March 2005

March 30, 2005

Drinking the organic, free-range, non-pasteurized, all-natural, bulk Trader Joe's Kool-Aid

Has anyone else noticed how insanely perky and into their jobs the folks at Trader Joe's are? I mean, these people love TJ's to a point of cultish devotion. Don't get me wrong: I'm a big fan! I love me the Trader Giotto's whole wheat pizza dough, the delish flavored pita chips, the Nearly-Three-Buck Chuck and all the rest of it...but I think any random cashier at Trader Joe's would throw himself in front of a car if Joe asked.

It's a little creepy.

March 27, 2005

A Sign of Things to Come?

Our retail scout on the scene in the South, where they're a few years ahead of us in the Macy's buyout experience, reports that a few weekends ago saw the official changing of all the hybridized names (Lazarus-Macy's and Goldsmith's-Macy's, two of the formerly family-owned stores) to just plain "Macy's." The company sent in some of its famous Thanksgiving Parade balloons to help the medicine go down and in general the corporate-enforced tone was one of celebration.

So, we may have "Famous-Barr-Macy's" for a while, but when a giant Garfield comes to town, heads may roll...

March 22, 2005

Finally, Your Chance to Savor

After what seems like years of anticipation (and a rumored $2+ mil on buildout and prep), Savor had the second of two soft openings last night at its remarkable Lindell location. It's a triumphant return to the St. Louis dining scene for chef Kirk Warner (once of King Louie's), and the décor and ambiance of the place are notable, as well. Though we could live without the TV in the bar (flat-screen even, but c'mon people, must it invade every space?), the dining rooms are eye-popping, the chef's table/wine cellar in the basement is lush and inviting, and even the bathrooms are a sensory delight, kind of a Vietnamese market/opium den feel. Now we're just waiting for the Flim-Flam Theatre to debut in the back of the space to complete this unique venue. And dinner at 10 on a Monday night?!? Watch out , sleepy St. Louis.

March 10, 2005

But On the Indy Furniture Front...

We were delighted -- delighted, we tell you! -- to run into Tower Grove South mover and shaker Bill Waggoner and hear that he and some business partners have launched Grove Furnishings on the so-much-potential-it-hurts strip of Morganford near Arsenal...3169 Morganford, to be exact. The shop has received its first delivery of wooden, cottage-chic furniture (painted and lightly distressed) and will be open any second now. We were promised affordable price points, too.

Go! Furnish!

March 04, 2005

Furniture Row

Dueling it out on the Promenade parking lot, both the Thomasville and Lane furniture showrooms are now open, in the former Gateway Country and Sports Authority stores.

This puts me in mind of the strategy that Home Depot and Lowe's seem intent to employ, of locating within spittin' distance of each other. Anyone have good answers as to the thinking behind this? If frustrated customers can't find it at one, they'll immediately hit the other?

Caffeine When You Need It

That new expansion must be working out well: MoKaBe's plans to start opening at the more work-crowd friendly hour of 7 a.m., meaning it'll finally be in a position to give the neighboring Bread Co. a run for the morning money. Look for the new hours early this spring.