You don’t say

Oct. 29, 20094:39 p.m.

“Doggone, we’ve been under contract many times. This one almost got away, too.”

— Star Lumber’s Chris Goebel, who’s finally closed a deal on his 11.4 acres at Central and Maize, where Wal-Mart now plans a Neighborhood Market

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , Filed under Real estate, Retail, You don't say | Comments (0)

Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets still on track

Sept. 16, 20096:17 a.m.

WICHITA — Wal-Mart’s plans to bring its Neighborhood Market concept to Wichita are still progressing, but there don’t appear to be any done deals yet.

“We’re still under contract,” says Chris Goebel of Star Lumber.

Goebel hopes to sell his property at Central and Maize where he once planned the Gaslight Creek commercial development on more than 11 acres.

“We’ve had to do some extensions,” Goebel says of the contract.

That’s because there’s “a wee little bit of an environmental issue.”

Goebel says there are leaking underground storage tanks on another site — not his — that are of concern.

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , Filed under Leases, Real estate, Retail | Comments (14)

Gessler Drug Co. to relocate from Normandie Center to Lincoln Heights Village area

Aug. 4, 20095:26 p.m.

gessleraugWICHITA — Gessler Drug Co. is heading home.

So says Hal Schwarz, who is relocating the store from Normandie Center at Central and Woodlawn to where AAA Kansas used to be next to Il Vicino near Douglas and Oliver.

That’s one corner over from where Gessler first opened in Wichita in 1938. Watermark Books & Cafe is there today.

Schwarz says Gessler was one of the original anchor tenants in what became Lincoln Heights Village in 1949.

When he recently was looking for new space, Schwarz says the 4,300-square-foot location he found “just stood out far and above anything else we had seen.”

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , Filed under Lincoln Heights Village, Medical, Normandie Center, Retail, Television | Comments (2)

Gessler Drug Co. to leave Normandie and open two new stores

July 14, 20093:04 p.m.

It looks like Wal-Mart’s possible move to Normandie Center at Central and Woodlawn is forcing at least one longtime business to leave earlier than planned.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, says Hal Schwarz, president of Gessler Drug Co., who hopes to open two new stores after moving out of Normandie in August.

Schwarz was manager of Gessler when it moved to Normandie in 1965.

“It wasn’t that long ago,” he says. “I still see people I saw that first year.”

But a while back, he decided to go month-to-month on his lease instead of renewing it.

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , Filed under Leases, Normandie Center, Retail | Comments (7)

You don’t say

June 4, 200911:03 a.m.

“I was horrified at first, but it looks like a Yuppie version of Wal-Mart.”

– Best of Times owner Nancy Robinson on the possibility of a Neighborhood Market coming to Normandie Center at Central and Woodlawn where her shop is

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

New Furniture Disposal to open at Plaza West

May 27, 200911:12 a.m.

WICHITA — Former Weekends Furniture & Sleep Shop owner David Davis closed his Derby store in April and now plans a new furniture store in Wichita.

New Furniture Disposal will open June 4 at the Plaza West shopping center at the southwest corner of Central and West. That’s also where Wal-Mart is looking to open one of its Neighborhood Markets.

“They do have something in the works with Wal-Mart, too,” Davis says of the owners of that space. “If they take it, then they take it.”

Davis is leasing month-to-month and will be prepared to relocate if the Wal-Mart deal happens.

Davis says he’s selling a few things from Weekends that didn’t sell previously. Mostly, though, he’s buying furniture from factories that have excess inventory due to the economy.

Also at that corner, look for the renovated Taco Shop to reopen in mid-June.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , Filed under Leases, Retail | Comments (2)