Village, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail

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The 25-story SkyHouse River Oaks apartment tower, completed at the end of 2015 on a portion of the site of the former Westcreek Apartments just west of the San Felipe Target, has actual streetfront retail on its ground floor. And as of last week, it’s all full and open. That’s when Inferno Pizza began serving in the 2,400-sq.-ft. space atÂ 2031 Westcreek Ln. Suite N1. The neighboring space has been a Glow Spa and Nails since last year.

There’s designated parking for spa- and pizza-goers in the first floor of the building’s garage. Pizza Inferno’s interior is organized like most fast-casual you-tell-us-how-to-assemble-it restaurants, though the buildout also added a 600-sq.-ft. mezzanine dining area and some patio seating (tables are coming in a few weeks) in front:

Tower Pizza

77027, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail

07/26/17 4:30pm

Sweet Mesquite Rebirthing in Ragin’ Cajun’s Abandoned Underground Lair Below Main

Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants

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SWEET MESQUITE REBIRTHING IN RAGIN’ CAJUN’S ABANDONED UNDERGROUND LAIR BELOW MAIN A sign advertising a new Sweet Mesquite Grill has appeared in the tunnel-facing storefront under the McKinney Place Garage where Ragin’ Cajun shut down a few months ago. The spot below 930 Main St. Downtown is scheduled to open in a month as a Sweet Mesquite do-over. The restaurant in the shopping center at 1570 S. Dairy Ashford near Briar Forest Dr. was a Sweet Mesquite Grill before it became Mesquite Cottage; the new tunnel location henceforth will be the only Sweet Mesquite Grill in town, but is expected to be a bit of a reboot from the original. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Swamplot inbox

77002, Downtown, Downtown Tunnels, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

Bars and Clubs

07/25/17 10:30am

Washington Ave’s Social Junkie Reaches the End Zone

Openings and Closings, Washington Corridor

15 Comments

One clue that the Social Junkie Sports Bar has come to the end of its almost-4-year run at the northwest corner of Washington Ave and Sawyer St.: The end-zone-styled valet parking lot pictured in the above recent photo is empty — all the way to the 25-yard line. Another clue: the “It’s been real . . . we out” goodbye notice posted to the establishment’s Instagram feed over the weekend. A reader tells us the place is shuttered and everything inside has been “thrown away.”

77007, Bars and Clubs, Openings and Closings, Washington Corridor

Gone Braun

Bankruptcies

07/14/17 9:15am

More Houston Retail Breakups: Alfred Angelo Bridal Calls It Quits

Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Retail

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MORE HOUSTON RETAIL BREAKUPS: ALFRED ANGELO BRIDAL CALLS IT QUITS Bridesmaid- and wedding-dress store Alfred Angelo appears to be shuttering all 62 of its locations nationwide, amid reports of a possible sudden bankruptcy filing. That would leave the Galleria-area Al’s Formal Wear all alone — it sits next door to the Alfred Angelo Bridal in the strip shopping center at 1801 Post Oak Blvd. It should leave the Al’s Formal Wear in the Baybrook Square shopping center kinda lonely too — it faces the Gulf Fwy. right next door to the Alfred Angelo Bridal at 1201 W. Bay Area Blvd. in Webster. The third Houston-area Alfred Angelo location — pictured above in the Commons at Willowbrook shopping center, across from the Willowbrook Mall at 7550-A FM 1960 West — is a little more sequestered from its tuxedo counterpart: Alfred Angelo sits between a DSW Shoe Warehouse and a Ross Dress for Less; the Al’s Formal Wear is wedged between a Panda Express and a Beck’s Prime on the opposite side of the shopping center parking lot. [abc13] Photo: Alfred Angelo Bridal

77056, 77070, 77598, Bankruptcies, Openings and Closings, Retail

07/13/17 10:45am

5 Slim Chickens Caught Crossing Houston Border

Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Restaurants, Vintage Lakes

2 Comments

5 SLIM CHICKENS CAUGHT CROSSING HOUSTON BORDER The Slim Chicken drive-ups in Katy, Cypress, Spring, and Humble will soon be joined by 5 new locations of the restaurant franchiseÂ inside the Houston city limits. First up: wingsÂ and Texas-shaped waffles will become available atÂ 9850 Louetta Rd. in Vintage Lakes, right byÂ Aldi and just down the street from the fast-food mecca known as Vintage Marketplace. A Kingwood location atÂ 30255 LoopÂ 494 should open later this summer, though it isn’t clear if the Arkansas-based chain is counting that location as one of its 5 genuineÂ Houston spots. [Eater Houston] Photo of the Slim Chicken opened late last year atÂ 9255 FM 1960 Bypass Rd. in Humble: Edwin R.

77070, 77339, Fast Food, Franchises, Openings and Closings, Proposed Developments, Restaurants, Vintage Lakes

Adaptive Reuse

07/06/17 3:00pm

Reopened East End Hardware on Leeland Now Welcoming Dogs, Offering Screwdrivers

Bars and Clubs, East Downtown, Openings and Closings

6 Comments

Actual neighborhood hardware store East End Hardware (see inset second photo) went belly-up only a few years after its 2012 opening at 3005 Leeland St. (at the corner of Ennis St. in East Downtown). Now opened in its place, as of the first of this month, is a replacement (pictured at top): East End Hardware.

Among the changes: a revamped exterior, with the name of the establishment now rendered in vintage Houston blue tile; a dog-friendly patio; and a new beverage menu that includes 20 beers on tap, mixed drinks, andÂ “boozy” New Orleans-style sno-balls in flavors such as piÃ±a colada, tiger’s blood, and screwdriver. Also: food.

EaDo Hard Drinks and Wares

77003, Adaptive Reuse, Bars, East Downtown, Openings and Closings, Retail

06/23/17 10:00am

Southeast and Southwest Houston Sears Stores Going South

Friendswood, Malls, Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Retail, Westwood

16 Comments

SOUTHEAST AND SOUTHWEST HOUSTON SEARS STORES GOING SOUTH Included in the latest round of SearsÂ store closings:Â the mall-anchor locations atÂ the Baybrook Mall (offÂ the Gulf Fwy. at Bay Area Blvd.) and the Westwood Mall (off the Southwest Fwy. at Bissonnet). LiquidationÂ sales are scheduled to begin by the end of this month; the stores will shut down completely by the middle of September.Â ThisÂ will bring theÂ the number of Sears Holdings stores scheduled to close this year to 265.Â [USA Today; Business Insider] Aerial view of Sears at the Baybrook Mall: CBRE

77074, 77546, Friendswood, Malls, Openings and Closings, Retail, Westwood

06/15/17 2:30pm

Fast Indian Comes to the Strip Center End of 19th St.

Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Strip Centers

7 Comments

Just opened this week in Re:Vive Development’s new add-on strip center at 721 W. 19th St., just west of Shepherd Dr.: the first Houston outpost of Austin’s Tarka Indian Kitchen chain, a Chipotle-style “fast casual” restaurant serving curries, kabobs, and — yes — naaninis. Next door to diners in the 4,295-sq.-ft. steel-frame building, the new Benjamin Moore Paints store (seen here under constructionÂ last year) is also open, a reader reports.

In lieu of a parking-space-and-a-half on the side of the building facing past more parking ontoÂ the more sugary part of the center closer to Shepherd (home to Fat Cat Creamery, Hugs and Donuts, Smoothie King, and KA Sushi) is this dusty square, designated for a future patio: