Swamplot Archives by Tag: Shopping

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Hakeem Olajuwon’s Moon Shot, A Long Way from the Galleria

   

The two-time NBA champ opened DR34M in December to showcase his line of luxury men’s sportswear, leather goods, and body lotions — but the 3300 East Nasa Pkwy. location struck some as unlikely: The Jim West Mansion? In Clear Lake? Where NASA used to study the moon? Houston Chronicle‘s Joy Sewing drops by to see what the baller has done to the old place: “[Olajuwon] took great care to maintain the integrity of the mansion . . . . The great room is likely one of the most impressive entry ways of any luxury store from Louis Vuitton to Hermès. . . . He commissioned an artist to add gold-leaf accents throughout the mansion. . . . In the west wing, the DR34M sportswear collection is prominently displayed in a room that features flooring from the Rockets’ 1995 NBA championship game.” And it’s only about 40 minutes south on I-45, far from Uptown: “It would not make the same impact (at the Galleria),” Olajuwon tells Sewing. [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Candace Garcia

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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Comment of the Day: Introducing the La Branch St. Shopping District

   

“La Branch Street is the answer. Make a linear ‘shopping district’ 5th Avenue style. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel — copy what already works. Instead of a cluster inspired district that will encourage development of a few blocks, the entire street will become synonymous with shopping in Downtown Houston. The street’s location has many benefits to creating a thriving retail shopping district: connectivity from the Northside all the way down to Hermann Park, ample empty parking lot blocks immediately adjacent ripe for development from the ground up, walking distance from all four of eastern Downtown’s major attractions (Minute Maid, Toyota Center, Discovery Green, and GRB), future MetroRail stops nearby (though an added stop between Austin and LaBranch would benefit such a district tremendously), and relative ease of location finding for drivers. A linear shopping district downtown would further accelerate residential development in all of eastern downtown, be it north, central, or south. No resident living on the eastern side of Downtown would have to cross more than three streets to get to La Branch. A cluster shopping district would only encourage development in its immediate vicinity; only so many residents could live within that three block range. The greatest advantage of a linear district is location finding — there’s no need to study maps and such to find where the Downtown retail is — just go park near La Branch Street and you’re there. Who really knows how to get to Houston Pavilions anyhow? No kitschy names that are created by focus groups — the La Branch Shopping District. Put up some new place identifier street name signs to be sure. Flags on light poles too. How many more out of town tourists/fans/convention attendees will be more likely to go shopping if directions will consist of ‘Walk thata way ’til you reach La Branch–You’re there.’? Create a TIRZ for the linear district to incentivize the retail pioneers until the tipping point is reached at which retail and residential will create growth off of each other. Perhaps make the focus of the TIRZ building mixed-use parking garages to replace parking lots — create such a vast, easily accessible, free quantity of parking that the current perceived barrier to venturing downtown is eliminated.” [Thomas, commenting on Downtown Would Like To Know If You Would Like To Shop Downtown]

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Friday, January 18, 2013

The Woodlands To Get 7th Village Center, 4th H-E-B

One more of each, thank you: Creekside Park Village Center, rendered above, will be the Woodlands’ 7th and will be anchored by its 4th H-E-B, the master-planned community says. The shopping center will serve Creekside Park, a 100-acre community planned to go in up there west of Lake Paloma. It appears that the center will herd its shoppers inward toward a 4,300-sq.-ft. glass-walled restaurant, which you can see in the rendering. And there’s gonna be a fire pit in that park-like median-thing. (And a water feature on the other end. You know. Just in case.) In all, 80,000 sq. ft. of retail and office space are proposed for the site on Kuykendahl.

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Downtown Would Like To Know If You Would Like To Shop Downtown

   

Around the same time that Macy’s announced it was closing its store at 1110 Main St., Mayor Parker announced that she’d organized a task force to figure out how to plug up the gaps in Downtown retail; accordingly, the Downtown Management District’s recruiting whichever Houstonians it can to respond to a 20-question shopping survey. It’ll be up through January 31. [Downtown Houston; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Flickr user cjt3

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Tuesday, January 15, 2013

A Fake Street for Real Estate Shoppers in Spring

   

Opening in February, reports CultureMap, is a 10,000-sq.-ft. real estate “park” where a dozen lavishly turned-out showcase homes, ranging in styles from “The Midtown” to “The Calais” to “The Ashby Manor,” are presented for your perusal on a private cul-de-sac near I-45. Think of the immersive, don’t-mind-if-I-do shopping at IKEA blown up to the scale of Disney World — except at MainStreet America there will be fireworks and Christmases and tailgating parties and almost everything will be for sale:Do you like the paint color, the metallic faux technique on the ceiling or the graphic wallpaper accent in the bedroom? The details are available and so are the prices. In fact, you can make the purchase on site. If that couch, occasional table or rug is what you are looking for, swap that credit card and have them delivered. Floral arrangements? Yes, those are for sale as well. Mirrors? Check. Artwork? In stock. Window treatments? You bet.” Admission for adults is only $10; children aged 5-17 can get in for half that. [CultureMap] Photo: MainStreet America

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Monday, June 27, 2011

Battle of the Houston Art Fairs

   

Kelly Klaasmeyer scores the 2 rival events planned for this fall, all the while hoping that “a crop of completely unsanctioned peripheral shows and events will erupt and liven things up.”: “What Houston is getting are two temporary art malls. That’s what art fairs are, malls for art. They can be malls with good art or bad art but they are still malls. But, hey, I like shopping. And I’m not so idealistic that I’m going to pretend that art isn’t a commodity. And if they are good malls, then maybe more people will come to us for their art shopping needs. And maybe they will discover Houston artists to collect. Hopefully all the events for VIP collectors, ‘cocktail parties at collectors’ homes, special museum tours, viewings of corporate collections and on-site receptions’ will help the cause as well. But I’m not so gullible that I’m going to believe these are somehow civic events. (And they are by no means free to the public.) Oil is high now and Houston has money. Here come the carpetbagger-fair organizers.” [Glasstire]

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Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Comment of the Day: Freeing Your Mind and Your Neighborhood from the Shackles of the Rat Race

   

“Reading these comments . . . I am stunned at the level of hyper-consumerism displayed by those who claim to be enlightened and conscientious stewards of our urban landscape. Every post regarding anything in the inner loop unleashes a torrent of demands for more retail…but only the RIGHT kind of retail…and only the RIGHT size and location. There are always several nuanced posts about what type of consumer good is the RIGHT one to buy, what type of purveyor is the RIGHT one to patronize, and what type of building is the RIGHT one to house said consumer goods.

It strikes me that there is precious little attempt at limiting over-consumption, simply demand for the type of consumption that befits one who is attempting to burnish one’s green or socially conscious bonafides. Several years back, as I tired of competing for attention with the products that I purchase or wear, I noticed that once I limited my consumption, the concern over what type and location of the stores around me waned as well. I certainly do not care if the clerk selling me a $3 bottle of wine wears a Hawaiian shirt or a blue one, especially knowing that the company selling the wine engages in the same cutthroat business practices as all of the other retailers . . .

This is why it matters not whether Walmart builds in the neighborhood, or Whole Foods, or Trader Joe’s. I spend so little at any of them that they aren’t moving here for me. Any of those stores (minus Trader Joe’s) would fulfill my weekly shopping needs, and the 1 mile drive once a week that I make isn’t hurting the environment nearly as much as the apparent daily shopping trips to buy the RIGHT products that many of my neighbors apparently make.” [Dave, commenting on Trader Joe’s Is Now Looking To Open Stores in Houston]

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Monday, November 22, 2010

Comment of the Day: Sugar Land Shopping Outings, Between Innings

   

“Maybe this is a new suburban form of mixed use development. Who says you can’t pick up your prescriptions, grab a venti latte and watch a ball game all at the same place?” [Matt, commenting on New Sugar Land Minor League Stadium Easily Assembled from Standardized Suburban Parts]

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Monday, September 20, 2010

Where Short-Term Leases Are Available

   

Last year’s temporary store in the Galleria (one of 90 nationwide) worked out well for the company, so Toys “R” Us is trying it again, in 7 sites throughout the Houston area. Lucky them: A number of malls have space available this year. Toys “R” Us Express stores will open soon at the Galleria, in the West Oaks Mall, Pasadena Town Square, Greenspoint Mall, Katy Mills Mall, Baybrook Mall, and the Outlets at Conroe to handle the holiday toy rush. But all are scheduled to close in January. Nationwide, 600 new 4,000-sq.-ft.-or-so short-time Express locations this year will double the number of Toys “R” Us stores for the real part of the retail season. Half of those stores have already opened. [Houston's Hiring]

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Monday, September 13, 2010

Comment of the Day: Appreciating Architecture in a State of Distraction

   

“Sad to see the area lose some of its deco history. That being said, I shop at the Walgreen’s next door once weekly, and I’ve never even noticed this building.” [Superdave, commenting on Daily Demolition Report: MiniMax Axe]

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

A Little Romance at Pak’s

And now, yet another Montrose convenience-store fantasy.

Video: Sharad Patel

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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Design Diagrams: Brown Bags the Charts and Big Lanterns

“Brown finds itself at the epicenter of two major design styles that [have] swept the country,” declares Cote de Texas’s Joni Webb. And those would be? “The Belgian and Industrial looks.”

In Houston at least, Jill Brown appears to have cornered the market on large lantern-style lighting fixtures and European instructional charts. On separate recent visits to her last-name-only shop on the corner of Ferndale and W. Alabama, Webb and fellow design blogger Paloma Contreras documented the finds:

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Friday, June 15, 2007

What’s So Frustrating About the Downtown Tunnels

Downtown Houston Tunnel and Frustrating Shopper

The mysterious Tunnel Mole, posting on Houstoned, provides a succinct list of shopping features missing from the not-so-glamorous Downtown daytime underground scene:

It’s got infinite ways to get annoying chores done, except it’s devoid of the most annoying ones that you want to do while you’re on the clock, like upgrading your cell phone. And here’s what else you don’t have in the tunnel:

*Music
*Movies
*Television
*Sex (not that we’ve noticed, anyway)
*Liquor
*Dreams of a Houston team snaring the pennant/Super Bowl

In short, anything that could sweep you up from the realities of life. The tunnel’s very grounded, because duh, it is in the ground.

Photo: “In space no one can hear you scream,” by Flickr user Matthew Wedgwood

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Monday, May 21, 2007

West Ave: Shiny, Happy People Holding Shopping Bags

View Down West Ave

The teaser website for the apartments-and-retail complex slated for that large, recently scraped site at the southwest corner of Kirby and Westheimer is up! What will you find there? For starters, a trance soundtrack you’ll have a tough time figuring out how to turn off, plus slick rendered views and a whizzy video of a dark and urban-looking streetscape where pedestrians wield shopping bags and hover precariously on balconies.

This is the former site of the River Oaks Tennis Center. The development is named West Ave, and to prove it they’re putting in a new street by the same name just west of Kirby, extending from Kipling to Westheimer. Of course the big news is the two floors of retail space facing Kirby, West Avenue, and Westheimer. On top of that: five stories of apartments, managed by Gables Residential. The parking garage is tucked in back.

After the jump: The plan and more images.

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