Your latest retail edition:
- Closing and Expanding: New Orleans import Kaboom Books has shut down its Studewood location in the Heights strip center next to Antidote Coffee. Open now: more space for books and readers in the 3116 Houston Ave. storefront at the end of Bayland in Woodland Heights. The expanded store incorporates the north end of the streetfront building, and includes a back yard and reading area.
- Moving: The storefront division of PH Design Shop, from its Shepherd Dr. hangout next to Sugarbaby’s Cupcake Boutique, to a larger 1,440-sq.-ft. space at 2414 Rice Blvd. in the head-in-parking paradise of Rice Village, later this month. The new store will allow the addition of gifts and tabletop items to the store’s mix of custom mix of funky paper goods and custom design services.
One more:
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- Closing Over the Next 2 Years: 200 Gap clothing stores in North America. CEO Glenn Murphy said this week the brand had “lost our edge here a little bit,” but the company hasn’t announced which stores will disappear. Over the same time period, the company plans to increase the number of Gap outlet locations by 250 stores.
Got the scoop on any more retail switcheroos? Send us your tips!
- Read the Sign [TwitPic]
- Retail Rap [PaperCity]
- Gap closing 200 stores over 2 years [Columbus Business First]
Photo: Kaboom Books
the gap outlets are the worst ones! it’s just shit clothing. i love outlet stores and there are plenty of good examples where you don’t feel like you are picking through a messy pile of clothes. unfortunately, gap is not a good example of an outlet.
The Kaboom move is positive–it was always a bit weird for them to have two stores located in the same neighborhood. The Houston Ave store is probably off the beaten track for most, but worth the trip–especially if you approach it from Bayland Ave., one of Houston’s most beautiful streets.
Love Kaboom! Love the owners!
Any idea if Antidote will expand to take over the Kaboom space, or if it’ll be put up for lease?
We adore Kaboom!
The world would be a better place without Gap. It’s boring and overpriced. Who even shops there? Just shut down already! Old Navy and Banana are better off without Gap dragging them down.