Daily Archives: June 10, 2009

East-side Play It Again Sports to remain open despite struggles

June 10, 20092:42 p.m.

WICHITA — The east-side Play It Again Sports is almost $17,000 behind in state taxes, but owner Jeff Hampton says his store is not in danger of closing.

“We’ve struggled a little bit,” he says of his new and used sporting goods and fitness equipment store at 11309 E. Kellogg.

Hampton says the December holiday season was not the boom time it should have been.

“It’s slowly, slowly starting to come back around,” he says.

Hampton is remodeling to reduce his space from 4,500 square feet to 3,000 square feet “to muddle through all this.”

He’s owned the 3-year-old store for a year. Hampton is not an owner in the west-side Play It Again Sports.

Closing isn’t an option, Hampton says. There’s “no chance of that.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , Filed under Retail, Taxes | Comments (3)

You don’t say

June 10, 20091:52 p.m.

WICHITA — “Now I’m gonna say this both ways because it’s the little and the big Arkansas River. But I’m in Kansas, so I need to say Ar-Kansas River ’cause that’s the way they say it, ’cause they’re Kansas focused.   . . . I’m just saying.”

– “Good Morning America” weather anchor Sam Champion, who broadcast live from the Keeper of the Plains statue today

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , Filed under Television, You don't say | Comments (7)

Baker Furniture to leave Peabody and Park City for Chisholm Trail in Newton

June 10, 200911:52 a.m.

WICHITA – After doing business in Peabody since 1897, Baker Furniture and Carpet is moving.

“Mr. Baker’s been here since he was a little kid,” sales clerk Becky Kyle says of Brock Baker, who owns the store with his wife, Sheryl. “It’s been one of the hardest decisions he’s ever had to make.”

Baker Furniture in Park City also is closing, and a new Baker Furniture is opening in 28,000 square feet at Chisholm Trail Center-Outlet & Retail Shops in Newton.

“The main reason for closing both locations is so that we can be at a centrally located location,” Kyle says.

“It’s just gotten harder and harder to get people to drive out here,” says sales clerk Tammy Pickens. “People just don’t have time like they used to.”

Also, she says, gas prices and the often-perilous Highway 50 have an impact, too.

Read More »

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , Filed under Newton, Retail | Comments (4)

All Paws Pet Center to open at 21st and Rock

June 10, 20097:00 a.m.

WICHITA — The customer is always right, as they say, so All Paws Pet Center owner Paul Baumann is listening to his customers and opening an east-side location.

In addition to his almost 3-year-old store near the southeast corner of 21st and Maize, Baumann is opening one at the northeast corner of 21st and Rock.

The 4,500-square-foot store will open in early August.

Like his west-side store, Baumann says, he’ll carry “basically everything you need for a happy, healthy pet.”

Baumann likes the new space because it’s in the center of so much and is easily accessible.

“It’s just a perfect location,” he says.

And it may not be his last one.

“Right now we don’t have plans we can talk about,” Baumann says.

But he also says, “You never know.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , Filed under Retail | Comments (8)