COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE FLEA MARKET GROWTH CYCLE “Canton Trade Days would not have lasted this long if it was a ‘secret.’ I used to go there twice a year, spring and fall. It was fun stomping around on the grounds amid tables and tents full of so many varieties of ‘stuff.’ Then, the owners started building all these covered pavilions, permanent structures with concrete floors and tall tin roofs. Naturally the vendors love them but rent is higher. So naturally the vendors have to charge more. So naturally, being a buyer, I’d buy less. And so on and so on etc. It’s not so fun anymore. But . . . I’m sure that there will always be those like the author of the above article who will discover the flea market and think it’s wonderful, thus establishing a family outing tradition for a number of years until it’s no longer fun for them. And so on and so on etc.” [PYEWACKET2, commenting on Headlines: The Chinese Drywall of Ashford Place; Oldest and Biggest Outdoor Flea]
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Tag: Retail
“A couple things still remain up in the air,” about the new Walmart going in just south of Idylwood, reports East End blogger Lauren H. from that neighborhood’s front lines: “Like whether they are going to hire security or whether they are going to be able to sell alcohol.” After recent plan changes, the neighborhood’s southern border will end up with a buffer of at least 61 ft. from the big-box store’s parking lot. The store has grown, too: an additional 35,000 sq. ft. from a reduction announced early last year, made easier after the company bought the property directly on the corner of Wayside and the Gulf Fwy. feeder. It’ll end up at approximately 185,000 sq. ft., according to the recent plans she’s posted on her site. The corner purchase makes possible a second entrance from the feeder road, and resulted in a shift of the store’s garden and auto center to its Idylwood side:
CITYCENTRE OWNER BUYING HOUSTON PAVILIONS 
Houston’s Midway Companies, along with an unnamed New York Partner, is set to acquire Houston Pavilions from the receiver who took over the Downtown mall last year, according to a report in today’s HBJ. Reporter Jennifer Dawson notes reports to the bankruptcy court indicate that the development’s retail space is now 66 percent leased, and the property has a positive cash flow — before debt service. In the year before its default, Pavilions’ original developer made no payments on its original $120.6 million 2007 loan. [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Haynes-Whalley
COMMENT OF THE DAY: UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS AT KIRBY AND WEST ALABAMA “Ulta Cosmetics is taking the ground floor of the former Borders space and Texas Children’s Hospital is taking the upstairs.” [Keep Houston Scenic, commenting on Borders Activity Report]
BORDERS ACTIVITY REPORT 
There appears to be some construction going on inside the former Borders Books at the corner of Kirby and West Alabama in the Centre at River Oaks Shopping Center. Next door, at the restaurant spot formerly occupied by Pesce, workers are busy transforming and expanding the space into a Brio Tuscan Grille. But a Swamplot reader says the work on Borders looks separate: “Workers were going in and out. The whole inside looks gutted and the doors to specifically Borders were open and there was a table behind the green fence with water coolers. Even the 2nd floor doors where the coffee place was inside Borders were open. . . . When they initially started the demo at Pesce the green fence didn’t extend. Its only recently been there.” [Culturemap; Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Swamplot inbox
How well does a store built of structural glass hold up under gunfire? Probably better than your typical plate-glass storefront — though the repair costs are likely to be higher. A reader sends Swamplot this photo showing the smaller of 2 glass panels damaged by bullets earlier this week at the brand-new Apple Store in Houston’s Highland Village Shopping Center. Between the hours of 4:40 and 5:40 Monday morning someone in a vehicle speeding down Westheimer shot at 5 businesses, including 2 gas stations and the Cantoni furniture showroom past Gessner. No one was injured. Apple Store customers were routed to the building’s rear entrance after it opened for business, according to Click2Houston reporter Courtney Zavala.
Views of the damage from the outside, from Monday’s TV report:
BLAST BEGINS TOTAL HOUSTON TAKEOVER OF BALLY TOTAL FITNESS 
Today’s the day all 18 remaining Texas locations of Bally Total Fitness — including 9 in Houston — are scheduled to switch over to control by their new owner, Blast! Fitness. Before it bought 39 clubs in 9 states from the struggling chain in a deal announced earlier this month, Blast was an operator of only 15 gyms in 4 northern states. Last year, Bally sold 171 clubs nationwide to LA Fitness, but held onto all of its Houston locations. Blast says it’ll honor all Bally memberships; transferred Bally members will also still be able to work out in the 60 remaining Bally clubs in other states. [Club Industry] Photo of Bally Total Fitness at 9801 Katy Fwy.: MetroNational
A PEEK INSIDE HOUSTON’S NEW J. CREW NO. 2 
That topless mannequin will likely have a coverup before tomorrow’s grand opening of the J. Crew inside CityCentre. A Swamplot reader snapped this peekaboo photo of the store’s innards yesterday, through a gap in the window paper. The only other J. Crew store in Houston is in the Galleria (there’s also one in the Katy Mills Mall). Photo: Swamplot inbox
Its brand-new, built-from-scratch store at the Woodlands Crossing Shopping Center near the corner of Woodlands Pkwy. and Kuykendahl Rd. (10868 Kuykendahl if you’re setting coordinates now) looking darn near ready-to-be-shopped-in (above), Trader Joe’s has at last announced an opening date for it: June 15th. Openings of the 2 other announced Houston-area stores — in the former Alabama Theater on S. Shepherd and West Alabama, and in a new building on Voss just north of San Felipe in Memorial — will take place before the end of the year, but haven’t yet been publicly scheduled.
- Trader Joe’s announces opening date of Woodlands store [Community Impact]
- Previously on Swamplot: Latest Pix of the Woodlands’ Trader Joe’s, Opening Soon, The 3 Trader Joe’s Grocery Stores Coming to the Houston Area
Photo: Sweetmocha
AMAZON.COM PURCHASES WILL NO LONGER BE TAX-FREE FOR TEXAS 
Amazon.com and the State of Texas were able to work out a deal to cover that little $269 million bill for uncollected sales taxes the comptroller’s office sent the online retailer last September. And the result may benefit brick-and-mortar stucco-and-Styrofoam retailers throughout the state. Beginning July 1, Amazon will begin charging sales tax on all online purchases shipped to Texas. The company has also promised to invest at least $200 million in Texas, create at least 2,500 new jobs here over the next 4 years, and cough up an undisclosed payment. Early last year, Amazon had threatened to shut down its distribution center outside of Dallas. [Star-Telegram] Photo of Irving distribution center: Kati Drisc/Texas Tribune
IT’LL TAKE A LITTLE WHILE TO ASSEMBLE THAT NEW IKEA ROOFTOP FURNITURE 
All the pieces are there, but now here comes the hard part. A scene familiar to many IKEA customers is now taking place on a large scale on top of the Houston IKEA store’s roof, where workers from contractor REC Solar are assembling flat-packed stacks of 3,962 solar panels into a 116,400-sq.-ft. PV array. The panels arrived on site at the end of last year, but construction won’t be complete until sometime this summer. When it’s done, the company says, the installation will generate enough energy to power 113 homes — or a larger number of in-store room displays. [Swamplot inbox; previously on Swamplot] Photo: IKEA Houston
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WOULD’VE KNOCKED IT IF I HADN’T TRIED IT “Normally, I’m all for jumping on the ‘this is why we’re fat’ bandwagon, as well as the one that’s opposed to Austin imports. But having sampled a Tootie Pie, they are dang good. I’m actually excited about this one.” [MJ, commenting on More Houses Wanted for More Pies]
MORE HOUSES WANTED FOR MORE PIES 
HBJ food-beat reporter Allison Wollam, who’s heard recently that “pies are the ‘new cupcakes,’†reports that San Antonio pie chain Tootie Pies is scouring Houston for locations to build 8 new Tootie Pie Gourmet Cafés here over the next 2 years. That would more than double the new chain’s current lineup: The sixth Tootie location recently opened in Austin’s Westlake Village; other stores are in San Antonio, Austin, Fredericksburg, and the Dallas area. [Houston Business Journal] Photo of Austin store: Dan B.
NO, DUNKIN’ DONUTS IS NOT COMING TO THE CORNER OF WESTHEIMER AND DUNLAVY 
Did yesterday’s announcement that Dunkin’ Donuts plans to open 16 new franchises in Houston over the next 5 years add fuel to the persistent rumor that one of them is headed for the recently cleared northwest corner of Westheimer and Dunlavy in Montrose? A leasing agent who says he’s negotiating with “a couple of very strong retailers” to get them into the new 4,829-sq.-ft. center planned for the site by owner SFT Investments is ready to quash it. “I will tell you that at no time were we in negotiations with Dunkin Donuts,” Jed Mandel of Edge Realty Partners tells Swamplot. “I do not know how that rumor was started but I still get phone calls on the property begging us not to put them in.” [Swamplot inbox] Rendering: Edge Realty Partners
COMMENT OF THE DAY: IN DEFENSE OF IKEA’S STARTER SOLAR PANELS “1) The electricity amount is irrelevant. What better option is there for using their rooftop real estate? 2) All energy projects are subsidized. The main differences with solar is that homes and businesses can access energy subsidies generally reserved for much larger corporations who work further upstream. 3) Assuming an install cost of $2.50/W, an effective generation rate of $0.08/kwh, the Fed ITC of 30%, and depreciation, the project has 12 year payback on a 25 year warranty. It’s not great investment, but its a secure, has markting benefits, and increases the resale value of their building. Also, I imagine the recession has curtailed IKEA expansion, which implies IKEA is running out of depreciable assets. 4) Most state and local incentives are giant wastes of money, but Houston has none. In fact, it is the largest US city without a net-metering policy, and as such you can’t eliminate your electric bill with 100% on-site power generation in Houston anyway.” [SolarWonk, commenting on Houston IKEA Going Solar]