COMMENT OF THE DAY: NOT ENTIRELY WEANED FROM THE BREASTFEEDING STORE “I also find the news sad. The store was so beautiful inside — I felt special walking in to rent a scale, get a consult, buy some clothes, or just use the couches to take a break and feed my babes (with Sandie’s help, I breastfed twins!). I didn’t really understand the name of the store (silly me, I didn’t even realize that it was a store geared toward breastfeeding!) until I had children myself — birthing and breastfeeding a child is definitely work, the work that only a woman can do! My twins are six now. They love walking past the window displays. We’ll have to go again tomorrow, and sit on the couches one last time. The upside of the move is that it sounds like A Woman’s Work is now going to be in the same building as a large pediatric practice; for those families getting breastfeeding help should be easier than ever.” [Joyce, commenting on A Woman’s Work Is Abandoning the Village]
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Tag: Retail
Breastfeeding and baby care HQ A Woman’s Work will be shutting down its Rice Village storefront at the end of March. Owner Sandie Lemke plans to move the store by then to a second-floor office at 4101 Greenbriar just south of 59, where she’ll continue her breastfeeding consulting and sales operation on a smaller scale — and by appointment only. “I . . . made the decision to downsize a bit so I can focus on my passion and what I have always considered my product – Breastfeeding,” she writes in an email sent to customers and forwarded to Swamplot. Breastfeeding classes and consulting, breast pumps for sale or rent, and baby slings will still be available at the new location, as well as bra fitting and maternity support services.
Meanwhile, there’s the most-stuff-at-25-percent-off moving sale at the A Woman’s Work storefront at 2401 Rice Blvd., on the corner of Morningside. Lemke founded the store 20 years ago; it’s been at the same location for more than a decade. A couple of years ago, Lemke closed down A Woman’s Workshop, a gathering and classroom space for parenting support groups that occupied a separate storefront across Morningside.
- About us [A Woman’s Work]
Photo: A Woman’s Work
What’s it come to that a quirky little roadside attraction in Katy can’t quietly sell off its extensive collections of handcrafted-in-China replica Chinese figurines and miniatures online without getting overwhelmed? In advance of the curious shutdown of Forbidden Gardens, the institution’s stewards had decided to liquidate its entire collection of scale-model attractions, including the more than 6,000 terracotta warriors assembled for a broadly interpreted one-third-scale replica of the partially excavated tomb of China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di. And yes, the venue chosen for a good portion of the sales: Craigslist.
(Last month, the venue’s staff announced that Forbidden Gardens, located on Franz Rd. in Katy just off the stub-end of the long-planned Grand Parkway, would be shutting down — to make way for the expansion of the proposed ring road’s Segment E. But plans provided to Swamplot show that the proposed path for the Grand Parkway would only skirt the theme park property, and would perhaps even burnish its credentials as a roadside attraction.)
An ad on the online classifieds site taken out by Forbidden Gardens’ curators over the weekend offered a “variety of terracotta warriors for just $100 each.” Plus: “We are willing to make a deal if you buy in bulk.” Pieces from other exhibits were offered for sale, including 1/20th-scale buildings — and porcelain figurines, for as little as $1 each! Clearly, this was an “everything must go” sort of event: More pieces from Katy’s strange little “museum and cultural center” showed up in other Craigslist postings that featured vases, store furnishings, even those red benches arrayed around the grounds.
By late Wednesday afternoon however, the ads had been taken down. “At this time interest has been so great that it is overwhelming us,” reads a new note on a new Craigslist ad posted by a museum staff member. “There are only 5 of us and we are all part time.” All those goods are still available — it’s just that the staff couldn’t handle the online rush:
If you are interested in seeing the museum one last time we welcome you. If while there you see something that you are interested in and the staff is not overwhelmed, please feel free to make an offer. . . . If you are interested in purchasing an entire exhibit we greatly welcome you to call the main office. For those of you wishing to purchase individual objects we will be having a mass sell off after the museum closes Feb 13. Please check our website where we will post info on this as it becomes available.
Mass sell-off! In other words, the already strange spectacle of Forbidden Gardens has morphed in its final days into something curiouser still: A museum of replicas where visitors can bid on the exhibits and take them home with them.
Here’s a rendering showing the future of the Kroger now under renovation at 3300 Montrose. The construction will be contained entirely within the store’s current footprint — though a 2,400 sq.-ft. mezzanine “lounge” will up the store’s interior space to more than 43,800 sq. ft. Kroger spokesperson Kristal Howard says the changes to the store will improve the layout and allow changes to the food offerings, including an increased emphasis on “perishables.” The design comes from Houston’s CDA Architects, the folks who brought you the Costco at Greenway Commons, the Kroger on West Gray, and that yellow Walgreens at the corner of T.C. Jester and W. 18th.
What about parking? Has Kroger had its eyes on the land under the derelict office building across Hawthorne St. at 3400 Montrose, which Scott Gertner’s Skybar left last year — followed by everyone else in the building? “We have not been in communication with any nearby properties concerning an expansion of our Montrose store,” Howard says.
Just as Swamplot was reporting on the leaked site plan showing that a new full-size Walmart SuperCenter is being planned off the Gulf Fwy. at South Wayside Dr., Councilmember James Rodriguez comes back from a meeting with the company waving a slightly different site plan. And look, this one shows the proposed East End store between Idylwood and the freeway has already slimmed down by 58,000 sq. ft.! Does that qualify as a rollback? Plus: This plan (shown above, again rotated to fit Swamplot’s format) features 13 more parking spaces! Meanwhile, Walmart spokesperson Kellie Duhr tells the Chronicle the new store would be “about 150,000 sq. ft.” and feature a full grocery. That number jibes with the plan above. Also included this time, at no additional charge: an extra Tire and Lube Express next to the Garden Center on the south side. One curious detail, though: Both this plan and the one featured in Swamplot’s story on Monday are labeled with the same date.
What’s going into the lot at the corner of Maxwell Rd. and the I-45 feeder next to the driveway at the southwest corner of the site, labeled “Outlot 1” on both plans? A source tells Swamplot it’s being eyed for a gas station from Walmart sidekick Murphy Oil.
- Wal-Mart eyes East End
- Previously on Swamplot: Surprise! Walmart Buying Land Next to Idylwood for Houston’s First Inner-Loop SuperCenter
Plan: Doucet and Associates
COMMENT OF THE DAY: TO THE VICTOR GO THE SPOILS “Undoubtedly, Walmart was attracted to Idylwood by Swamplot’s prestigious ‘Best Neighborhood’ award. I am now thankful my beloved River Oaks was omitted from the contest.” [LandedGent, commenting on Surprise! Walmart Buying Land Next to Idylwood for Houston’s First Inner-Loop SuperCenter]
The first-ever inside-The-Loop Walmart SuperCenter will be built near the corner of South Wayside Dr. and the Gulf Freeway, a source tells Swamplot. The 28-acre site sits between Idylwood and I-45; according to a preliminary site plan currently making the rounds in that neighborhood, the store’s main entrance will be from Wayside, which also serves as the freeway entrance to a few other eastside neighborhoods, including Country Club Place and Forest Park.
According to Swamplot’s source, a real-estate entity connected to Walmart has an 8-month option to buy the property, home to 6 vacant warehouse buildings that once served as a distribution center for Oshman’s — as well as the former corporate offices of the defunct sporting goods company. Walmart has been completing its analysis of the property and is less than 30 days away from completing the land purchase, for a price of $35 a sq. ft., the source says.
Isn’t Walmart already planning its first Inner-Loop store on the other side of Downtown — just south of the Heights? Yes, but that store won’t be a SuperCenter. The Idylwood store is expected to measure approximately 210,000 sq. ft. — almost 60,000 sq. ft. larger than the planned Washington Heights District location. The site plan of the Idylwood store, which is not final (and which we’ve rotated to fit below), shows an asphalt parking lot with 722 spaces, plus a garden center on the store’s south side:
The sole Houston location of The Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery, on Hwy. 6 between Westheimer and Briar Forest Dr., has closed. A reader, who writes that the popular breastaurant “always had a full parking lot whenever I drove by,” wants to know why. Sadly, the folks at the company’s Las Vegas HQ haven’t answered any of our questions directly. Instead, Swamplot readers, here’s your vague but perhaps carefully worded statement, purporting to give the lowdown on just how tough it is to run a little Vegas-style beer, wings, and skimpy costumes show out there in West Oaks:
Details on the 6-story mixed-use building being planned for the corner of Studewood and 11th 1/2 St. in the Heights will be announced “very soon,” a representative of the new property owner promises Swamplot. A couple readers wrote in earlier today with questions about the new construction fence that just went up on the 25,000-sq.-ft. lot, directly behind the Someburger stand on 11th St. Here’s all the owner, a new firm called Vita Nuova, is willing to say about the project — dubbed Studewood Place on city permits:
After 3 years, 2 locations, and hundreds of Knitting Bootcamp, Make Your Own Jeans, and Needle Felted Monster Balls classes, Heights DIY needle shop Sew Crafty has announced it will be closing its doors at the end of February. In a post on the store’s Facebook page, store owner Sarah Gabbart talks about the difficulty of running a small business in the current economy, the joys of seeing customers put together their own stuff; and she encourages everyone to keep on crafting. Then she gets down to business: Sale! Starting this Friday: sewing supplies, remnants, furniture and fixtures — everything must go! (Except all those rented sewing machines, of course.) Plus, the 2-story space at 321B 19th St. is now available for lease. Just call Marcela — she’ll hook you up.
- Sad news peeps – we’re closing [Facebook]
Photos: Sew Crafty
“Dear Swamplot, Have I missed the story or has anyone else noticed that Barnes & Noble across from Galleria has closed and is being gutted?” Signs were posted at the Centre at Post Oak Shopping Center store as far back as September; the bookstore’s lease came up at the end of the year. Last we heard, Weingarten was still looking for a replacement.
Photo: Aaron Carpenter
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE WAY IT WORKS IN HIGHLAND VILLAGE “. . . Not that it matters, but everyone in this story probably has a lot of money (or is about to go bust – you never know).” [andso, commenting on Tootsies Beats Back the Landlord: The Sale Must Go On!]
Highland Village owner Haidar Barbouti “probably didn’t get hung up on the legal nuances†of how to shake Tootsies free of its Westheimer store when its lease ended, a source explains to Swamplot. But both he and Tootsies owner Mickey Rosemarin are ready to move on. Now that the court skirmish over the eviction and the store’s subsequent request for a restraining order have been formally resolved in Tootsies’ favor, Rosmarin’s clothing boutique will be able to stay at its Highland Village location through the end of the month. At which point, according to a store spokesperson, “The store will close one night and open the next business day†at West Ave. The new mixed-use complex at Kirby and Westheimer reportedly lured the retailer into a lease with generous terms: forgoing base rent in exchange for a percentage of Tootsies’ sales.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: IMPORTING THE RIGHT LOOK FOR HOUSTON “Let me get this straight: we’re upset that an Austin-based store looks like it’s from Austin? Has anyone explained to Houstonians that a city 2.5 hours away is a helluva a lot closer to “regionally appropriate†than Tuscany or Greece will ever be?” [cooperella, commenting on Austin Powers the New North Montrose Whole Foods]
There’s a whole lot more drama to the Highland Village Tootsies shutdown battle than just that little overnight lockout, jackhammered walkway, and side-door goodbye sale customers got to enjoy late last week: The Chron‘s Purva Patel reports Tootsies sought a restraining order against the Highland Village Shopping Center, claiming the center was “interfering with its business.” Oh, but that was only after the landlord began eviction proceedings against the women’s clothing boutique on January 4th, a full 5 days after the long-term lease on its only Houston store expired.
The store paid rent of $159,834 at December’s end, but Highland Village plans to return the money, according to court records. The store plans to send it again.
Swamplot photographer Candace Garcia has pics of the scene in front the store at 4045 Westheimer from Saturday morning, just as workers were beginning to scrape off what sure looks like a fresh coat of black paint from the store’s windows. Oh, but that’s not all the trouble Highland Village CEO Haidar Barbouti‘s merry band of graffiti artists caused for its extended tenant. Painted over, and possibly beyond recovery: those “Tootsies Parking” signs on the curb in front!
