Tag: Openings and Closings

Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

11/02/17 11:30am

Unhappy with Neighbor, Happy Fatz Shuts Down Its White Oak Hot Dog and Bakery Operation

by Dan Singer

8 Comments

Specialty hot dog shop and bakery Happy Fatz closed its bungalow doors for good yesterday at 3510 White Oak Dr. — after 6 and a half years in the Heights. â€œThe uphill battle with the â€˜neighboringâ€™ house for the last 2 years became a greater challenge than expected,â€ reads a brief announcement posted yesterday to the restaurant’s Facebook page. A new 2-story, 4,400-sq.-ft. home was constructed last year on an adjacent property — a portion of which formerly served as a patio and parking lot for the restaurant. It’s currently listed for sale.

Happy Fatz’s owners write that they’ll continue to open pop-up shops in the Houston area. But they say they’ll be turning their attention to the Hill Country, opening a restaurant called Wildflour Artisan Bakery & Grill in Canyon Lake.

Photo:Â Kim W.

Out of the Dog House

77007, Houston Heights, Neighborhood Disputes, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

10/30/17 3:30pm

Original Fadi’s Mediterranean Grill Locked Out After 20 Years on Westheimer

Leasing, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Woodlake

5 Comments

A 2-page letter posted to the front door of the Fadi’s Mediterranean Grill in the Westside Plaza shopping center at 8383 Westheimer on Friday explains that the landlord has terminated the lease on the property and is demanding the tenant pay close to $71,000 in back rent. Fadi Dimassi opened the first Fadi’s at this location in 1996; with this closing Fadi’s is now down to 8 locations, including 3 franchised spots in Dallas.

According to the letter, the lease term officially expired at the end of January. Since that time, Texadelphia has moved into the spot next door, replacing the Potbelly Sandwich shop shown in the photo above.

A Swamplot tipster notes the restaurant was open for business on Saturday but locked out on Sunday, with all tables, chairs, and restaurant property still inside. In an interview with the Houston Press in 2015, Dimassi noted that the $18,000-a-month rent his company was paying for the Dunvale location had spurred his interest in purchasing real estate for subsequent locations.

Photo:Â Miguel Paez

Done with Dunvale

77063, Leasing, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Woodlake

10/27/17 1:30pm

Take 5’s Richmond Ave Coffee-Adjacent Oil Changeover

Franchises and Chain Stores, Montrose, Richwood Place

3 Comments

Here’s the other new purveyor of brownish fluids at the corner of Richmond Ave and Woodhead: The 13th area Take 5 Oil Change — and the chain’s fifth location in Houston proper — is now open for business, a few steps ahead of the adjacent new Starbucks. The building takes the place of a pair of 2-story brick 4-plexes at 1823 and 1827 Richmond torn down last year.

Take 5’s leaky-oil-can logo will greet drivers lined up for the Starbucks drive-thru, as this site plan shows:

77098, Franchises and Chain Stores, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Richwood Place

Now Open and For Sale

10/26/17 4:15pm

Starbucks Store No. 48023 Comes to Richmond Ave

Montrose, New Construction, Restaurants, Richwood Place

3 Comments

The mocha-colored drive-thru Starbucks that’s been brewing at 1801 Richmond Ave. since its predecessor building was torn down in January now appears just about ready to serve. Landscape crews are plopping in plants on the Richmond Ave. side; this view taken from an upper floor of the nearby Fairmont Museum District Apartments shows how the new building looks nestled next to its notable neighbors, which include the Big Tex Storage facilityÂ and King Cole liquor store across Richmond andÂ Mexican restaurant La TapatiaÂ just across Woodhead:

Montrose Drive-Thru

77098, Coffee Shops, Montrose, New Construction, Openings and Closings, Richwood Place, Starbucks

10/25/17 1:45pm

A Mattress Store Has Closed in Montrose

Montrose, Openings and Closings, Retail

7 Comments

An intrepid mattress-store-monitoring reader notes that the Mattress 1 One (yeah, that’s how the company spells it out) in the northernmost spot of the strip center at S. Shepherd and W. Alabama across from CVS has closed down. Desperate mattress seekers need not worry, though: Plenty more outlets are available to pick up the slack. A note taped to the front door of the spot at 3101 S. Shepherd Dr., which despite the prominently placed Kensinger Donnelly FOR LEASE signs on the space insists that the location is only “closed for renovation,” directs would-be customers to the chain’s nearest still-open store: a full 3 blocks north on Shepherd, just south of Westheimer.

If that location doesn’t work for you, the Texas-and-Florida mattress chain lists a total of 16 Mattress 1 One locations within a 5-mile radius — though that includes the still-listed Shepherd-and-Alabama spot. And don’t forget competitor Mattress Firm, which has 18 locations of its own within that same area.

Previously on Swamplot: Latest Addition Brings Mattress Store Count to 9 within Half a Mile of Rice Village;Â How It Came To Be That 2 Separate Mattress Stores with the Same Name Are Now Open Side by Side on Westheimer;Â Your Map to Houston Mattress Chain Stores;Â How and Where Mattress Firm Is Conquering Houston, One Sleepy Strip Center Storefront at a Time

Photos: Margo

Mattrose

77098, Mattress Stores, Montrose, Openings and Closings, Retail

10/19/17 11:00am

Here’s a Big Sign That the LA Fitness on Yale Is Almost in Good Enough Shape To Open Next Month

Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers

7 Comments

Here are a few shots of 195 Yale St. just south of I-10 from yesterday afternoon, showing workers a few letters away from spelling out the long-delayed LA Fitness at the Yale Street Market shopping center. The sign, which faces the freeway, was completed by the end of the day:

Fitn In

77007, Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers

Downtown

10/16/17 3:30pm

Droubi Brothers Taken from the Streets Downtown

Openings and Closings, Restaurants

8 Comments

There’s a lockout notice posted to the front door of the ground-floor retail space of the 1100 Smith Garage Downtown on the corner of Dallas St. and Brazos St. Droubi Brothers Mediterranean Grill, at 507A Dallas St. — shown open in the older photo above — is nowÂ closed;Â the restaurant’s website has been taken down.

Here’s the notice:

Shawarma Gone

77002, Downtown, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

Disaster Aftermath

10/02/17 1:30pm

Flooded Big Boxes at Meyerland Plaza Still Out of Commission

Meyerland, Meyerland Plaza, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers

6 Comments

Pet Supermarket in Meyerland Plaza has reopened after taking on water after Hurricane Harvey, but it appears to be an exception among big-box stores lined in a row on the former mall site. Signs in front of Old Navy, OfficeMax, and Dressbarn declare the stores are closed — and direct customers to other locations, according to these photos and a report from a Swamplot reader. Here’s the scene in front of Old Navy, where notes in the window declare the store is closed “until further notice“:

Old Navy Underwater

77096, Disaster Aftermath, Hurricane Harvey, Meyerland, Meyerland Plaza, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers

09/25/17 2:30pm

Bungalow Full of Weird Ice Cream Flavors Now Open on Heights Blvd.

Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail

1 Comment

Fans of the mozzarella with balsamic, black beans & agave with lime curd, or mango & dried chilies ice creams, or the cucumber with cherries or watermelon & parsley sorbets dreamed up by pastry chef Chris Leung and offered this summer by Cloud 10 Creamery in the Rice Village will be happy to learn that the adventurous ice cream shop opened its Heights outpost late last week. Cloud 10 fills the former bungalow at 711 Heights Blvd. — now upgraded to an address of 711A in honor of a separate building added behind it — anchoring one end of the boulevard-facing section of the Heights Mercantile development.

Cloud 10 Creamery No. 2

77007, Houston Heights, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail

09/15/17 4:45pm

Pollo Tropical Sunset

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

8 Comments

POLLO TROPICAL SUNSET Citing “limited awareness” of the brand, the corporate parent of Pollo Tropical has decided not to reopen the last 2 remaining Houston-area locations of the Caribbean chicken fast-food chain after they were both damaged by floodwaters from Hurricane Harvey. Gone for good: the Pollo Tropical on Westheimer Rd. just west of Eldridge and the other at 11400 Broadway just east of Kirby Dr. in Pearland (pictured here). Three other Houston-area Pollo Tropicals closed in April. Fiesta Restaurant Group, which also owns the Taco Cabana chain, said in a release that it was also closing all 4 locations in San Antonio but might reopen as many as 2 of the shuttered restaurants in the region as Taco Cabanas. [BusinessWire; Houston Press] Photo: Fernando C.

Fast Food, Franchises and Chain Stores, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

09/13/17 1:30pm

Christian’s Tailgate Now Parked at AmazÃ³n Grill on Kirby Dr., Ready To Take Over

Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Upper Kirby

4 Comments

A new banner advertising a Christian’s Tailgate (pictured above) went up today on the vine-covered fence in front of the AmazÃ³n Grill at 5114 Kirby Dr., directly across from the Burger King between North Blvd. and Bissonnet St. The CordÃºa Restaurants fast-casual outlet shut down yesterday after 15 years in the same location. The restaurants’ parent company, which also operates AmÃ©ricas, Artista, and Churrascos, plans to continue AmazÃ³n Grill as a delivery-only business.

As of today, the space is being renovated — with plans for a quick turnover and reopening as a fifth location of Christian’s Tailgate Bar & Grill on October 1st.

Lower Upper Kirby

77098, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Upper Kirby

Downtown

08/29/17 4:15pm

Flooding Wrecks Theodore Rex’s Planned August Opening

Flooding, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Warehouse District

2 Comments

Just days before Harvey hit Houston, the newest corner restaurant at 1302 Nance St. in Downtown’s old warehouse district looked ready to debut. The photos here, taken by Swamplot reader Will Breaux shortly before the rains came and the waters swelled, show the spot formerly occupied by Oxheart sporting a new exterior paint job and window nameplate.

Inside, renovations had been taking place for months. Proprietor Justin Yu had plans to open Theodore Rex later in August. But the restaurant flooded. Now, he writes, “it might take a little more time to open.”

Justin Yuâ€™s Theodore Rex Sustains Flood Damage In Hurricane Harvey Flooding [Eater Houston]
Justin Yu Could Debut Theodore Rex By the End of the Month [Eater Houston]
Previously on Swamplot:Â Justin Yu To Close Oxheart, Spend Some Time in the Heights;Â Dharma Cafe to Ray’s Franks to Latin Bites to Oxheart

Photos:Â Will Breaux

To Redo Again

77002, Downtown, Flooding, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Warehouse District

08/23/17 1:00pm

Joe’s Crab Shack Is Now Completely Gone from Houston, but It’s Still Clinging to the Seawall in Galveston

Franchises and Chain Stores, Restaurants

4 Comments

The last pair of remaining Joe’s Crab Shack restaurants in Houston — at 2120 S. Hwy. 6, just north of the West Oaks Mall (pictured above), and at 20100 Hwy. 59 in Humble — closed this week, leaving the Seawall location in Galveston as the region’s sole outpost of the seafood chain. Three other Houston-area locations shut down earlier this month, ahead of the chain’s repurchase — approved in bankruptcy court last Thursday — by restaurant and entertainment giant Landry’s.

The original Joe’s Crab Shack opened in 1991 at 6218 Richmond Ave. (between Hillcroft and Fountain View); it was bought by Landry’s 3 years later and by 2006 had transformed into a 120-restaurant chain.

According to the Joe’s website, which for the most part appears to be keeping up with the latest unannounced closings, the chain is now down to 66 locations nationwideÂ (14 in Texas) — though more may drop before Landry’s officially takes over early next week.

Tilman Fertitta wins Joe’s Crab Shack in bankruptcy court [Houston Chronicle]
Previously on Swamplot:Â Joe’s Crab Shack Is Already Half-Gone from Houston

Photo of Joe’s Crab Shack at 2120 S. Hwy. 6: CREXi

Gone for Shore

Franchises and Chain Stores, Openings and Closings, Restaurants

Brookesmith

08/18/17 2:15pm

Skinny Rita’s Has Now Slimmed Down Almost Completely