“At first I laughed. I thought that was so funny. And then the next day, it was not funny at all.”
— Sacred Heart Gifts owner Sheri Ramirez on a Bishop Carroll Catholic High School alumni letter that incorrectly stated someone else now owns the business, which she says caused her customers to panic
WICHITA — QuikTrip is planning two new Generation 3 stores to replace existing ones in south Wichita.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the stores we have in Wichita are the older models,” says spokesman Mike Thornbrugh. “It’s a more mature division.”
The QuikTrip at the southeast corner of Meridian and MacArthur is moving to the northwest corner.
“To do the new Gen 3 the way we want to do it, we can’t do it on the current site, so we’re going across the street,” Thornbrugh says.
The existing store at the intersection has only a few pumps.
“That doesn’t cut it in today’s world for QuikTrip,” Thornbrugh says.
The other new store will replace the one at Harry and Webb.
“That’s what we call a scrape-and-build, meaning we will tear down the existing (store) and build a new store in that location,” Thornbrugh says.
The Tulsa-based chain has 38 stores in the greater Wichita area. Thornbrugh can’t say how many will need to be replaced or when that might happen.
“Honestly, you’ve got to look at them store by store.”
WICHITA — Howard’s Optical is consolidating two of its stores with “one big, giant move.”
So says vice president and co-owner Linda Charmchizadeh.
The stores at 1650 S. Oliver and in Normandie Center at Central and Woodlawn will consolidate at 5405 E. Central, which is just west of Central and Edgemoor.
“We’re going to have more of a … street view,” Charmchizadeh says. At Normandie, she says, “Not a lot of people can see us.”
Friday is the last day for the stores to be in their current spaces. They reopen in the new space on Monday.
Howard’s Optical, which has several more stores around Wichita, sells frames and lenses and has its own servicing labs.
Charmchizadeh says the chain will have more news later this year.
“This is our 45-year anniversary.”
UPDATED — Tractor Supply, a national chain that sells lawn, garden and animal care products, is expanding with a new store in Augusta.
The company already has stores on East and West Kellogg.
The new store is tentatively set to open Oct. 10 at the southwest corner of Southwest Diamond Road and East Kellogg. Jeff Englert and Nathan Farha of NAI Martens represented a seller who sold three and a quarter acres to a developer who is a building a building for Tractor Supply.
Englert and Farha’s client has another eight acres near there to sell.
Via e-mail, a Tractor Supply representative said the area is especially attractive because of farmers and horse owners who live and work there.
The store, which will be almost 20,000 square feet, will employ 12 to 17 full-time and part-time employees.
WICHITA — Finally, Bradley Fair can reveal the reason behind its game of musical chairs, business style.
Loft is coming to the center at 21st and Rock Road this fall.
“We have been working with them for quite some time,” says Cathy Erickson, vice president at Laham Development.
“It’s been one of our most-requested stores,” she says. “We do listen, and we do appreciate when our customers give us their … input on what stores and restaurants they would like for us to have at Bradley Fair.”
Formerly known as Ann Taylor Loft, the women’s clothing store is something of a hipper younger sister to Ann Taylor. There are 500 of the stores nationwide.
The store will locate between Talbots and Bella Luna Cafe where Randy Cooper’s Fine Jewelry and College Hill Cleaners are vacating.
Randy Cooper’s is moving to where Howard’s Optique used to be. Howard’s moved from its freestanding space to new space between Sephora and Jason’s Deli in the first round of moves to prepare for Loft.
College Hill Cleaners is moving to where Origins used to be.
WICHITA — Checkers, a longtime store in the Pawnee and Hydraulic area, is closing.
“The store is closing just due to economic conditions,” says Mike Collins, store manager.
The independent grocery, which is at 1915 E. Pawnee, has been open since 1987.
Collins won’t discuss who owns the store.
“We just don’t want to put that out there.”
The grocery leased the building. Collins isn’t sure what may take the store’s place or if there’s another tenant considering the space.
The store’s last day is May 28.
“Everything’s 30 percent off,” Collins says.
He won’t talk specifics on what happened to lead the store to close.
“The whole issue has just been the economy, and that’s just it,” Collins says. “That’s just about all we can say.”
UPDATED — Beth Tully is taking her second step toward what she perhaps only half jokingly calls world domination.
The Cocoa Dolce Artisan Chocolates founder is opening her second store, this time in Overland Park’s Prairiefire development on West 135th Street between Nall and Lamar avenues.
“We’re going to think of Wichita as the hub and that this is the first spoke in the wheel,” Tully says.
Yes, that means she’s already thinking of other potential regional stores, though none is in the works yet.
“I think you only double the complexity of a business once, and this is it,” Tully says.
The idea, she says, is to create a template that can be reproduced.
“We’re basically going to do kind of a tweaked version of our lounge here,” Tully says of her Bradley Fair store.
Tully and her husband, Jay, opened their Wichita store in 2005 in Siena Plaza at 37th and Rock Road and then moved to Bradley Fair in 2009.
Tully says she has long thought about a second store.
“The honest truth is probably in our first year of business, way when I shouldn’t have been have been thinking of having a second location,” she says.
She knew that “as a really baby business” she couldn’t realistically do a second store then.
“We’re kind of a sophomore business now,” Tully says. “We’ve finally gotten over the hump.”
WICHITA — All Things Barbecue is expanding in Delano — again.
“The heart of what we’re doing is moving into 818 W. Douglas,” says owner Don Cary. “Kind of the big deal is it’s going to give us more room for retail.”
He and his wife, Kathy, opened the business in 1,700 square feet at 615 W. Douglas, west of the Delano clock tower, in July 2009 and then doubled their space in 2010 by taking another 1,700 square feet at 617 W. Douglas. They also have another building at 121 N. Oak for a teaching kitchen.
Their new space will open in July with 4,500 square feet for a showroom, 1,600 square feet for a classroom and 2,200 square feet for a patio.
“This is phase one,” Don Cary says of plans.
The next phase, which will come later this summer, is an addition of more property adjacent to the new space.
“We’re really, really moving into doing outdoor kitchen spaces,” Don Cary says. “One of the things that we desperately need to do that well is a dedicated showroom.”
He says he’ll share more news on that as the time gets closer.
For now, the Carys are concentrating on the move to 818 W. Douglas.
“It’ll facilitate several things,” Don Cary says.
That includes demonstrating the store’s grills, holding events and offering classes.
WICHITA — When one door closes, it doesn’t necessarily mean another one opens.
In the case of the Pink Door What-Not Shop in Delano, the closing of one of the two buildings the store has will mean a much smaller shop.
“We have two buildings side-by-side, and we’re not going to be able to renew our lease on our big building,” says co-owner Deborah Weber.
She says the rent is going up, which is why the shop is leaving that side.
The 2-year-old store, which sells collectibles, antiques, furniture and home decor, is at 1316 W. Douglas.
Its small building is 1,300 square feet, and its big one is 10,000 square feet.
“We’re working on getting the furniture side closed down,” Weber says. “We’re going to see if we can make it without the big building.”
The store still will carry some furniture, but not as much.
“We’re going to do some reconfiguring on the floor in here,” Weber says of fitting it on the small side.
She says business has been up and down since the Pink Door opened.
“It’s been a little rough lately.”
If the smaller version of the shop doesn’t do well, Weber says she’s not sure if the store will move or close.
“We haven’t even thought that far ahead,” she says. “We keep our fingers crossed and just hope we can keep our nostrils above the water line.”
WICHITA — Precious Debut 4D Ultrasound will make its debut in the Bristol Square Shopping Center in Derby next week.
The business will cater to pregnant women in 1,600 square feet at the center, which is at the northeast corner of Madison and Rock Road.
Tammy Dvorak and Shelly White, who have 30 years of ultrasound experience between them, are partners in the business.
Dvorak says 4D ultrasound is basically 3D with motion. She and White prefer that expectant mothers have permission from their doctors before getting these elective ultrasounds.
“This is more for … fun,” Dvorak says. “Kind of bond the family together.”
The business will be available for baby parties. Dvorak says she hasn’t had final word from the fire marshal yet, but she thinks the space may be able to hold up to 50 people.
Cristi Howell of J.P. Weigand & Sons handled the lease.
Precious Debut also will offer diagnostic ultrasound with a doctor’s order and offer a variety of general health screening services.
Dvorak says she and White hope to open on Monday.