Today is not what you call a good financial news day here in Dallas. With Craft and GhostBar closing at the W/Victory, as Scooper Teresa Gubbins told us hours before the press release today, we can only hope replacements are on their way. We know of one: a new restaurant, Cook Hall, opens to replace Craft come early fall. Cook Hall will offer “regional cuisine and handcrafted cocktails”, with a new bar and a flow that continues into the W’s Living Room. W’s do not embrace traditional hotel lobbies. Cook Hall (weird name) will offer smaller, share-able plates, more moderate prices. All part of my theory that people are not spending the vast sums they once spent on eating out. It’s too expensive and rich in calories, would rather pay less, eat light. Why doesn’t someone bring a high end grocer to Victory, like Eatzie’s or Oakville Grocery? Or how about Wegman’s which I visited recently in Harrisburg, PA and which blew me away. Seriously, put Central Market and Whole Foods together and Wegmans still rules. It’s also, along with my beloved Whole Foods, on The Business Insider’s top 15 fastest-growing retailer list.
Sad to see Ghostbar, the hotel’s 33rd floor nightclub, going bye bye. No word yet on what will take its place, but I know this has to be a major change for condo dwellers at the W who could order up from Craft. Last time I was down at Victory and used the parking garage across from the W, all those shops looked so empty I thought we had a real ghost bar.
Penneys? 350 corporate employees laid off Tuesday at the Plano headquarters, bringing the total number of employees laid off at the Plano office to more than 950 since April. These folks have rent and mortgages to pay. Stories like this is what keeps me in Debbie Downer mode sometimes, but we will hope that this is the start of Penney’s just getting it’s reorganization together.
— Daily Local Real Estate Dish By Dallas Real Estate Insider — Candy Evans at CandysDirt.com