We're 1/6th of the way through 2015 already and several of the new businesses we were anticipating for the year are either already open or about to be. In addition, we've got a few new announcements (and some rumors below) for this month's peek into the Denton business world. Read on to find out where you'll be climbing walls and buying whiskey in the very near future...
There's been quite a few developments over at Rayzor Ranch. The largest instrument retailer in the world, Guitar Center, will be one of the next tenants over at Rayzor Ranch on University Dr. In the forthcoming Rayzor Ranch Town Center (across University where the longhorns used to be), a Raising Canes and an In N Out Burger have been added to the growing list of tenants that includes the Winco Foods grocery store and Cinemark Bistro. All are set to open in 2016 so don't plan on going back and forth between the two fast food giants to get your chicken fingers "animal style" anytime soon.
The old United Holland Mattress space on W. Oak St. is possibly going to become a climbing gym. Firm details are scant at this point, and nothing that we've heard is official, but we think it would be a great non-bar non-restaurant use for this large space. UPDATE: The climbing gym has been confirmed. Summit Gyms will be opening a space in the old United Holland Mattress building. We hope to see a few design renderings soon. You can check out their website here in the meantime.
An as-of-yet unnamed wrap sandwich restaurant may soon take over the old Yogurt Fusion spot.
In comic sans restaurant news, a new pizza and pasta restaurant called New York Pizza, Pasta and Subs will soon open in the old Smiling Moose Deli location on Carroll. Pedro's Tex-Mex is now operating at the possibly-cursed location at McKinney and Bell that in the past decade has housed Joey's, Miguelito's, and Boss' Pizza. We're hearing good things, though, and aren't the type to buy in to curses. We kinda stopped reading Stephen King books in middle school, after all.
The first brick and mortar location of Flatlanders Taco Co. (which started off as a food truck withe the same name) should be open this spring in their location across from Oak St. Drafthouse. In the meantime, you can enjoy their awesome new sign. We sure are suckers for good signage.
Over on Hickory St., Service Industry (old Goldmine BBQ space) and Muddy Jake's (old Gerhardt's space) are both open. We're kinda digging both of 'em. Muddy Jake's has a solid burger and appears to be a great place to take in a game and Service Industry has some of the best chicken and waffles this side of the Mississippi and a dish called "Plate O'Bacon." We're excited to see how both of these places shape up after they gain their foothold.
Further east on Hickory, Harvest House should open to the public for the first time this Thursday and stay open for most of the weekend as a venue for the 35 Denton festival that is also this weekend. Have y'all seen the pics they've been putting up on their Instagram lately? Harvest House looks like it may be a great new addition to the Denton scene. We can't wait to check it out.
It isn't exactly business, per say, but a large portion of downtown Denton now has free public wi-fi. So you can now sit and work on the courthouse lawn without using up your data connection or walking around looking for an unlocked wi-fi connection you could mooch off of. The plans are for the area covered by free wi-fi to eventually widen to over by the Civic Center and Quaker Park in the near future.
We're still pretty excited about the square's eating options increasing by two in the next few months with the opening of both Barley and Board and 940 (AKA the "Midlake restaurant due to McKenzie Smith's involvement) in the space currently occupied by Banter. The former has already started adjusting the space that once was home to both Subway and Cafe Herrera. We're definitely sad to say bye to Banter, though. Go grab your vegan chili while you still can.
See that shiny new ad we have over on the right with the burrito? That's for OC Burgers. They should open in March in the shopping center with Bet the House and Twisted Bodies Pilates. We mentioned last month how excited we were to try some of their burgers and now they're almost here. Maybe its time to rank some Denton burgers...
Uber is now up and operating in Denton. You can now summon a car to get a ride from point A to point B (and then back to point A later) with an app on your phone. Not too happy with the politics shared by the CEO of Uber? Fear not, soon Denton will have their own, locally-owned form of transportation services dubbed Wandervan that we hope to know more about very soon.
The Denton Record Chronicle reported last month that three new liquor stores, namely The Liquor Outpost, Shax's in Denton, and Imperial Ale and Spirit, have all filed to do business in Denton. So you'll be getting your Four Roses within city limits soon enough. In addition, we can now also report that Liquor Outpost will open in Denton Center on University Dr. We'd be totally fine with a Total Wine or Pogo's taking over the old World Market space on 288, too. Just sayin'.
And finally, in the ongoing saga that is/was/is Fera's, Fera's stopped being El Gato Loco and started being Fera's again. We're guessing next month it may be called Mr. Ferastix, Fera's Time Machine, Viet Fera's, or maybe even The University of North Fera's. Only time will tell.