Workers at the Highland Village Shopping Center appear to be doing some demo work to the vacant building at 4045 Westheimer, a reader notes: They’re removing bricks from the parapet wall of the front facade. The dramatic Mod overhang that once wrapped the front and framed the entrance of Tootsies is gone. The building has been without a tenant since the upscale boutique left for Upper Kirby 2 years ago. A year before that, as Tootsies announced its move to West Ave, Highland Village owner Haidar Barbouti said he planned to tear down the building and build a 100,000-sq.-ft. multi-level retail space — with underground parking — in its place.
Would warehouse facilities have worked as well? Katherine Shilcutt explains: “A long-running joke with many Houstonians is that no one quite knew how Rice Epicurean Markets stayed in business. . . . While all kinds of wild rumors flew about how Rice Epicurean stores stayed open despite a lack of traffic, the truth is that most of its customers — which tend to be both older and wealthier — opted for grocery delivery service at home. And while this sustained Rice Epicurean for many years, it appears that this model wasn’t quite enough to keep its stores in business.” The chain’s lone surviving store, at 2020 Fountain View between San Felipe and Inwood, will continue home deliveries. [Eating Our Words; 
The blogger grocery store reviews are in! Or at least one of them, for the just-opened Kroger south of the Heights at 1440 Studemont. Former Stop & Shop cashier Viula finds helpful price scanners, a few extremely wide aisles (and a few especially narrow ones), some discolored lettuces, some very shy salsa, and strange logic in the organization of orange and orange-y juices: “
Here’s a view from earlier today of the ceiling inside Rizwan Siddiqi’s Cell Phone Wholesale shop at 3633 Hillcroft. Shortly before 4 this morning, a thief dropped into the store and grabbed as many as 80 smartphones before climbing back out the way he came, through the roof. 
October 26th is gonna be a busy day for the once-industrial zone south of I-10 just west of Downtown. Sure, it’s Halloween candy-hoarding time. And you’ll have 2 large new venues for it. It’ll be opening day not only for the 
“Hundreds of blue shopping carts area already lined up in the parking lot” of the “Washington Heights” Walmart SuperCenter at 111 Yale St. and Koehler, reports Charlotte Aguilar. When will customers start lining up? 
