Comings and Goings

Downtown shakeups and Skinny Improv silly season

Downtown Update No. 1

Center City retailers should be seeing another competitor this fall. Jay Wilson, 26, and wife Alicia, 22, are currently hard at work opening Pure Downtown Boutique on McDaniel Street next door to Studio 417 salon. Jay Wilson says they hope to open Pure, which he plans to market to men and women, in mid-October.

“We’re going to be really casual, L.A.- and New York-style,” says Jay; he says he and Alicia drew on Kansas City’s Standard Style for inspiration. Lines Jay says are in the pipeline include high-end names like J. Lindeberg, T-Bags, and William Rast and Blue Tattoo for guys. Retro sports apparel and kids’ clothes are also in Pure’s business plan, Jay says.

With College Station still gumming up the parking works, and Staxx’s impressive new redesign and website (not to mention Shae Belle right across the street), Pure Downtown faces a challenging, if not exactly overflowing, market. But a proper attention to men’s lines at a variety of price points could just be a missing link in downtown’s retail puzzle.

Downtown Update No. 2

Papagiorgio's is gone, so it’s safe to speculate on a constructive use for its old space at the corner of Walnut Street and South Avenue. If window hangings can be believed (and they can, usually) it’s going to be a joint project between the sadly under-utilized Marco’s Pizzeria and Bugsy Malone’s next door, where owner Wayna Dean has been eyeing more space ever since the club’s successful move downtown a year and a half ago. Marco’s owner Mark Williams confirmed that he is moving his restaurant to the former Papagiorgio’s space, and that he and Dean are working on a way to connect the two businesses. More information on this as it becomes available.

Downtown Update No. 3

It’s not the sexiest announcement, but two longtime neighbors of the now-defunct Harpo’s, on Walnut Street, have confirmed that they are indeed taking over portions of the space formerly occupied by the college-crowd favorite.

• Joe and Susie Wolfe, owners of Merle’s Hot Dog Emporium and Sweet Susie’s Bakery (currently crammed into the tiny space next door) were planning to take over the smaller portion of the ex-Harpo’s the week of Labor Day. Joe Wolfe says there won’t be too many changes to the layout, just a fresh paint job and Merle’s traditional Cardinals decorations. Joe says he and Susie will likely expand their menu offerings over time, and will soon be open seven days a week.

• As for the larger section (the one with the pool table), which includes a great patio, it will soon be occupied by Studio One Pilates, which is outgrowing its current space upstairs. Office Manager Linda Loveland was short on details, but told us they hope to have renovations complete this fall, possibly as soon as October.

As the Skinny Turns

Don’t worry, there’s not too much melodrama at your favorite overtly clean improv outfit, but there sure is a lot of sand going through the ol’ hourglass these days.

For starters, veteran Joe Swink has left for a new job in his home region of northern Virginia. That’s the bad news. The good news is that a couple of familiar faces are back in the fold—Chris Sturgeon and Chad Harris. Harris, fresh off his bout of entrepreneurship at the Dive-In Theatre, is now shaved bald—the butt of several jokes during a recent show. Summer additions Dan Clair and Tim Lee remain with the main group, making for a very crowded stage along with Sturgeon, Harris, Jeff Jenkins and Jeff Houghton. Not that that’s a bad thing.