Daily Archives: Aug. 12, 2009

You don’t say

Aug. 12, 20095:40 p.m.

“We still are very pink.”

— Southwest Paper’s Sandy Aubrey-Tangeman, who has been trying to sell more than 100 cases of pink paper at cost since a client unexpectedly closed shop

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , Filed under You don't say | Comments

Jan and Mon Wong are back with Dragon Express

Aug. 12, 20094:23 p.m.

WICHITA — Jan and Mon Wong are returning to Oxford Square with a new restaurant.

From 1988 to 2005, the Wongs had Golden Dragon at the shopping center at 6100 E. 21st near Woodlawn.

They sold the restaurant to people who then closed it a couple of years later.

Now, the Wongs are opening Dragon Express in the space next to their old restaurant.

Tony Utter of Utter Commercial Real Estate handled the deal.

Dragon Express opens Thursday with carry-out service and seating for about 20.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , Filed under Leases, Restaurants | Comments Off

Dog N Shake closes Maple and West store

Aug. 12, 20093:37 p.m.

WICHITA — The Dog N Shake at Maple and West has closed.

No one with the company returned calls for comment to explain this week’s closure.

There’s been considerable construction in the area, but it’s not clear if that played a role.

That’s one diner’s guess, though. As this person said, the roadwork killed the restaurant “despite the plucky ‘We Double Dog Dare Ya to Get in Here’ sign.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: Filed under Restaurants | Comments

Bud Gates to bring Easyhomes to Wichita

Aug. 12, 20093:00 p.m.

easy

WICHITA — For the first time, Bud Gates of Easygates is bringing two of his Easyhome stores to Wichita.

He has eight others elsewhere, including stores in the Kansas City area and Salina.

The stores sell, lease or lease to own home furnishings, electronics and appliances.

The two here will be in the former KenMar shopping center at 13th and Oliver, which is now called Providence Square, and on Pawnee near Broadway in front of Wal-Mart.

The stores will be about 5,000 square feet each.

The one down south will be in a new building, which Larry Cook of Cook Construction is building. Construction has just begun.

The other store, which Coast to Coast Builders is preparing space for, should be ready within a few weeks.

“We’re very excited to be going in there because of the work they are doing and the development they are doing around that center,” says Chris Prater, president of sales and finance for Easygates.

He says the redevelopment of that center is part of what attracted Easyhome.

Prater says there are no other plans for more Easyhomes here yet, but he says, “We will most likely do some more here.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , Filed under Bars, Delano, Leases, Real estate, Retail, Television | Comments

Pixel Time to open at CityArts

Aug. 12, 200911:15 a.m.

WICHITA — The growing number of events downtown is actually attracting businesses, too.

Skyler Lovelace is moving her company, Pixel Time, to CityArts in part because she wants to be where she perceives the excitement to be.

“I wanted to be downtown so bad I could taste it,” Lovelace says.

Her business, which is teaching families how to maximize and have more fun with their computers, had been on 29th Street near Rock Road.

Lovelace says she often found herself stuck at her office around the time things like Final Friday events were starting downtown.

When she moved the bulk of her office into her new space on July 31st, it was the same night of the All-America City block party in Old Town Square where CityArts also is located.

“We were pretending it was like welcoming us to the square,” Lovelace says, laughing.

Classes won’t start in the new space until Sept. 12.

Lovelace, who also is the lead instructor for digital media at Butler Community College, says she wants her classes to complement other things CityArts offers.

She says her agreement there is almost like she’s a guest artist.

“What’s different about me is I brought a lot more equipment than would a typical artist.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , Filed under Downtown, Old Town, Technology | Comments Off