Normandie Center | Have You Heard?

Phoenix Studio for Wigs to remain open

April 13, 20114:18 p.m.

WICHITA — Phoenix Studio for Wigs owner Ann Hill had told customers last year that she would be closing her shop at Normandie Center due to health issues.

She’s doing much better now, though.

“I’m doing quite well,” Hill says. “So I’m staying open.”

She’s been styling hair in that location since 1983, though she stopped in October because of her health.

Hill will continue to sell wigs, though, which she first started doing in 1999.

“I just need for everybody to know I’m still here,” Hill says. “The word of mouth is getting out, but it’s getting out very slowly.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: Ann Hill, Normandie Center, Phoenix Studio for Wigs Filed under Normandie Center, Retail | Comments Off

Connie’s Cookies to sell through Sweetly Scrumptious bakery

Nov. 8, 201010:42 a.m.

WICHITA — For years, customers have been asking Connie Hamilton when she’s going to open a Connie’s Cookies on the east side.

She says she’s going to do the next best thing by selling her cookies at Sweetly Scrumptious, a bakery that recently opened in Normandie Center at Central and Woodlawn.

Hamilton will start by selling sugar cookies for walk-in business. Eventually, she’d like for east-side customers to be able to pick up custom orders there as well. She says there will be a $5 handling fee so she can make it worthwhile for the Sweetly Scrumptious staff.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: Connie Hamilton, Connie’s Cookies, Normandie Center, Sweetly Scrumptious Filed under Retail | Comments

Sweetly Scrumptious specialty bakery to open at Normandie Center

Oct. 4, 20105:21 a.m.

notsosweet WICHITA — When Kellie Foltz officially debuted her Cake Ball Divas creations at Exploration Place’s Death by Chocolate party in March, most people had one question:

Where can we get these things?

“We just got a very big response,” Foltz says.

She describes the cake balls as the size of a large truffle with the visual aesthetic of a fine chocolate.

She also makes cupcakes and cookies and is opening a specialty bakery, Sweetly Scrumptious, to sell them all.

The shop will open in the next couple of weeks in Normandie Center at Central and Woodlawn between the Seafood Shop and Beyond Beads Boutique.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: Beyond Beads Boutique, Cake Ball Divas, Death by Chocolate, Exploration Place, Kellie Foltz, Normandie Center, Seafood Shop, Sweetly Scrumptious, Winefest Filed under Normandie Center, Real estate, Retail | Comments

Mother Nature postpones Seafood Shop delivery

June 28, 20102:30 p.m.

WICHITA — Seafood Shop co-owner Jessica Eberth is stunned to report that she didn’t have fresh fish to sell Saturday because either a tornado or straight-line winds destroyed the delivery truck bringing her fish Friday night.

“I thought they were kidding when they notified us,” says Eberth, whose shop is in Normandie Center at Central and Woodlawn.

The delivery truck was coming from Denver. The incident happened just outside of Colby.

“Although the driver is OK, it totally destroyed the trailer,” Eberth says.

“What are the odds of that?” she asks. “You would never think out of, what, 1,500 semis rolling across I-70 that a random tornado would hit ours.”

It looks like the truck also had fish deliveries for area restaurants, too.

Eberth says that although she was floored, her customers handled it just fine.

“Everybody took it in really good spirits,” she says. “I had no complaints.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: Jessica Eberth, Normandie Center, Seafood Shop Filed under Normandie Center, Retail | Comments

Il Primo Espresso Caffe has new owners

June 14, 20104:43 p.m.

WICHITA — Jolanda James has been a longtime customer and fan of Il Primo Espresso Caffe, so when owners Billy and Debbie Howell wanted to sell, it made sense for her to buy the business.

“The employees actually wanted me to buy it,” says James, who bought it with her husband, Bill.

“My husband and I just dove into this,” she says. “We have a passion for keeping it alive and going just like it is.”

The business, which is at Normandie Center at Central and Woodlawn, seats about 45 inside and has more seating outside.

It serves breakfast and lunch.

James says Il Primo was the first coffeehouse of its kind in Wichita.

“It’s kind of like the Cheers of coffee shops,” she says. “We just did not want that to go away.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: Billy Howell, Debbie Howell, Il Primo Espresso Caffe, Jolanda James, Normandie Center Filed under Normandie Center, Restaurants | Comments Off

Yoder Meats to open at Normandie Center

March 22, 20103:51 p.m.

WICHITA — Less than six months after opening in the former YB Meats space in west Wichita, Yoder Meats is making plans to open a second store.

The new one also will be in former YB space, this time on the east side at Normandie Center at Central and Woodlawn.

“It was all set up, so it was a good deal for us,” says Alan Waggoner, who owns the business with his wife, Carol.

The two purchased the four-decade-old Yoder Meats in Yoder, Kan., two years ago.

They didn’t intend on expanding into Wichita with retail sites, but Alan Waggoner says he noticed sales slipping at YB Meats — including Yoder products — and told the owner he’d be interested in buying the business if he ever wanted to sell.

They had a deal within a week. That was November. The sale closed in January.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: Alan Waggoner, Carol Waggoner, Normandie Center, Seafood Shop, YB Meats, Yoder Meats Filed under Normandie Center, Retail | Comments

Doug Malone and Leisa Lowry of J.P. Weigand & Sons to handle leasing for Brittany, Normandie centers

Feb. 4, 20102:38 p.m.

doug leisa WICHITA — RP Realty Partners has hired commercial brokers Doug Malone and Leisa Lowry to handle leasing at Brittany Center at 21st and Woodlawn and Normandie Center at Central and Woodlawn.

The brokers, who are with J.P. Weigand & Sons, will work closely with Debbie McNeal, who manages the centers.

With Malone and Lowry focusing on leasing, they say McNeal will be able to concentrate on property management.

“‘Those two properties have really stood the test of time over the years,” Malone says.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: Brittany Center, Debbie McNeal, Doug Malone, Gessler's, J.P. Weigand & Sons, Leisa Lowry, Normandie Center, RP Realty Partners, Star Lumber, Wal-Mart Filed under Leases, Real estate, Retail | Comments Off

Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market most likely not coming to Normandie Center

Nov. 23, 20096:00 a.m.

WICHITA — It looks like the potential deal for a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market at Normandie Center is off.

Debbie McNeal of RP Realty Partners says she has no idea what’s going on with Wal-Mart, but she’s trying to find new tenants for the Star Lumber and Whole Foods spaces.

That’s “because the owners told me to go ahead.”

Whole Foods is moving to the former Gessler Drug Co. space to make room for Wal-Mart.

Gessler had planned on moving anyway, but its time line was moved up due to Wal-Mart. It’s now where AAA Kansas used to be next to Il Vicino near Douglas and Oliver.

McNeal has 32,000 square feet to lease where Whole Foods is vacating and Star Lumber used to be.

She has another 4,000 square feet where YB Meats once was. And she has some office space north of the former Star Lumber building as well.

The only certain Neighborhood Market for Wichita so far is at Central and Maize.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: AAA Kansas, Debbier McNeal, Gessler Drug Co., Il Vicino, Normandie Center, RP Realty Partners, Star Lumber, Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, Whole Foods, YB Meats Filed under Uncategorized | Comments Off

Yoder Meats owners are purchasing YB Meats

Nov. 3, 20093:17 p.m.

WICHITA — Only one week ago, Yoder Meats owner Alan Waggoner called YB Meats owner Eric Kauffman to see if he might be interested in selling his store.

Kauffman was, and now the longtime store at 798 N. West St. will operate as Yoder Meats. It officially opens Wednesday (though there may have been a sale or two in the last day or so) and the deal will close in January.

“He was motivated to be done, and I was motivated to take over,” says Waggoner, who owns a meat plant and retail shop in Yoder with his wife, Carol.

If a one-week turnaround seems like a crazy kind of time frame, Waggoner agrees.

“Yeah, way crazy.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: Alan Waggoner, Carol Waggoner, Eric Kauffman, Normandie Center, SABEW, YB Meats, Yoder Meats Filed under Normandie Center, Retail, Uncategorized, West side | Comments

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.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: Best of Times, Chris Goebel, Gaslight Creek, Neighborhood Market, Normandie Center, Pathfinders Birkenstock, Perfect Nails, Seafood Shop, Star Lumber, Wal-Mart Filed under Leases, Real estate, Retail | Comments

Have You Heard?