A reader notes the logo of freeway-side cafe Tout Suite making an appearance over at Memorial City Mall, smack in the middle of the path leading north-to-south from Target to Sears. The first Tout Suite opened in early 2014 in the former nightclub, warehouse and auto dealership at 2001 Commerce St. just east of the 59 overpass; the same folks also started pastry shop Sweet in CityCentre several years prior.
Signage hints at an opening later this spring for the new spot, in the pedestrian crossroads by Kay Jewelers and Ice Skate USA at the western end of the mall (visible in the top photo). The spot is just down the hall from the freestanding Starbucks kiosk, which sits along mall’s east-west axis between Macy’s and JCPenney. Here’s a more southward facing shot of the Suite spot, looking toward the Sears entrance:
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Photos: Marc Longoria
While it would be great to add Tout Suite, I hope they boot out the popcorn shack that is in the hall towards Sears. I don’t know what they put in that white cheddar flavoring but it smells gross and stinks up the whole zone. A good case could be made that Sears’ sales decline at that store is caused by that smelly popcorn.
Who wants to walk half a mile through the memorial city mall parking lot to get to a coffee shop? What is the point of going to the mall to get coffee? They already have a Starbucks right in the middle of the mall.
I remember when that area was the children’s play area. It was ear-piercingly loud. A while back they moved it down by the military recruiters where the sports bar vacated. The recruiters used to keep their doors open during the day (not any more).
@Major Market – I agree with you about the Sears. I’ve lived in the area all my life and it was once a destination store for the mall (in fact, is was standalone store that they build the mall around). With the exception of the tool department, it looks like it’s ready to shut down operation any day now.
Commenter7, I’m with you man, I was flying out of town the other week and saw a coffee shop in the airport. I thought to myself, who wants to pay the airport parking fees, walk all the way to the entrance, buy a ticket, go through security, then walk some more, just to get a coffee?
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I saw the people standing in line to prove that it’s a solid business model though, who knew people would go to the airport just for coffee?
@toasty, even worse is the insanity of paying for drinks while flying. I can go to any convenience store, or if I want to pay full retail, and ground-based establishment, and get a beer or any wider variety of drinks. But no, I’m going to go through security after buying an air ticket, taking the time to fly somewhere and back, all for a lousy over-priced drink served by a surly overworked employee.
After reading the above comments, com’on guys, people don’t go out of the way to go to those places. It’s out of mere convenience. If you are there you can get some! Coffee at an airport? Hell yes! That’s the first thing I do after I check in for a 7AM flight. Buying a gift for a friend? Awesome I’ll grab macarons for them too while I’m at the mall! DUH!
Toasty / Vegemite: You were way better at your snark combacks than what I was going to write. So I’ll just give a *nod* to you guys.
All the comments are totally missing the real purposes of Tout Suite which are macarons, mini key lime pies, and crepe cakes. If you’ve never had a crepe cake, you need to educate your taste buds immediately. This is no mere “coffee shop.” I, for one, am supremely excited.
For emergency purposes I sometimes need to go into MCM, ie Chic-Fil-a nuggets. The last time I was curious what the rest was looking like these days and did a loop around part of the mall. Not optimistic about Tout Suite succeeding there. I like Tout Suite, have been to their place in Eado. Don’t see the fit at MCM and I have lived in that area since 1989.