Category Archives: Closings

Taco Bueno to sublease West Street space

April 29, 20134:23 p.m.

WICHITA — When the Taco Bueno at 333 S. West St. caught fire in August due to a carelessly thrown cigarette, a fire official said it likely would be a long time before the restaurant would reopen.

Turns out it won’t happen at all.

“They decided not to reopen it,” says Brad Saville of Landmark Commercial Real Estate.

He’s now helping Taco Bueno sublease the 2,500-square-foot space, which is just south of the southwest corner of Maple and West.

“The most important thing is the city has already widened and improved West Street,” Saville says.

The building has a drive-through and has been entirely rebuilt, he says.

“You sure wouldn’t have known there was any damage to the property,” Saville says.

“It’s pretty good real estate.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , Filed under Closings, Real estate, Restaurants, West side | Comments

Across Time and Page Scrapbook Emporium at Cambridge Market to close

April 19, 20132:42 p.m.

WICHITA — A little more than a year after opening, Across Time and Page Scrapbook Emporium in Cambridge Market at 21st and Webb is closing.

Saturday is the store’s last day in business.

“I was just not hitting the numbers I needed to hit to keep going,” owner Carmen Ned says. “We had regular customers, but it just wasn’t enough to keep us going.”

Ned isn’t sure what she’s going to do next.

“I just haven’t had time to think about it yet. I’m just trying to close this chapter right now.”

There is one thing she knows she’s going to tackle after closing, though.

“First thing I’m going to do is clean my house really good.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , Filed under Cambridge Market, Closings, East side, Real estate, Retail | Comments

You don’t say

March 29, 201311:07 a.m.

“The days of the giant club are over, and it’s time to freshen things up. Stay tuned!”

– A Facebook post from Doc Howard’s Lounge owner Bryan Shapiro on the Old Town bar closing this weekend

 

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , Filed under Bars, Closings, Facebook, Old Town, You don't say | Comments

Fox Ridge Restaurant in Newton to close

March 26, 201311:04 a.m.

WICHITA — In late 2011, Fox Ridge Restaurant owner Greg Davis described how supportive customers convinced him to keep his Newton restaurant open.

“It’s kind of a leap of faith,” he told Have You Heard?

The leap didn’t pay off.

The restaurant’s last day in business is Sunday.

“It’s very difficult for us,” Davis says. “We feel like we’ve done the right things, but we’re just in the wrong place.”

The restaurant is at the Fox Ridge Golf Club.

“We’re not on Main Street, and so people don’t think of us,” Davis says. “They forget we’re here.”

The restaurant was open for three years.

The building is now for lease.

“We have good service, good food, good view,” Davis says. “Don’t have enough customers. Pretty simple.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , Filed under Closings, Newton, Real estate, Restaurants | Comments

Pier 1 Imports on West Kellogg to close

March 26, 20135:00 a.m.

WICHITA — Perhaps not surprisingly, the Pier 1 Imports on West Kellogg will be closing.

A new west-side Pier 1 opened in NewMarket Square at 21st and Maize in late 2011.

“Following a routine review, Pier 1 Imports has made the decision to close the West Kellogg location in late summer 2013,” spokeswoman Jennifer Engstrand said in an e-mailed response about the closing.

She said the chain “continually reviews new and existing store locations, to make sure we’re operating as efficiently as possible.”

Engstrand says the company will try to place its employees from the West Kellogg store at other Pier 1 stores here. She said the chain cares about its shoppers, too.

“We look forward to serving them at our Wichita locations on N. Rock Road and N. Maize Road, as well as other area Pier 1 Imports stores.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , Filed under Closings, Real estate, Retail | Comments

Associated Lumber closes after 25 years

March 13, 201311:50 a.m.

WICHITA — Associated Lumber is out of business.

“It’s just the economy and bad fortunes,” says owner Ron Hill.

He and his wife, Doris, had the business for 25 years.

That includes a west Wichita location at 1905 Southwest Blvd. and a Neodesha site that opened 16 years ago.

Ron Hill says the Wichita store suffered two thefts in the last year that totaled more than $25,000.

“And, of course, why do you have insurance?” he says. “It sure don’t cover it.”

Hill says larger competitors were a factor in their decision as well.

The Hills leased the buildings where their stores were. They’ll have auctions for the contents soon.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , Filed under Closings, Real estate, Retail, West side | Comments Off

Louie’s Grill & Bar closes at Cambridge Market; Baskin-Robbins fate still unclear

March 11, 201311:39 a.m.

WICHITA — Louie’s Grill & Bar has closed.

A manager at the restaurant, which was at Cambridge Market at 21st and Webb Road, confirms it has closed but won’t say anything more.

Cambridge Market’s Fred Hanley says he knew there was a possibility that the restaurant would be shutting down, but he didn’t realize it was closing until it did.

“I was surprised, too.”

No one with the Norman, Okla.-based Hal Smith Restaurant Group was immediately available to comment.

Also at Cambridge, Hanley says he’s still waiting to learn the fate of the Baskin-Robbins that franchisee David Cortez closed.

There’s a chance that the franchisor, Memphis-based Klinke Bros. Ice Cream, may reopen the business along with the west-side Baskin-Robbins near 21st and Maize Road. Hanley says he’s waiting to hear.

“I’m hoping that it reopens.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , Filed under Cambridge Market, Closings, East side, Real estate, Restaurants | Comments Off

Kobe Steak House of Japan in Derby has closed, but Starbucks and Braum’s are opening, possibly followed by Chipotle

March 4, 201311:00 a.m.

WICHITA — Derby’s loss is going to be Wichita’s gain.

Kobe Steak House of Japan, which opened three years ago in the former Tokyo Steakhouse space at 1221 N. Rock Road in Derby, closed after business March 2.

Jim Hamlin, who owns the restaurant with Jim West, says they plan to reopen in Wichita.

They already have a Kobe at 21st and Maize Road. Hamlin won’t say where the new one will be.

“I’ll tell you that a little later.”

Hamlin says the Derby Kobe was profitable, but not enough.

“We hadn’t been as successful there as we’d like to be.”

He says there were issues with the building, including too much square footage for the number of diners it could seat, and a too-small parking lot.

“It just had a number of barriers to growing down there,” Hamlin says. “It takes a lot of population to have a specialty restaurant.”

It’s not all bad dining news for Derby, though.

Read More »

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , Filed under Closings, Derby, New business, Real estate, Restaurants | Comments Off

McDonald’s by 13th and Woodlawn to close

Feb. 25, 20132:41 p.m.

UPDATED — As aging McDonald’s sites around the city are torn down and rebuilt in the chain’s latest style, there’s one that will be torn down and not rebuilt at the same spot.

The McDonald’s on Woodlawn just south of 13th Street, which has been there for 40 years, will close late next month.

“In the short term, yes, unfortunately, we’re closing at that location,” says Dale Carter, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Vicki.

He says the lot isn’t big enough to handle the new McDonald’s model or he would rebuild there.

“I would love to, yes,” Carter says. “We’ve watched our kids and a heck of a lot of other kids grow up visiting that McDonald’s.”

The Carters own five of the city’s couple of dozen McDonald’s restaurants.

Carter says brokers have been looking for a new site for him.

“We just haven’t been able to find a suitable location,” he says. “Ultimately, it’s McDonald’s decision. At this point, McDonald’s is not comfortable that they have the right spot.”

The Carters have owned the Woodlawn McDonald’s since 1997. It will close after business on March 26.

“Personally, it’s very tough for us to do,” Carter says. “We will miss being there.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , Filed under Closings, East side, Real estate, Restaurants | Comments Off

Shorty Small’s has closed, but there’s a chance it could open in Wichita again

Feb. 25, 20135:00 a.m.

UPDATED — Shorty Small’s last day in business in Wichita was Feb. 24.

“Yesterday was a very emotional, very hard day,” says Cindy Harsha, vice president of the Oklahoma City-based company.

“I just can’t begin to tell you how emotional and hard it was.”

The restaurant opened more than seven years ago on the southwest corner of 119th and Maple in the Westlake shopping center.

“We opened to some really great numbers,” Harsha says. “Then, after about a year or so, things were dwindling.”

The restaurant initially was a fast-casual concept, but Harsha says the neighborhood wanted something more, so the chain remodeled into a full-service restaurant.

She says diners “really had a lovely reaction to that.”

Sales didn’t remain strong, though.

“Wichita seems to have suffered some economic hardships,” Harsha says. “We’re not the only ones the economy has been mean to.”

Road construction in the area didn’t help either, she says.

Another retooling of the restaurant last year also helped, though.

“We did have a nice little bounce back of sales this last spring,” Harsha says. “It seemed like a curtain fell down this summer.”

She blames a combination of gas prices and Boeing’s planned departure from the city followed by the Bombardier Learjet Machinists strike in the fall.

“It just was pretty devastating to sales.”

Read More »

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , Filed under Closings, Real estate, Restaurants, West side, Westlake | Comments Off