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When seeking the unusual in home decor, apparel, jewelry, art, or gifts, Houston is the place to go to shop, whether you favor megamalls and strip centers or the distinctive boutiques and niche shops located in nooks and crannies throughout the city. Houstonians love to shop, and with good reason--their choices are almost endless. Whatever you fancy, whatever you are searching for, you can find it in Houston.
Where do you start when you want to shop Houston? The best-known shopping complex is the Galleria, at Loop 610 and Westheimer Road. With more than 330 retail stores and restaurants under one roof, the Galleria is one of the city's top tourist attractions. More than 16 million people from around the world shop at the Galleria each year. Macy's, Lord and Taylor, and Neiman Marcus are the anchor stores; also featured are such stores as Chanel, Fred Joaillier, and Dolce and Gabbana. "The Galleria is high-end shopping at its finest," said Jo Ann Henry, director of marketing and public relations for the complex.
In the Uptown Houston district, the Galleria sits amid a four-mile area of hotels, restaurants, and shops that lure shoppers from around the city and the world. Post Oak Boulevard, which has been called Houston's version of Rodeo Drive, offers high-end specialty shopping and fabulous dining.
The Galleria is one of the city's top tourist attractions. More than 16 million people from around the world shop there each year. |
Movie stars, local business executives, and visitors to Houston enjoy the shopping fare at Stelzig of Texas, which has been doing business in Houston for more than 120 years. Frances Butler is the merchandise manager for the store that her family has owned since the 1870s. Not a typical western-wear store, Stelzig sells cross-over fashions with a touch of the Southwest, besides its traditional western boots, hats, jeans, and shirts. "We cater to the more fashion-conscious customer," said Butler. "Neiman Marcus carries some of the same clothes we carry."
Stelzig of Texas appeals to wealthy oil men, ranchers, and business people who appreciate quality clothing that has a distinctive style. It carries the finest western boots made, including such names as Lucchese, J. B. Hill, Ammons, and Stallion. The store attracts foreigners from every locale, along with movie stars and other celebrities.
During the rodeo season, Stelzig is a hot spot, as locals and tourists alike come in to purchase special rodeo outfits. "The whole city gets into the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo," said Butler. "Our business is always good, but it's really good during rodeo time."
Jason Maida, owner of Maida's Belts and Buckles at Chimney Rock and Westheimer near the Galleria, sells more than 500 different sterling silver and 14-karat gold belt buckle sets for men and women. "I have the best collection of belt buckles in the state," said Maida. He purchases them through top Texas, California, and New Mexico silversmiths as well as from name-brand manufacturers, such as Bohlin Silversmiths, Comstock, Heritage, and Douglas Magnus.
"You can come in here and buy a simple calfskin belt with a sterling buckle, and you can buy belts made of alligator, crocodile, lizard, ostrich, Karung snake, and French calf. You can wear them with a suit or with jeans out on your ranch," said Maida.
Houston is a shopper's paradise for more reasons than just selection, according to Burley Bullock, of Bullock Estate and Diamond Brokers in Houston. "Houston offers the most competitive prices and best value for the consumer in America," said Bullock, who buys and sells diamonds, fine pearls and gemstones, and preowned watches, including Rolexes. "I do a lot of traveling, extensively. This is a Mecca for value for the consumer. The retail business in Houston is one of the most competitive in America, if not the most."
For close to 30 years, Hal Martin has been dealing in estate and preowned watches and jewelry, developing a loyal following of customers. Owner of Time Pieces, Watch and Jewelry Company, Martin is considered the premier Houston dealer of preowned, high-grade watches. He has one of the largest collections of preowned and restored vintage watches in the city. "We offer a complete and total service for old watches," he said. "Whether it's a Rolex or a vintage watch, we can restore it to like new. We have a huge inventory of watch parts. We're very specialized. We've taken watches that Rolex has turned down and sent back to the owner saying they can't repair them, and we've fixed them and sold them in useful condition."
Kim Zigler, business manager for A Man's Resale, in the Memorial area at Kirkwood and Memorial, said a person can find just about anything he or she wants in the city and find it at a good price. "There's nothing available in the world that you can't get in Houston," he said. "From small specialty stores to the big, big stores. Even the grocery stores here are incredible. You can go into the Randall's flagship stores and buy just about any food in the world."
A Man's Resale offers upscale men's clothing at great prices. All of the clothing sold at the store is carefully screened before it is accepted. Just about any store label or designer label you might find at Houston's finest stores can be found in the store, according to Zigler. "We have a whole array of clothing from Brioni and Destimente. Just like at Foley's and Dillard's, we carry Polo and Tommy Hilfiger."
Houston shoppers are astute and well informed, especially when it comes to purchasing home electronics. Audio Concepts, at Greenbriar and Southwest Freeway, has been selling high-performance audio and video systems since 1975. "We have positioned Audio Concepts as a destination location for audio and video systems," said Richard Heusi, vice president. "One of our goals is to offer our customers total performance. Our cinema room is recognized as having one of the best video displays in the country. Coming into our store is an experience itself."
Most customers who walk in the door of Audio Concepts already have heard about the store and its fine reputation. For customers who want to create their own media room in a new or remodeled home, Audio Concepts established a sister company called Architectural Entertainment Systems. AES works with architects, builders, and contractors to design and install home audio and video systems with special features. "We can help you create a room that when you close the door and turn on the system, you can forget about the troubles of your life," said Heusi.
When it comes to home furnishings and accessories, Houston corners the market. Distinctive specialty retailers offer one-of-a-kind finds, and mass-market stores like Gallery Furniture (owned by Houston's most famous retailer, Mattress Mac) sell high-quality furniture at discount prices.
"The home decor market is huge," said Cary Pasternak, owner of the Emporium, on Westheimer near Shepherd. "There are businesses like Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn that are doing a wonderful job in this market." At the Emporium, shoppers can find offbeat antiquities and architectural antiques--items salvaged from older buildings that can be reused in new construction or restorations. Basic items such as doors, windows, col-umns, mantels, lighting and plumbing fixtures, and garden decor are the mainstays of the Emporium's inventory. Pasternak caters to those who are seeking a vintage decor. "It's not for everybody, but it does offer items that are unique and of a quality that cannot and is not being reproduced today. The quality of the craftsmanship and the materials used are no longer available. People who purchase these items are looking to add nostalgia and architectural heritage to their homes." Only three or four dealers in the state deal exclusively in architectural antiques, according to Pasternak, and his store offers the most extensive range of products.
In the same realm, Daphne Scarbrough, owner of the Brass Maiden, makes custom iron and brass beds. They are new, but they possess a vintage charm. "My customers are interested in having something that no one else has," said Scarbrough, whose primary business is designing and crafting cast-iron beds, welded steel beds, and brass beds. She also designs and fabricates iron railings and staircases and some wooden furniture. A few years back, she began making custom linens for the beds she sells. "The beds I make are not disposable items. You buy a bed from me that your children will inherit. It's not something you are going to lean up against the house in a few years and spray-paint another color," she said of her beds. They are ovenbaked to prevent rust.
People from all over the country purchase custom beds from the Brass Maiden. "We get a lot of tourists who show up in a taxicab. They are under the illusion that they can just walk in and decide which bed they want and order it, but then they get overwhelmed with all the choices and designs."
Uniques Beveled Glass also caters to the buyer who is looking for quality and a distinctive style. In Spring Branch in a small forties-style bungalow that has been converted to a showroom, Uniques Beveled Glass has been custom designing and fabricating beveled and stained glass for doors, fireplace screens, and windows since 1978. "We specialize in one-of-a-kind pieces," said Lydia Pierce, who owns the company with her husband, Don. "We do all the work here. Period pieces and reproduction pieces are popular. We get a lot of out-of-town customers who have heard about our work."
Frontera Furniture Company designs, manufactures, and sells American colonial and pioneer-style furniture, home accessories, and gift items. The store's colonial furnishings are predominantly solid cherrywood and appeal to those who are looking for a more traditional, finished style. The store's rustic pioneer pieces, often crafted from pine and other lightly distressed woods, fit a more casual setting. Frontera is known for its teak garden furniture and its porch rockers. It has three showrooms in Houston.
Rice Village is a quaint community close to downtown, the Medical Center, and the Galleria. More than 300 shops, from small boutiques to nationally known chains, operate here.
Méli-Mélo sells colorful and interesting tableware, gifts, and home accessories. Close to 90 percent of the fabrics, table linens, and pottery sold at the store are from France, according to Gina Liuzza. "We purchase from a lot of different regions from south and central France. These areas offer items with very distinct styles, colors, and motifs." The store's name is taken from a French term for a confused mixture of many different things. It aptly describes the wide array of merchandise, ranging from hand-painted dishes and pottery to woven jacquard linens to Provençal quilts.
Antique doors, contemporary artwork, sculpture, and unusual finds like this threshing table are available at Galerie Claudia. |
Also in Rice Village is the Bernabé Somoza Gallery. Operating from a charming cottage on Sunset, it maintains a fine collection of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century European art by minor masters and some Dutch masters. Gallery owner Bernabé Somoza considers it a continental European gallery with a nice variety of landscapes, still lifes, florals, portraits, and genre scenes, which he calls life scenes. "We have a different feel from any other gallery," said Somoza. "Our gallery is a house, and our paintings are in a home setting with furniture, lamps, and flowers. We want to show the customer how the artwork will look in a home. We want to be able to assure the customer is comfortable with their purchase."
For home decor and accessories with vintage charm and one-of-a-kind craftsmanship, Provenance in Rice Village is a must-see shop. It carries a varied inventory of textiles, including table treatments and linens, drapes, pillows, and bed treatments made of richly textured fabrics, including silks, velvets, damasks, and metallics. The store also carries furniture, including painted-on vintage pieces and creatively refinished used furniture. Just about every item in the store makes a statement, juxtaposing texture, color, pattern, and design, according to owner Shelley Johnson, who contracts with artists and other craftsmen to design and make the furniture, accessories, and linens she sells. "The customers who like this merchandise must be extremely confident in their choices, independent thinkers who want their home to reflect their own ideas. They are seeking a style that is striking, something that can't be mass produced," said Johnson.
Antique doors, contemporary artwork, and sculpture are among the unusual finds at Galerie Claudia. "Our antique doors are unique," said Jacqueline Gartland, a partner in the gallery with Isabel and Henry New. "Our customers are using these doors for wine cellars, on ranch houses and lodges and Mediterranean-style villas. Some people are using them as headboards for a bed and as tabletops." Salvaged from old buildings and houses in Italy, the intricately carved doors feature biblical and hunting scenes as well as decorative carvings. Some have wrought-iron scrollwork.
Other popular items in the gallery's inventory are facsimiles of medieval manuscripts imported from Paris. "They are really a work of art," said Gartland. "If you are a lover of old books, you will adore them. They are exact duplicates, and many are limited editions with hand-painted edges and markings."
Galerie Claudia's extensive sculpture collection includes contemporary pieces made from granite and white marble. Some are made of Corten steel, and some are bronze. Some are figurative; others are more abstract. They express a wide range of themes, drawing from nature and human form.
Furniture that is distinguished by quality craftsmanship is the goal of Ernest Thompson, a special-order furniture manufacturer based in Albuquerque that operates a retail showroom in Highland Village in River Oaks, one of Houston's most upscale shopping centers. Ernest Thompson's furniture makers build "furniture that is truly furniture," according to Doreen Godwin, who owns the company with her husband, Mike. "We build furniture the way it was built 300 years ago. That's why furniture built 200 and 300 years ago is still standing," said Godwin.
Ernest Thompson furniture is characterized by distinct detailing and solid wood construction. The company builds a full line of furniture in a variety of fine woods and finishes. "It's interesting how the type of wood and the type of hardware can completely change the look of furniture," said Godwin. "You can make something that has a very French Country look appear to be contemporary or traditional by changing those particular influences."
