Thread of local businesses that don't survive the coronavirus

[ChickenSandwich 9843]

20 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

Shady Grove done.

https://www.austin360.com/entertainment/20200511/shady-grove-on-barton-springs-road-closes-permanently-after-28-years-in-austin

Fuck

[Brisketexan 105158]

Ok.  THAT one fucking stings.  Godfuckingdammit.  Fuck.

I celebrated much of their catalog: they did a great burger, world class onion rings, the tortilla queso catfish, good meatloaf, even loved the hippie sandwich.  The wife is going to be quite upset about this one.

[3adays 454]

Yikes! Don’t know their finances, but thought they’d be OK. 

[SubliminalHorn 6806]

Shady Grove closing definitely hits hard. I remember going there with my brother when my mom, dad, and I used to visit my bro in Austin. Didn’t go a ton when I lived in Austin, usually around ACL time. Honestly, the food was just aight. But the atmosphere and history for me couldn’t be beat. Sad day. 

Edited May 11, 2020 by SubliminalHorn

[Mappable 37]

TCAD Valuation:  $5,030,8234

Improvement:  $75,588 (4116 sqft)

Land:  $4,957,236 (1.237 Acres)
 

[Moby Ric 2058]

Well fuck.  Shady Grove was one of my Sunday go to places.

[Lobwedgephil 1139]

Damn, loved Shady Grove. 

[LTtxfan 49255]

39 minutes ago, 4th&Five said:

Shady Grove done.

https://www.austin360.com/entertainment/20200511/shady-grove-on-barton-springs-road-closes-permanently-after-28-years-in-austin

Time for McConaughey to step in and save Shady Grove!!!

[rage-a-holic 4405]

godfuckingdamnit

[blacklab 11941]

Damn that sucks.

Was a regular in our rotation. Many a Sunday were spent at Butler pitch and putt followed by a burger at shady grove.

[Biff Tannen 45691]

Surely someone will put in something else there.  That patio is too perfect.

[FORTY NINE TO ZERO 2652]

Ugh. This is the one that sucks the most. I’ve had so much fun there over the years. 
 

I even more sad for those beautiful trees. Watch another “mix use” development take their place in a few years 

[irishtexan 11521]

5 minutes ago, Biff Tannen said:

Surely someone will put in something else there.  That patio is too perfect.

Landlords were/are probably charging an absolute fuckton of money for that stretch of Barton Springs. Wonder if the Shady Grove owners also owned the land. I could see nearly every single restaurant along that stretch closing down, and new ones going in once there's a vaccine, but at a substantially lower rate. This thing is going to completely reset the restaurant/bar landscape. Feel awful for the folks who work in that industry.

[nolongerU2horn 767]

6 minutes ago, irishtexan said:

Wonder if the Shady Grove owners also owned the land.

From the article:

The land at 1624 Barton Springs Road has been in the Neelley family for at least 50 years, according to the Travis County Appraisal District. There was no immediate word on the future of the space.

 

 

[utee94 15833]

Yup this sucks.

[ChickenSandwich 9843]

It will be another restaurant....on the bottom floor of some shitty condos 

[Royal With Cheese 3]

Shady Grove was one of our favorites.

[hornian 5219]

43 minutes ago, Mappable said:

TCAD Valuation:  $5,030,8234

Improvement:  $75,588 (4116 sqft)

Land:  $4,957,236 (1.237 Acres)
 

Hard to blame landlord for raising lease rates when the appraised value does this over 5 years:

 

2020	$73,588	$4,957,236	0	5,030,824	$0	$5,030,824
2019	$73,588	$4,741,704	0	4,815,292	$0	$4,815,292
2018	$97,817	$2,988,467	0	3,086,284	$0	$3,086,284
2017	$51,689	$3,034,595	0	3,086,284	$0	$3,086,284
2016	$46,129	$2,781,053	0	2,827,182	$0	$2,827,182
2015	$80,629	$2,140,651	0	2,221,280	$0	$2,221,280

 

That means in 2015 their property taxes were $47,643; 5 years later they are $107,904.00. If they signed a 60 month lease in 2015, their lease would have to more than double just to cover property taxes. 

[ChickenSandwich 9843]

Property taxes are out of control as is city spending. 
 

Haven’t seen any city leaders offering to suspend property taxes to help people and landlords keep people on their homes, but the where would the $60 million for the homeless come from?  Or the salary for the art consultant??  
 

Or a subway that runs from the W to the airport. We love spending other people’s money like it is on Fire. 

Edited May 11, 2020 by ChickenSandwich

[Guest Lobo]

29 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Property taxes are out of control as is city spending. 
 

Haven’t seen any city leaders offering to suspend property taxes to help people and landlords keep people on their homes, but the where would the $60 million for the homeless come from?  Or the salary for the art consultant??  
 

Or a subway that runs from the W to the airport. We love spending other people’s money like it is on Fire. 

Very true.  I've been quite outspoken on the matter at City Hall and on this website.  Dirty little secret though---school districts take a lot, community colleges take a lot, County , emergency/health districts take a lot, etc., etc. etc.  State of Texas has no problem taking their more than fair share though as simply an intermediary collector/spender.  

[Brisketexan 105158]

Just now, Lobo said:

Very true.  I've been quite outspoken on the matter at City Hall and on this website.  Dirty little secret though---school districts take a lot, community colleges take a lot, County , emergency/health districts take a lot, etc., etc. etc.  State of Texas has no problem taking their more than fair share though as simply an intermediary collector/spender.  

Could be that relying so heavily on property taxes creates some very negative unintended consequences.  But to go further down that road would end up CR, because "all taxes bad!" and such.  

So, we'll just continue as we're doing, with no remedies on the table (at least, none that allow your schools to stay open and your roads to stay paved and whatnot).

[jimmyjazz 45978]

There's no way to actually make a dent in what's going to happen, but I wish Austinites could come up with some kind of movement to let the Applebee's of the world know that a substantial part of the population will not frequent their garbage chain outlets when they take over mom 'n' pop shops that had to close because of this virus.

"Keep Austin Local" has a minor cachet, but the suits wouldn't even notice it, or care if they did.

I haven't been to Shady Grove in a few years, but damn I've eaten a metric ton of those onion rings and watched a lot of cool bands on their patio.

[Guest Lobo]

8 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

There's no way to actually make a dent in what's going to happen, but I wish Austinites could come up with some kind of movement to let the Applebee's of the world know that a substantial part of the population will not frequent their garbage chain outlets when they take over mom 'n' pop shops that had to close because of this virus.

"Keep Austin Local" has a minor cachet, but the suits wouldn't even notice it, or care if they did.

I haven't been to Shady Grove in a few years, but damn I've eaten a metric ton of those onion rings and watched a lot of cool bands on their patio.

Yep.   We're a large city with way more disposable income and a much higher penchant for dining/drinking out than most cities.  And we're losing local icons every single week.  Imagine what this thing looks like in the rest of the country.  But we fail at one thing, we like to talk about saving local business while we still each at the same bullshit chains over and over again from Georgetown to Pflugerville to Leander to Buda to Kyle to Bastrop.  We like to remember the old joints back in Austin, but we make zero fucking effort to eat there.  The outpouring of sadness on the old site when fucking Fuddrucker's closed was insane.  People wept about it more than they did about Hut's.  These great local joints were hanging on by a thread as is.  In the end, the confiscatory taxes and the full stop of business 2.5 months ago did them in.  We all miss them. We all have fun times.  But fact is, if people gave as much of a shit about them as they did about protesting capitols to get back to Chili's...More (not all) of them would have been in a position to get back to some decent balance sheet as we all come back online this month/this summer.  

The cool M.O. is to hit these places up in your 20's when you're strapped for cash.  Move away to Houston.  Then when you come back to Austin with some real cash to drop, hit up Pappadeaux's to see if it's at all like the one you go to back in Houston.  That's why these places are fucked.  That mentality.  But yes, the taxes and virus put the final nail in the coffin.  People like to whine that these local joints are too expensive, but the shitty chains they visit are just as expensive in the end.  They just like sterile, shitty predictable food.  Like is easier in the bubble.  I can't wait for the Landry's trail of tears...

[tbone_ 14129]

There's no way to actually make a dent in what's going to happen, but I wish Austinites could come up with some kind of movement to let the Applebee's of the world know that a substantial part of the population will not frequent their garbage chain outlets when they take over mom 'n' pop shops that had to close because of this virus.
"Keep Austin Local" has a minor cachet, but the suits wouldn't even notice it, or care if they did.
I haven't been to Shady Grove in a few years, but damn I've eaten a metric ton of those onion rings and watched a lot of cool bands on their patio.

Doesn’t work that way. No judgement or politics in this statement at all, but our system is set up to consolidate capital in the hands of the few. I’m convinced the mega trend is eventually all assets will be held by a few large institutions. Yes I’m trying to profit (make a living) from it. No I don’t like it at all.

[GringoSalado 1651]

2 hours ago, Mappable said:

TCAD Valuation:  $5,030,8234

Improvement:  $75,588 (4116 sqft)

Land:  $4,957,236 (1.237 Acres)
 

Jesus.

I honestly wonder if it is really worth anything approaching that anymore. I wonder what the owner has planned for it. NEELLEY GORDON WILLIAM?

 

edit: well after reading the rest of the thread it looks like the family owns the dirt? My Basemap account shows the above as owners. So Shady Grove the business has no value but the dirt underneath it is Sailboat money.

Edited May 11, 2020 by GringoSalado

[Guest Lobo]

17 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

Doesn’t work that way. No judgement or politics in this statement at all, but our system is set up to consolidate capital in the hands of the few. I’m convinced the mega trend is eventually all assets will be held by a few large institutions. Yes I’m trying to profit (make a living) from it. No I don’t like it at all.

I agree with that in terms of most retail models.  It's been trending that way for 500 years (textiles, transportation, tools, medicine, building materials, etc.).  But the one thing that has endured since El Botin through Franklin is the local restaurant model.  Simply because of the nature of food growth/livestock to harvest/slaughter to transportation to sustainability, etc.  We don't always prefer it, because we need to feast Golden Corral like fucking savages, but locally run restaurants have always thrived in our societies.  Not as profitable as the big guys, but they have survived.  It's one of only a handful of models (like bars, live music venues, etc.) that has endured for centuries. 

Even in the wake of logistics, supply chain efficiencies, marketing, etc.---many cities still eat at locally run joints.  Austin is a weird outlier because we have great local restaurants that can survive.  We have lots of people that talk about how great those joints are.  But yet we keep losing them because in the end, those people that claim to love them prefer to still eat out...just at Cheddar's or Saltgrass.

It's okay, but people pretend they go there because they're cheap but they're not.  They're the same total ticket price as the places we are mourning right now, and most of that money leaves Austin.  It's not bad you go there, just shut the fuck about how much it sucks that we lost some great local spots that you last visited 19 years ago despite living 11 miles away.  You're part of the problem.  

Edited May 11, 2020 by Lobo

[Deej 76831]

19 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Yep.   We're a large city with way more disposable income and a much higher penchant for dining/drinking out than most cities.  And we're losing local icons every single week.  Imagine what this thing looks like in the rest of the country.  But we fail at one thing, we like to talk about saving local business while we still each at the same bullshit chains over and over again from Georgetown to Pflugerville to Leander to Buda to Kyle to Bastrop.  We like to remember the old joints back in Austin, but we make zero fucking effort to eat there.  The outpouring of sadness on the old site when fucking Fuddrucker's closed was insane.  People wept about it more than they did about Hut's.  These great local joints were hanging on by a thread as is.  In the end, the confiscatory taxes and the full stop of business 2.5 months ago did them in.  We all miss them. We all have fun times.  But fact is, if people gave as much of a shit about them as they did about protesting capitols to get back to Chili's...More (not all) of them would have been in a position to get back to some decent balance sheet as we all come back online this month/this summer.  

The cool M.O. is to hit these places up in your 20's when you're strapped for cash.  Move away to Houston.  Then when you come back to Austin with some real cash to drop, hit up Pappadeaux's to see if it's at all like the one you go to back in Houston.  That's why these places are fucked.  That mentality.  But yes, the taxes and virus put the final nail in the coffin.  People like to whine that these local joints are too expensive, but the shitty chains they visit are just as expensive in the end.  They just like sterile, shitty predictable food.  Like is easier in the bubble.  I can't wait for the Landry's trail of tears...

Transplants don't give a fuck about iconic Austin businesses, and our city council and mayor just pay lip service to them to sound cool. Ain't enough natives left to lift them up.

[GringoSalado 1651]

3 minutes ago, Lobo said:

But the one thing that has endured since El Botin through Franklin is the local restaurant model.  Simply because of the nature of food growth/livestock to harvest/slaughter to transportation to sustainability, etc.  

I don't really care why, as long as we have local, but IMO it is due to taste. There is no chain food that approximates the local cuisine that Austinites love (very specifically regional BBQ and Tex Mex just to name two) and the same is for sure true where I live. Plus restaurants have less working capital requirements that most other small businesses as you can often get terms for food and of course sell your wares for cash.

At the same time even in the best of times it was low margin for lots of work. At the very least your favorite taco dive is probably going to have to raise its prices.

[Bevo 13579]

I was wondering today, what cities will look like with the closing of so many businesses and hopefully the demise of many strip centers. I assume a strip center will never be torn down for parks and green space. So, I guess even newer cities like Austin are going to start looking a little like Detroit and Youngstown, OH. There will be lots of boarded up businesses with graffiti.

[Neonmoon 38129]

23 minutes ago, Bevo said:

I was wondering today, what cities will look like with the closing of so many businesses and hopefully the demise of many strip centers. I assume a strip center will never be torn down for parks and green space. So, I guess even newer cities like Austin are going to start looking a little like Detroit and Youngstown, OH. There will be lots of boarded up businesses with graffiti.

Austin will just build more apartments 

[Brisketexan 105158]

3 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

Austin will just build more $600,000 condos

FIFaccuracy.

[Deej 76831]

Just wait until Dickey's overtakes the old Franklin spot. 

[burntorangebongos 10747]

3 hours ago, Royal With Cheese said:

Shady Grove was one of our favorites.

I really liked the Hippy Chick Sandwich. 

[Guest Lobo]

1 hour ago, Bevo said:

I was wondering today, what cities will look like with the closing of so many businesses and hopefully the demise of many strip centers. I assume a strip center will never be torn down for parks and green space. So, I guess even newer cities like Austin are going to start looking a little like Detroit and Youngstown, OH. There will be lots of boarded up businesses with graffiti.

The short money piling into middle-market retail is obscene right now.  If you're business is more strip centers with more branch banks, boutique dress shops, and mini-blind showrooms...you're already dead.  You just don't know it yet.  And because you're sacrificing nature to sell shit that has maybe 36 mos. left on it's in-person retail shelf life, I'm gonna laugh my way with all the other Bears.  

[Cousin Strawberry 1261]

14 minutes ago, Deej said:

Just wait until Dickey's overtakes the old Franklin spot. 

Dickey's has to be a money laundering front, right?  I don't know anyone that has ever eaten at one and when I occasionally walk by a Dickey's its completely vacant.

[Royal With Cheese 3]

3 minutes ago, burntorangebongos said:

I really liked the Hippy Chick Sandwich. 

That was the best sandwich on the menu.

[Bevo 13579]

10 minutes ago, Cousin Strawberry said:

Dickey's has to be a money laundering front, right?  I don't know anyone that has ever eaten at one and when I occasionally walk by a Dickey's its completely vacant.

sounds like GNC

[BradInATX 9208]

I'll take 10 Dickey's over another overpriced hipster joint owned by some dipshit from California that puts three entire pineapples and a gluten free BLT on top of every $17 bloody mary they sell so that all of the brunchin' babes can post it on their Instagram. And I've never eaten Dickey's. But I'd take 10 of anything, even Chili's, over more of those places.

Edited May 12, 2020 by BradInATX

[Deej 76831]

1 minute ago, BradInATX said:

I'll take 10 Dickey's over another overpriced hipster joint owned by some dipshit from California that puts three entire pineapples and a gluten free BLT on top of every $17 bloody mary they sell so that all of the brunchin' babes can post it on their Instagram. And I've never eaten Dickey's. But I'd take 10 of anything, even Chili's, over more of those places.

You will be sorely disappointed. 

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

2 hours ago, Lobo said:

I agree with that in terms of most retail models.  It's been trending that way for 500 years (textiles, transportation, tools, medicine, building materials, etc.).  But the one thing that has endured since El Botin through Franklin is the local restaurant model.  Simply because of the nature of food growth/livestock to harvest/slaughter to transportation to sustainability, etc.  We don't always prefer it, because we need to feast Golden Corral like fucking savages, but locally run restaurants have always thrived in our societies.  Not as profitable as the big guys, but they have survived.  It's one of only a handful of models (like bars, live music venues, etc.) that has endured for centuries. 

Even in the wake of logistics, supply chain efficiencies, marketing, etc.---many cities still eat at locally run joints.  Austin is a weird outlier because we have great local restaurants that can survive.  We have lots of people that talk about how great those joints are.  But yet we keep losing them because in the end, those people that claim to love them prefer to still eat out...just at Cheddar's or Saltgrass.

It's okay, but people pretend they go there because they're cheap but they're not.  They're the same total ticket price as the places we are mourning right now, and most of that money leaves Austin.  It's not bad you go there, just shut the fuck about how much it sucks that we lost some great local spots that you last visited 19 years ago despite living 11 miles away.  You're part of the problem.  

They can survive mostly until people can’t easily access them anymore.  The conundrum of high property values/taxes removes parking/driving and it’s just a pain in the ass to frequent those places. Huts for example,  I stopped going there because I couldn’t get there and park.  I’m not taking an Uber to go to Huts.  If I lived in the neighborhood I might go to Shady Grove.  But I’m sure as shit not trying to drive down there and figure out how to access it more than once a year when there are 10 places closer with better food and less hassle.

Same reason I stopped going to football games.  Once my kids outgrew the novelty, the product just wasn’t worth the cost and hassle.  

 

 

Edited May 12, 2020 by Judge Roybeanbag

[StruggleBus 3922]

On 4/23/2020 at 2:21 PM, Grade of D as in David said:

I miss Pecan Valley.

Pecan Valley was a fantastic course. It got hit hard during the 98 flood.

Too bad it’s gone. It was a bright spot in an otherwise bleak part of town.

[LTtxfan 49255]

Reading this thread made me think of...

[mchookem 16336]

1 hour ago, burntorangebongos said:

I really liked the Hippy Chick Sandwich. 

agree, only thing i ever ordered.

Jack Allen's has a grilled veggie sandwich that's close, pretty damn good itself.

[Larry T. Spider 1746]

4 hours ago, Lobo said:

Very true.  I've been quite outspoken on the matter at City Hall and on this website.  Dirty little secret though---school districts take a lot, community colleges take a lot, County , emergency/health districts take a lot, etc., etc. etc.  State of Texas has no problem taking their more than fair share though as simply an intermediary collector/spender.  

If the state (Robin Hood) would quit taking 46% (yes, that’s the real number) of the taxes collected by Austin ISD, we would pass fewer bonds. The state can’t raid the bond money so it’s a necessity. I’ll stop there to avoid CR.

[Guest Lobo]

Fair point.  The queue right now for ISD's to start bond floats is insanity.  They're gonna lose so many people off the tax rolls, their brilliant decision is to provide cover by over-selling what is bound to be downgraded paper.  You're right, another topic for another thread.  

Really bummed about Shady Grove though.  Didn't give a shit about Austin Java, and despite good beer, Uncle Billy's.  But that was our favorite spot on Barton Springs.  We'd bike down on occasion.  Hope somebody with some semblance of honor takes it over and keeps it local at least.  What's going into Uncle Billy's BTW?  

[Larry T. Spider 1746]

I know Ski Shores was opening up a second location down there. I’m guessing it’s going into the uncle Billy’s spot since it’s the same owner. He owns a ton of stuff around Austin including Austin java and little woodrows. He’s a fun guy.

Edited May 12, 2020 by Larry T. Spider

[Anastasis 23475]

Anybody got a pulse check on Hyde park bar and grille?

[LebongJames 1812]

I think Ski Shores is actually going into the old Austin Java. 

[Guest Lobo]

5 minutes ago, LebongJames said:

I think Ski Shores is actually going into the old Austin Java. 

Yep, something else is going into Uncle Billy's.  They started the renovation long before Covid-19.  Just can't remember the name of what I saw.  And I think, my hatred of their food aside, that Baby A's was already gone before this all started as well.  But I don't think anything had happened there as far as new concept.  I drove by there multiple times a week up until 2 months ago and I can't envision any of it my head for some reason.  But I can tell you everything about that millinery on Barton Springs despite me having not bought any kind of hat in 15 years.  

[Chet Steadman 940]

18 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Yep, something else is going into Uncle Billy's.  They started the renovation long before Covid-19.  Just can't remember the name of what I saw.  And I think, my hatred of their food aside, that Baby A's was already gone before this all started as well.  But I don't think anything had happened there as far as new concept.  I drove by there multiple times a week up until 2 months ago and I can't envision any of it my head for some reason.  But I can tell you everything about that millinery on Barton Springs despite me having not bought any kind of hat in 15 years.  

Austin Eastciders.