Title Boxing Club to open at Shops at Tallgrass; two more clubs could follow

March 30, 201211:16 a.m.

WICHITA — Even Wichitans who aren’t looking to get in shape are going to have a hard time avoiding gyms soon.

In addition to new Planet Fitness and Gold’s Gym locations, Title Boxing Club is coming to the city.

It may sound exclusive to boxers, but the franchise actually is a fitness center.

“We’re basically taking the danger out,” says Chris Gerhardt, who is opening the business with Matt McClure. Gerhardt says they want it to “be something everyone can do just to get in shape.”

The first of what they think will be three Title Boxing Clubs will open in 5,527 square feet near 21st and Rock Road at the Shops at Tallgrass early this summer.

Gerhardt is a business consultant and former employee of equipment dealer Title Boxing, which is the company that started the fitness franchise in Kansas City.

So far, 144 franchises have been purchased, and 25 are open nationally.

For $59.99 a month, clients can have group classes and individual training using the same exercises as those who box or do mixed martial arts.

“We just turn it into (a) regular workout program for everybody,” Gerhardt says.

There’s a boxing ring, but he says the majority of the class is on a boxing bag.

The classes have a warm-up, boxing rounds and core work at the end.

“This gym offers a coach that’s with you the entire time,” Gerhardt says. “There’s some pretty fantastic coaches that are already on board.”

That includes pro boxer Manny Thompson and Ross “The Boss” Puritty, a former heavyweight world champion.

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , Filed under Fitness, New business, Real estate | Comments (0)

Furnish My Nest to open at the Shops at Tallgrass near 21st and Rock Road

March 22, 20124:36 p.m.

WICHITA — A new home furnishings store with a contemporary flair is coming to the Shops at Tallgrass near 21st and Rock Road.

Furnish My Nest is taking the 2,240 square feet Cox Communications Kansas/Arkansas used to be in before moving across the parking lot.

Chance Shipman and Josh Ruland are opening Furnish My Nest to sell furniture, accessories and lighting.

Shipman says they’ll offer “a mix of classic and contemporary styling, but very functional.”

“We want it to be usable … furniture for everyone’s lives.”

Shipman used to have a shop in Topeka. He says he noticed that there wasn’t a lot of variety in the home furnishings stores here.

Also, he says, “The contemporary choices were gone.”

He and Ruland also will offer a redesign-in-a-day service for $399 in which, after a few meetings with a client, they’ll redesign a room with existing furniture and accessories and add some new ones as needed as well.

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By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , Filed under East side, Real estate, Retail, Shops at Tallgrass | Comments Off

BlueChip Spine & Sports Specialists plans east-side open house while also working on west-side space

Feb. 10, 201210:44 a.m.

WICHITA — Chiropractor Casey Hummel is having an open house next week for his new east-side BlueChip Spine & Sports Specialists and is working on opening a west-side location next month.

Hummel’s business is what he calls a chiropractic sports rehab facility. He mainly treats sports injuries but will work on any patient.

Hummel specializes in soft tissue work with something called an active-release technique. He’ll also do traditional chiropractic adjustments as needed.

“Sometimes people don’t even realize I’m a chiropractor.”

He says the technique “really feels more like a stretch, like a fine-tuned stretch.”

“It’s really been effective and really opened a lot of doors for us clinically.”

Hummel is a Wichita-area native but had been working in Dallas when a professional athlete here called him seeking help for his back.

Five years ago, Hummel moved back and opened BlueChip within Pure-Formance Sports & Fitness Training Center in Andover.

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Cox retail center at Shops at Tallgrass near 21st and Rock to move, but not far

Feb. 1, 20125:00 a.m.

UPDATED — Cox Communications Kansas/Arkansas is moving its retail center at 21st and Rock, but it’s not going far.

The store will move from the Shops at Tallgrass near the northeast corner across the parking lot to the north of Dillons.

“We are just keeping in line with the Cox retail marketing strategy,” says spokeswoman Sarah Kauffman.

At 3,000 square feet, the new store will be larger than the existing one.

“We really want consumers and customers to have an experience when they walk in a Cox store,” Kauffman says.

The new store will be especially hands-on with technology, she says, “where customers can test or try out the products.”

That includes high-speed Internet, digital cable and home phones.

Ish Tamas of J.P. Weigand & Sons handled the deal.

In about a week, Cox will start remodeling the space, which was where Supplement Giant and Home Fitness Exercise Equipment Co. used to be.

Last summer, owners Wayne and Lisa Ragsdale made their own short jaunt across the parking lot to new space where a former Blockbuster was.

The new Cox store should open in a couple of months.

 

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Filed under East side, Real estate, Retail, Shops at Tallgrass | Comments Off

Spray sunless tanning to open at the Shops at Tallgrass

Nov. 16, 20112:04 p.m.

WICHITA — The closing of one business is leading to the opening of another.

“I’ve off and on thought about having my own business and own salon,” says Meghan Polk, who worked for Origins at Bradley Fair for 10 years.

That store recently closed, so Polk has decided to open Spray, a sunless tanning salon that will be in the Shops at Tallgrass at 21st and Rock Road.

“When they closed our store, I thought I’ve always wanted to do it, and now is a great time with people getting away from tanning beds,” Polk says.

Polk says Spray will be different from most salons where “sunless tanning is like the afterthought.”

She says other places have room after room for traditional tanning beds and maybe one converted room for sunless tanning.

Polk will have five rooms and four technicians who operate airbrush machines. Spray also will have a variety of sunless tanner brands from which customers can choose along with retail products for home use.

The shop will be in 1,300 square feet where Uptown Paws used to be.

April Reed with Slawson Cos. handled the deal.

Polk says there will be a lounge area where groups, such as wedding parties, can come for tanning appointments.

She isn’t going to rent the space for parties, but Polk says customers could bring food and drinks.

Polk plans to open late next week and have a grand opening Dec. 2.

“If it really takes off, we’ll probably expand in the Wichita area.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , Filed under East side, Retail, Shops at Tallgrass | Comments Off

Uptown Paws to close next month

May 23, 201111:12 a.m.

WICHITA — After six years in business, Uptown Paws is closing at the end of June.

The shop, which is at the Shops at Tallgrass at 21st and Rock, is a dog and cat boutique that sells pet basics and more upscale items to pamper your pet.

The lease is up, and owner Lacey Vess-Vliet and her sister, Whitney Vess, decided not to renew.

“Things have changed a lot in six years,” Vess-Vliet says. “We’re a lot busier.”

They now have six children between them compared with Vess’ two children when they opened.

“It’s just a lot of work,” Vess-Vliet says.

She’d like to sell the business, but she says, “I really wasn’t quite sure how people even went about that.”

Vess-Vliet isn’t actively trying to sell the business, but she’s still open to it.

“That would be nice.”

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Firefly Yoga Studio to open in former Bradley Paper space at Shops at Tallgrass

Feb. 23, 20115:16 a.m.

Firefly Yoga Studio owner Nickki Head.

WICHITA — Former  Siva Power Yoga teacher Nickki Head is opening her own studio in the former Bradley Paper space at the Shops at Tallgrass.

“I just wanted to spread my wings,” she says of opening Firefly Yoga Studio in May.

Head says she still has a great relationship with Siva, which is where she trained and got certified.

Firefly’s tag line is “Find Your Yoga Glow,” which Head says is a reference to “this kind of glow you get after class.”

“At the end of my class  . . . I always say that I hope they take this yoga glow with them throughout the rest of the evening and into a peaceful night sleep,” Head says.

April Reed of Slawson Cos., the Tallgrass developer, handled the deal for the 3,542-square-foot space.

Head’s website, www.fireflyyoga.com, and Facebook page will be ready in a week or so.

She plans to teach a variety of classes seven days a week, such as a beginner’s class, prenatal yoga, a hot yoga series, which Head says “allows your body to immediately detox,” and a vinyasa flow yoga, which “is kind of relaxing, kind of just (to) get your blood flowing.”

Head even plans some classes by candlelight and with live acoustic music.

“There’s so many different styles of yoga, and I just want people to know this is just . . . laid back,” she says.

“Everybody’s welcome.”

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You don’t say

Nov. 29, 20104:25 p.m.

“Until our expansion we had to keep our fabrics in the bathroom so you can imagine how much better it is to be able to view them now!”

— Sharon Nelson of Nelson Designs in an e-mail about her new expansion at the Shops at Tallgrass

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Nelson Designs to expand at Shops at Tallgrass

Sept. 24, 20104:57 p.m.

WICHITA — As Hugs & Hissyfits expands at the Shops at Tallgrass by taking the former Marshmallow Kisses space, neighbor Nelson Designs is expanding by taking the Hugs space and keeping its own, too.

“We’re . . . more than doubling our size within a year,” says Sharon Nelson, who opened her design business in the center at 21st and Rock in October 2009.

Prior to that, she worked with clients out of her house.

“It was our clients who kept saying, ‘You really need to open a store,’ ” Nelson says.

The new combined 3,158-square-foot space will be ready in early November.

April Reed, who handled the deal for developer Slawson Cos., says this is the third tenant to expand at the center in six months, including Hugs & Hissyfits and Frou Frou.

This is “the strongest tenant mix the center has ever had,” she says. “Our efforts to attract and create a design center have been paying off.”

Nelson Designs carries drapes, accessories and tile and wood flooring, among other things.

“We try to make it a one-stop shop,” Nelson says.

Even though she opened her storefront at a tough economic time, Nelson says she has done well.

“We really try to be very careful with our prices,” she says.

“Wichita has been good to us.”

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Hugs & Hissyfits to move, expand at Shops at Tallgrass

Sept. 20, 20103:15 p.m.

WICHITA — Hugs & Hissyfits is moving within Shops at Tallgrass at 21st and Rock to part of the former Marshmallow Kisses space.

“We just need to get bigger,” owner Lexi Bruner says.

Her 3-year-old shop, which sells clothing and gifts for babies and toddlers, currently is in 1,850 square feet.

Late next week, the store will move to 3,000 square feet of Marshmallow Kisses’ former 4,300 square feet.

“There is a portion of the space that we’re going to use for a party room,” Bruner says.

She’s planning themed parties for little boys and girls, such as tea parties and pirate parties.

“We hope that having something to offer for little boys will be something different,” Bruner says.

She says her own family life — “having nine children and not wanting to do things at the house” — served as her inspiration.

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