More stores open on Memorial
Covey of retailers nests in Quail Springs area
By Tricia Pemberton
The Oklahoman
Retailers continue to flock to Memorial Road, opening — literally — left, right and all around Quail Springs Mall.
Smokey Bones Barbeque & Grill opened Tuesday for dinner, the first for this concept by Orlando, Fla.-based Darden Restaurants.
The 7,000-square-foot restaurant built in front of the mall seats 261 people and employs 160.
The restaurant combines mountain lodge decor with sports bar atmosphere via 30 televisions and plasma screens with individual tabletop sound controls. Company spokesman Joe Chabus said about $3 million was spent on the design.
Today, Smokey Bones will serve dinner only from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. On Thursday the restaurant will begin opening for lunch daily at 11 a.m.
Books-A-Million
On the south side of Memorial Road, across from the mall, Books-A-Million opened Feb. 15 in the former Just for Feet building.
The publicly traded book store, based in Birmingham, Ala., is rated as the third largest book retailer in the nation with more than 200 stores in 18 states and the District of Columbia.
The Memorial Road store is the first store in Oklahoma.
Co-manager Bob Boone said the retailer employs about 35 people. It also houses Joe Mugg's Coffee.
Bedlam businesses
Also new near the mall is The House of Bedlam restaurant and USA Screen Printing & Embroidery, which opened right before Thanksgiving.
The House of Bedlam serves pizza, burgers and sandwiches, while USA Screen Printing & Embroidery sells University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University merchandise.
For racing fans
Thunder Roadhouse Cafe, OKC Thunder Cycles and Racing Innovations opened for business in October at 900 W Memorial Road, but won't celebrate the official grand opening until April 1-3.
"April is bike season. We wanted to wait for the good weather to do our grand opening," said Joyce Roberts, general manager of Thunder Roadhouse Cafe.
The three businesses have separate owners, but opened as a group, Roberts said.
Eric Miller owns the cafe, Frank Eskridge owns OKC Thunder Cycles and Sam and Lessie Wills own Racing Innovations.
The cafe serves burgers, sandwiches, salads and catfish. Starting in April, the cafe will open Sundays, Roberts said.
OKC Thunder Cycles sells Big Dog motorcycles and Racing Innovations manufactures frames for custom Harley Davidsons and builds complete custom motorcycles, Wills said.
Wills said he also manufactures frames for Orange County Choppers, featured on the Discovery Channel's American Chopper series.
Wills formerly operated Racing Innovations in a smaller shop on Memorial Road and the Broadway Extension but moved in October to his current 7,000-square-foot building to gain additional manufacturing space and retail frontage for OKC Thunder Cycles, he said.
Wills is the general manager of the cycle shop, as well. He said he employs 12 people.
Italian flavor
To the east of the mall, in the redesigned Memorial Square shopping center, Bravo Cucina Italiana is currently under construction with an anticipated opening of April 12. It is parent company Bravo Development Inc.'s first concept in Oklahoma.
About $950,000 is being spent on the 8,600-square-foot restaurant, according to Oklahoma City building permit records. The number of employees is uncertain.
The ancient Roman temple-themed restaurant will seat about 284 in interior and exterior dining areas, and will be open for lunch and dinner.
Beauty Brands
Also scheduled for Memorial Square is Beauty Brands, a Kansas City, Mo.-based salon and spa plus retail superstore, which recently leased 7,535 square feet to be built in a stand-alone building. Construction has should start soon with an anticipated opening in June, said David Bernstein, vice president of operations.
This will be the metro area's second Beauty Brands store, after another opens at N Council Road and Northwest Expressway in May.
Men's Warehouse
Coming in late April or early May, Men's Warehouse will also open on the south side of Memorial.
The 5,500-square-foot store will employ about 15 people, Senior Regional Manager Mal Foley said.
It will be the third store in Oklahoma City and the fourth in the state for the company.
"We feel Memorial Road is the direction the city is going. There's a whole different clientele out there and we just wanted to be in the growing end of the city," Foley said.
Home Depot
Home Depot U.S.A. Inc. also has selected Quail Springs Mall for the site of its latest store in Oklahoma. The 102,000-square-foot mall on the north side of 140 Street and west of Pennsylvania Avenue will open June 30, company spokesman Don Harrison said.
About 150 full- and part-time employees will be hired for the new store, Harrison said.
"We have stores that are larger and some that are smaller, but this is the most popular prototype that we're building," Harrison said.
The store will include a tool-rental service that Harrison said is hugely popular with Home Depot's primarily do-it-yourself customers.
Sportsman's Warehouse
Near the southeast corner of the mall, construction of a 50,000-square-foot Sportsman's Warehouse will start in March, said Paul Stephens with Hawkins Companies Commercial Developers.
The hunting, fishing and camping superstore should open this fall along with an additional 25,000 square feet available for other retailers, Stephens said. Sportman's Warehouse is based in Salt Lake City.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Stu Utgaard said it was too early to talk about his Oklahoma City store, other than there are plans to build "some stores" in the city.
"We're looking forward to getting in there and, hopefully, selling some stuff. It should be fun," Utgaard said.
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