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This week’s edition of Business Leaders takes a look at who’s coming and going on Yale, a unique promotion by the Heights Chamber and Prince’s Hamburgers coming to Ella .
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New retail developement on Yale 1B · Business Briefs 2B • Business Spotlight, Empire Industries 6B Saturday, November 7, 2015 • Page 1B
SW corner of 34th and Ella to ‘Revive’
New home for Alabama Alabama Furniture to find new location on North Shepherd Drive
By Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com Timbergrove resident Bryan Danna with Revive Development has been aware of the dearth of retail and restaurant options in Oak Forest for some time. He also knows his way around a successful development. He’s been working in the Leader area since 2006 and has an extensive resume with tenants like Hugs & Donuts, KA Sushi, Southern Goods, Lola, the Shepherd Park Draught House and Pink’s Pizza. So the news that he has purchased three spaces on the southwest corner of 34th and Ella – the 34th Street Stop and Shop, the building which houses the Surfhouse and Houston Panini & Provisions and the tire shop – has created a lot of excitement among residents. The properties had for a long time been owned by the McClendon family. The Surfhouse has been at their location for more than 40 years. Other tenants back in the day included the Bamboo Lounge, a bakery, Oak Forest Lawn Mower Shop and Leo’s Flowers, long gone now. At the Stop and Shop, Ricardo’s Barbershop, T-Shirt Works and Chris’ Alternations and Dry Cleaning are some of the current businesses. Danna, who also did the Resource One Credit Union development on 43rd St., said that the rise in real estate prices in the Heights coupled with the needs he saw in Oak Forest, spurred him to acquire the almost 2acre parcel. His plans for the space are ambitious. A rendering on Revive’s website shows parking along Ella with buildings along the south and west. Danna said he’s keeping the gas station kiosk near the existing tire shop as a design element and also the L-shaped building that is currently the Stop and Shop although he says he’ll
Photo by Kim Hogstrom While Sherri Enroth was initially disappointed to leave her location on Yale, she sees a lot of potential in the North Shepherd location. The large parking lot will allow them to add outdoor furniture and garden accessories.
By Kim Hogstrom For The Leader For Sherri Enroth, owner of popular Alabama Furniture, last October marked two milestones: her twentieth year in business on Yale Blvd. – and her last. For two decades, Enroth has been thrilling bargain hunters with her inventory of resale decor at the store. It was a dark day indeed when she received notice from her landlord that he’d sold the building, and that her business had to vacate. “I think I was in shock – even denial,” Enroth said. “I didn’t expect it and for weeks, I don’t think I accepted it.” When the entrepreneur, wife, and mother of two came back to reality, she launched a fierce search for a new location. “I looked all over the Heights, but the lease prices are outrageous,” Enroth said After much footwork, Enroth signed a lease at 4900 N. Shepherd Dr. across from B&W Meats. The new location is about the same square footage as the old one, 12,000, but hosts a 60,000-square-foot parking lot as well. “First, we were sad to be leaving, now
we’re excited. We feel fortunate to have found a great spot near Garden Oaks and Oak Forest. We also asked ourselves what we were going to do with all the parking space. We decided to add outdoor furniture and garden stuff, and to hold fun events for the community on the lot. We’’ll host car shows, art festivals and food truck Fridays, with more to come. It’ll be an on going, outdoor party,“ Enroth exclaimed. If all goes well with the build-out, the target opening for the new location is the first week of December. We feel confident with Enroth’s timeline because it’s not her first rodeo. This will make the third move for Alabama Furniture. Enroth was 21 in 1991 when she launched her first resale store, a 1,200square-foot location on Alabama Blvd. in Montrose. The start-up years were a challenge but, thanks to Enroth’s eye for quality and reasonable pricing, the business took off. In 1995, she realized she needed more space and moved to the Heights location. “It was much bigger, and a much better value,” Enroth stated. Here, the business continued to grow aided, in part, by the recession. According to industry experts, there was a time
when resale shopping suffered from a stigma. That has disappeared. The recession drove value-conscious buying to a new high, while creative shop owners added boutique-like elements, making resale chic. According to First Research, an agency that tracks American business trends, the resale merchandise industry racked up $13 billion in annual revenue in 2012, and grew another 7 percent in 2013. “We were happy when we heard that Sherri was coming to Garden Oaks,” said Patrick McDougle, a former Montrose resident who moved to Oak Forest in 2012. “My wife and I have been visiting since the store was on Alabama. It’s always been fun to shop there, and to save money doing it.” What about that Japanese statue you’ve had your eye on for a month at the Heights location? “Until we open the new store, we are holding a big sale at the Yale store. Huge,” Enroth added. “We’re filling the new location now, and not taking a single thing from Yale with us. There is no sale like resale, and now’s the time,” she concluded.
be adding a clerestory to provide additional light. The building where Surfshop and Houston Panini & Provisions sit will be torn down, but that doesn’t mean that Danna wants to lose them as tenants. “I’ve been going to the Surfhouse since I was 12,” he said. “We’d love to see them stay.” David Colby, co-owner and chef, with Houston Panini & Provisions tells The Leader they’d like to make it work to stay in the new complex too and are looking for investors to help make it happen. “We’re going to ride this spot until the wheels fall off,” he said, acknowledging that the low rent in their existing space was a gift that gave them a low start-up cost and allowed them to build a reputation in the neighborhood. Now they are putting together a business plan for a “bigger and better” future. Colby’s father Rudolph Colby is an architect who designed Backstreet Café and Hugo’s among other projects. He is going to help with their new location, wherever that may be. As for other occupants, Danna said that the demographics in the area have changed dramatically and this drives the need for new kinds of tenants in the development. He said he invites contributors to suggest retail tenants that residents feel are missing from the neighborhood. Danna going to take his time to find the right mix of tenants, both local and national. One of them will occupy the southwest corner of the center, which will be a restaurant. He says that there will be a 1,300 square foot patio and notes that since the sun sets behind the building, the outdoor space will be a pleasant place to hang out. He estimates construction to be complete by late 2016. Stay tuned for tenant news.
Photo by Betsy Denson The removal of the sign at the 34th Street Stop & Shop is just the start of changes that Bryan Danna has planned for the southwest corner of Ella and 34th. Danna has a lot of experience with development in the area dating back to 2006.
Greater Heights Chamber Connection. ‘Passport to the Heights’ program encourages spending local By Jacob Millwee For The Leader Now that Halloween is behind us, it’s time to think tinsel, turkey, cornucopias, and trees. Put away the orange and black and turn those pumpkins into pies. Replace the ghosts and goblins for smiling puritans and obliviously cheerful turkeys, and have the garlands and the peppermint waiting in the wings. And perhaps best of all, it’s time to assume the role of Santa Claus and think about who will be getting gifts from us this year (and maybe who is not). So as you think about your shopping, whether you are a methodical shopper or a panicked last minute one (guilty), I ask that you please think Heights.
Millwee
One of our driving focuses at the Chamber is to keep your spending dollars local, and there is no better time to demonstrate that than the holiday season. Friends and family come in from out of town, presents are bought, meals are planned – our holiday cheer brings along with it
economic cheer. I believe that most of you will choose to shop and dine locally right here in the Heights. We all know that these are the businesses that care about our schools, neighbors, and community as a whole. We know that a thriving independent shopping industry has a direct impact on the character and culture of the community, as well as the value of our homes. In this respect I believe that I am preaching to the choir, and I am grateful for that. But should anyone need more incentive…well, have I got a tale for you. The Greater Heights Area Chamber of Commerce is proud to launch its Passport to the Heights program. Inside of every Chamber Membership Directory (hot off the
press just this October) is a blue passport. Simply tear it out, and go to any Chamber Member Restaurant or Retail store (easily found in the directory or online at our website, www. heightschamber.com). When you make a purchase politely ask to have your passport stamped. When your passport is filled out, only needing 24 stamps, turn it in to us at the Chamber Office. In March at our Crawfish Festival, we will draw at random a winner from the completed Passports, who will then go home with $1,000 cash. Aside from our marketing program, we called it the Passport to the Heights for a reason. We want the Heights to be a travel destination. Not from far off cities or exotic
climes, although we would be delighted to see and host those notables. No, I mean for those very friends and family I mentioned in the first paragraph, those coming in to visit whether for a meal or party or for an extended stay. I mean for those poor unfortunate Houstonians who do not have the honor and privilege of living in the Heights. For those who are just discovering the comfortable joy of shopping on 19th Street, or dining on White Oak or 11th. These are our travelers, our tourists. The Chamber’s passport may only be symbolic, but welcome received in this great neighborhood of ours is not. So spread the word this holiday season, and invite people you know to come visit the Heights. We’d love to see them.
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