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#2101 Nitixope

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Posted 19 October 2023 - 12:10 PM

 

Thanks for posting bclaridge. I really like that window signage. Has that very fitting art deco style.

Im not familiar with WHBM but youll have post a photo of that sign too next time you are dowtown. I will check streetviews later.

Not to mention, the art deco style matches well with the contemporary art deco design of The Westbrook building.

Here's the sign I was speaking of:

marquee.jpeg

 

The Spotlight logo (from the windows) doesn't fit perfectly into the sign, but it could definitely work.

The sign that used to exist under the white plastic looked something like the following image, albeit rotated 90 degrees:

whbm-hurst.jpeg

 

This is from the still-existing WHBM at North East Mall in Hurst, which opened shortly after the former Sundance location, and which uses a similar interior design to what used to exist in the 3rd/Houston space. I know because I shopped at both locations during my last semester at TCU (autumn 2017) and for some months after I graduated, but before I went back into the closet (I'm trans) in mid-2018. By the time I came back out in late-2021, the Sundance location had closed down. I was a little sad when I found out about the closure, considering the memories I had of the boutique and how the brand essentially came to represent my transition. Still, it made some business sense, even without Sundance management concerns, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic; the Fort Worth-area market already felt oversaturated, with WHBM having a nearby boutique in University Park Village, and the North East Mall boutique not that much further away. It doesn't help that WHBM sells a lot of dressier clothing, which was less-popular during the height of the pandemic (a lack of social events, along with work-from-home, made dressing up less practical).

 

I'll link to the Street View imagery from January 2020 so that you can see what the corner sign looked like before WHBM closed. The March 2021 Street View imagery shows what the sign looked like after WHBM closed, but before the plastic covering went up. Clearly, there would be some work that would need to be done, but it's nothing too unreasonable.


PS: I'm not sure whether the Sundance WHBM closed down in early 2021 or sometime in 2020 now, because I believe I initially misinterpreted the January 2020 imagery as being from January 2021. I'm pretty sure it was early 2021, though. I would have loved to see another clothing store (considering that the space was made for that, it would have been easy for a small and/or upstart business to adapt the space), but still, I'm just glad something is finally going to fill up a once vacant storefront in Sundance Square!

 

 

Thanks for the update.  I didn't realize WHBM was there until you pointed it out.  It appears that they were the original inhabitant of that retail space too so they must have had some success over the 7 or 8 years they were around.  



#2102 bclaridge

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Posted 19 October 2023 - 02:02 PM

 

 

Thanks for posting bclaridge. I really like that window signage. Has that very fitting art deco style.

Im not familiar with WHBM but youll have post a photo of that sign too next time you are dowtown. I will check streetviews later.

Not to mention, the art deco style matches well with the contemporary art deco design of The Westbrook building.

Here's the sign I was speaking of:

marquee.jpeg

 

The Spotlight logo (from the windows) doesn't fit perfectly into the sign, but it could definitely work.

The sign that used to exist under the white plastic looked something like the following image, albeit rotated 90 degrees:

whbm-hurst.jpeg

 

This is from the still-existing WHBM at North East Mall in Hurst, which opened shortly after the former Sundance location, and which uses a similar interior design to what used to exist in the 3rd/Houston space. I know because I shopped at both locations during my last semester at TCU (autumn 2017) and for some months after I graduated, but before I went back into the closet (I'm trans) in mid-2018. By the time I came back out in late-2021, the Sundance location had closed down. I was a little sad when I found out about the closure, considering the memories I had of the boutique and how the brand essentially came to represent my transition. Still, it made some business sense, even without Sundance management concerns, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic; the Fort Worth-area market already felt oversaturated, with WHBM having a nearby boutique in University Park Village, and the North East Mall boutique not that much further away. It doesn't help that WHBM sells a lot of dressier clothing, which was less-popular during the height of the pandemic (a lack of social events, along with work-from-home, made dressing up less practical).

 

I'll link to the Street View imagery from January 2020 so that you can see what the corner sign looked like before WHBM closed. The March 2021 Street View imagery shows what the sign looked like after WHBM closed, but before the plastic covering went up. Clearly, there would be some work that would need to be done, but it's nothing too unreasonable.


PS: I'm not sure whether the Sundance WHBM closed down in early 2021 or sometime in 2020 now, because I believe I initially misinterpreted the January 2020 imagery as being from January 2021. I'm pretty sure it was early 2021, though. I would have loved to see another clothing store (considering that the space was made for that, it would have been easy for a small and/or upstart business to adapt the space), but still, I'm just glad something is finally going to fill up a once vacant storefront in Sundance Square!

 

 

Thanks for the update.  I didn't realize WHBM was there until you pointed it out.  It appears that they were the original inhabitant of that retail space too so they must have had some success over the 7 or 8 years they were around.  

 

 

I know that WHBM was the original retail tenant in that space. In fact, I recall when they first opened there back in 2014; this was around the same time that they opened their North East Mall boutique. The early-to-mid 2010s were a time of major expansion for the WHBM brand. I've done a lot of research into the history of WHBM; the brand has quite a fascinating history of entrepreneurship and niche marketing behind it. Before the late-2000s, WHBM only sold clothing and accessories in shades of white and black, hence the name. They actually started exclusively with clothes in shades of white, under "The White House" label (founded in 1985), and 10 years after their founding, in 1995, they opened a sister boutique called "Black Market" that carried clothes exclusively in shades of black. The two concepts merged in the late-1990s, with WHBM opening its first DFW-area boutique in the early-2000s (I'm pretty sure it was the Stonebriar Centre location, which is still operating). Although I suspect a relative of one of WHBM's founders follows me on Instagram (and the two of us have communicated on unrelated topics), this is all information that I know from the research I did into the brand's history.

(just FYI: I didn't start buying my own women's clothing until late-2014, after I transferred to TCU. I started out with fast-fashion stores like Forever 21 and H&M, so more upscale brands like WHBM weren't even on my mind in 2014, at least not in the sense of buying and wearing their stuff. WHBM didn't enter my wardrobe until September 2017, but it would soon become the brand that defined my personal style... aside from the August 2018 - December 2021 period when I went back into the closet.)

 

On the note of WHBM having had success in Sundance in the time they were there, I should note that the Sundance WHBM boutique was almost always devoid of other customers whenever I visited in late-2017 and 2018. Perhaps I just visited at the wrong time; that said, I only visited on weekends because of the cost of Sundance parking on the weekdays. Although I knew some ladies who worked downtown would pop in during breaks or after work, I suspect that the situation with their landlord wasn't the only reason behind their closure two and a half years ago.

That said, you could say the same thing about a relative lack of customers in their boutiques in University Park Village or North East Mall. The most crowded I've ever seen a WHBM boutique was during a visit to the University Park Village location back on October 11th of this year (last week), but they had a special in-store event going on.

Until I started shopping with WHBM, I was more familiar with brands that catered towards younger customers, so I was used to fairly-crowded stores as a sign of brand success. On the other hand, stores with a more-mature target audience don't need large volumes of customers, as long as the customers are big spenders (and more mature customers do tend to have more discretionary income). Aritzia is my other favorite fashion brand, and while their clothes are on a similar price-point to WHBM, they definitely cater towards a younger target audience. I'd suspect that the average WHBM customer is making a larger-volume purchase (ie. they are buying more clothes at once) than the average Aritzia customer. Perhaps to confirm my theory, I could do some people-watching in Southlake Town Square, where my two favorite women's fashion brands are located side-by-side.

~~~~~~

EDIT: speaking of now-closed DFW-area WHBM boutiques, probably the most baffling closure they did was of their NorthPark Center boutique in Dallas, which I believe happened around the same time as the closure of the Sundance location. Yes, I'm aware there was some proximity to their Preston/Royal location, but NorthPark is such a successful mall that I can't see how WHBM couldn't make it there. Perhaps people wanted to spend their money at fancier stores instead?

Still, the Preston/Royal WHBM has quite the prominent corner storefront. This is on the immediate southeast corner of the Preston and Royal intersection, and is highly visible to passerby traffic:

whbm-dallas.jpeg

I suspect they might have fiercely loyal customers among the locals. Still, there would have been a time, starting almost four years ago to the day, when it might have made sense for them to close the Preston/Royal boutique in favor of consolidating their North Dallas presence at NorthPark. NorthPark actually had a newer boutique design, somewhat like the one seen here (albeit not in a corner space). This included the brand's updated logo on the storefront (most WHBM boutiques have the older, pre-2016 logo on their storefronts, which is the logo you see here); the Preston/Royal location is of an older design. I recall it took quite some time for that shopping center to recover in the aftermath of the October 20, 2019 tornado; by the time the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2020, there was still a lot of rebuilding they had to do.

~~~~~~

Enough of the off-topic stuff. Getting back to the current state of Sundance Square, it has definitely moved towards dining and entertainment, although I do think they are oversaturated in terms of art galleries... unless that is the niche they wish to be known for. I do think they should strive for more broad appeal than they are currently doing.


Sydney B. Claridge

Proud Horned Frog (TCU Class of 2017) and lifelong Fort Worth resident with a hobby interest in urban planning and design.

Please consider following my Instagram page!  I take a lot of pictures of scenery and urban environments, in addition to my interests in fashion.


#2103 Crestline

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Posted 20 October 2023 - 07:54 AM

Enough of the off-topic stuff. Getting back to the current state of Sundance Square, it has definitely moved towards dining and entertainment, although I do think they are oversaturated in terms of art galleries... unless that is the niche they wish to be known for. I do think they should strive for more broad appeal than they are currently doing.

 

I hope management isn't trying to transform Sundance into an art gallery destination. Art is great, but its niche is too small to attract the kind of mass foot traffic that downtown needs!



#2104 Jeriat

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Posted 20 October 2023 - 11:53 AM

 

Enough of the off-topic stuff. Getting back to the current state of Sundance Square, it has definitely moved towards dining and entertainment, although I do think they are oversaturated in terms of art galleries... unless that is the niche they wish to be known for. I do think they should strive for more broad appeal than they are currently doing.

 

I hope management isn't trying to transform Sundance into an art gallery destination. Art is great, but its niche is too small to attract the kind of mass foot traffic that downtown needs!

 

I don't think that's the case, but there are waaaaaay too many art galleries in Sundance, right now. 

That's what we have the Cultural District for...


7fwPZnE.png

 

8643298391_d47584a085_b.jpg


#2105 Austin55

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Posted 01 November 2023 - 05:58 PM

I saw a post from Brian L about a huge new TCU mural going on the W facing facade of the Houston St Mall garage: https://www.facebook...716527859905304



#2106 bclaridge

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Posted 01 November 2023 - 10:22 PM

I saw a post from Brian L about a huge new TCU mural going on the W facing facade of the Houston St Mall garage: https://www.facebook...716527859905304

It's looking lovely so far. I'm a TCU alum who couldn't be more excited about this massive mural.


Sydney B. Claridge

Proud Horned Frog (TCU Class of 2017) and lifelong Fort Worth resident with a hobby interest in urban planning and design.

Please consider following my Instagram page!  I take a lot of pictures of scenery and urban environments, in addition to my interests in fashion.


#2107 Nitixope

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Posted 02 November 2023 - 09:56 AM

 

I saw a post from Brian L about a huge new TCU mural going on the W facing facade of the Houston St Mall garage: https://www.facebook...716527859905304

It's looking lovely so far. I'm a TCU alum who couldn't be more excited about this massive mural.

 

 

Apparently, it was a gift from TCU to the city.  Your tuition dollars hard at work!

 

https://www.tcu.edu/...to-the-city.php



#2108 rriojas71

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Posted 03 November 2023 - 08:44 AM

I would love to see more of these downtown and in W7th and SOMA



#2109 Nitixope

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Posted 03 November 2023 - 11:09 AM

I would love to see more of these downtown and in W7th and SOMA

 

Looking for the forum post "Don't Like This" button, but can't find it.



#2110 Big Frog II

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Posted 03 November 2023 - 05:47 PM

 

 

I saw a post from Brian L about a huge new TCU mural going on the W facing facade of the Houston St Mall garage: https://www.facebook...716527859905304

It's looking lovely so far. I'm a TCU alum who couldn't be more excited about this massive mural.

 

 

Apparently, it was a gift from TCU to the city.  Your tuition dollars hard at work!

 

https://www.tcu.edu/...to-the-city.php

 

In honor of their 150th year.



#2111 Crestline

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Posted 05 November 2023 - 06:48 AM

 

I would love to see more of these downtown and in W7th and SOMA

 

Looking for the forum post "Don't Like This" button, but can't find it.

 

Murals are cool! They (usually) beautify otherwise-featureless public space!



#2112 Doohickie

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Posted 07 November 2023 - 07:38 AM

 

 

Enough of the off-topic stuff. Getting back to the current state of Sundance Square, it has definitely moved towards dining and entertainment, although I do think they are oversaturated in terms of art galleries... unless that is the niche they wish to be known for. I do think they should strive for more broad appeal than they are currently doing.

 

I hope management isn't trying to transform Sundance into an art gallery destination. Art is great, but its niche is too small to attract the kind of mass foot traffic that downtown needs!

 

I don't think that's the case, but there are waaaaaay too many art galleries in Sundance, right now. 

That's what we have the Cultural District for...

My feeling is that the art galleries were just something they could do with excess space until they found a "real" tenant- easy to set up, can be done in increments and the space juggled around.


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#2113 rriojas71

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Posted 07 November 2023 - 11:03 AM

 

I would love to see more of these downtown and in W7th and SOMA

 

Looking for the forum post "Don't Like This" button, but can't find it.

 

I guess I prefer a nice piece of art over a bland concrete parking garage, but hey that's just my opinion.



#2114 Austin55

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Posted 18 November 2023 - 10:17 PM

Progress on the mural as of today

 

MA4Hy5X.jpg



#2115 Nitixope

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Posted 03 December 2023 - 10:10 PM

The tree wasn't up before the parade?  The lack of coordination among these entities downtown is stupid, for lack of a better word.

 
A surprising number of people milling around Sundance Square, we're 10 days into the shopping season with 3 weeks left until Christmas and we're waiting for Marie Osmund's tour bus to roll into town and light the tree. Its not just Sundance Square to blame, I saw very few hints of Christmas by any other property owner or the City itself other than the W. 7th Bridge lit up a red and green instead of the usual TCU purple.  I'm sure there's a few trees lit up over by the museums, I'll go check that out Wednesday. 
 
pLghMYY.jpg

#2116 JBB

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Posted 04 December 2023 - 07:27 AM

It seems like we the discussion last time, but I wonder how much of it is a symptom of Thanksgiving falling on its earliest possible date.  There's four full work/school weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We didn't put up our decorations at home until this weekend.  It just seems to throw everything off.  Next year, it flips to the opposite end of the spectrum with the holiday being on the 28th.



#2117 roverone

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Posted 05 December 2023 - 11:02 AM

Christmas tree is all up and ready to go.

 

Looking at pictures from the past going back to before the plaza, it is just about 2 weeks later than usual.

 

But it is a magnificently large tree.  Every tree I have an image of from the plaza era is no bigger than the linear drains, and sometimes well inside of them.

 

We'll hope for a grand lighting tomorrow night.

 

T2SUnF.jpg



#2118 Nitixope

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Posted 09 December 2023 - 09:50 AM

Progress on the mural as of today
 
MA4Hy5X.jpg


rvgEpnU.jpg

#2119 JBB

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Posted 09 December 2023 - 09:58 AM

I noticed it when I passed through downtown earlier this week.  It looks great.



#2120 Nitixope

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Posted 09 March 2024 - 05:52 PM

 

I guess I missed the announcement but it appears there is a new jazz club coming to Sundance Square:

https://www.instagra...zRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

Record AD23-00192: 
Alcohol Distance Check
Record Status: Accepted
 
Permit Address
401 HOUSTON ST
 
Project Description:
THE SPOTLIGHT
ALCOHOL DISTANCE CHECK / LH - LATE HOURS CERTIFICATE/ MB- MIXED BEVERAGE
 

 

 

Here's Spotlight today at Sundance. 

 

LLFhJs5.jpg

 

AeLKh8v.jpg



#2121 FunkyTownTay

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Posted 09 March 2024 - 10:41 PM

Nitixope, is Spotlight officially open? Its hard to find any info about it online.

#2122 Nitixope

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Posted 10 March 2024 - 12:41 AM

Nitixope, is Spotlight officially open? Its hard to find any info about it online.


I saw a sandwich board sign around the corner by the other door that said something about open, but my only guess is maybe they set it out on the evenings when someone is performing. Is it a performance venue?

#2123 FunkyTownTay

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Posted 10 March 2024 - 08:24 PM

I guess that could be the case, but I had thought it would be more of a jazz club/bar like Scat



#2124 roverone

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Posted 26 March 2024 - 03:16 PM

The scaffolding around the Burk Burnett Building began to come down yesterday.

 

Some of the terra cotta dislodged on June 22, 2018 (probably from rattling from the Sinclair work) and the scaffolding was going up a few days later on June 26th.

 

So today we are at just about exactly 5 3/4 years -- it will be very nice to be able to once again enjoy the fullness of this building when it is all removed.

 

MJOPb5.jpg

 

 

dVqtoe.jpg

 

 

GayV8K.jpg



#2125 Nitixope

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Posted 26 March 2024 - 03:18 PM

I wonder if that comes with a 1 year workmanship warranty?  



#2126 Austin55

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Posted Yesterday, 01:24 PM

Are they still working on it with the boom lift? In Roverone's first picture you can see several sections of missing freize. I hope they aren't just... leaving it like that.



#2127 John T Roberts

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Posted Yesterday, 02:57 PM

I'm glad they are starting to wrap up this project.  The building looks so much better with most of the missing terra cotta replaced. 



#2128 bclaridge

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Posted Yesterday, 09:06 PM

 

 

I guess I missed the announcement but it appears there is a new jazz club coming to Sundance Square:

https://www.instagra...zRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

Record AD23-00192: 
Alcohol Distance Check
Record Status: Accepted
 
Permit Address
401 HOUSTON ST
 
Project Description:
THE SPOTLIGHT
ALCOHOL DISTANCE CHECK / LH - LATE HOURS CERTIFICATE/ MB- MIXED BEVERAGE
 

 

 

Here's Spotlight today at Sundance. 

 

LLFhJs5.jpg

 

AeLKh8v.jpg

 

I still can't unsee what used to be here. There are definitely plenty of design elements from the space's days as White House Black Market (WHBM) in this photo, namely the walls and the chandeliers. While the walls have been repainted, the chandeliers were essentially "trademark" design elements from WHBM's boutiques from the mid-2000s to the mid-2010s, so I'm a little surprised that the chandeliers got to stay intact. I believe the wood floors are new, although I can't say I'm 100% sure of that. I can say that the wall behind the bar is definitely new; back when this was WHBM, that was open because that's where the fitting rooms were. For comparison purposes, I will note that the WHBM at North East Mall in Hurst shares many of the design elements that the former Sundance WHBM did (when it was a WHBM), considering that they both opened around the same time back in 2014.

The vast majority of people probably won't notice, though. I suspect the only reason why I notice is because I'm a huge WHBM fan, and much less so the fact that I have been involved in jazz/swing dance meetups before (which does make me curious about this space's new use). I wonder if this space will end up being used for stuff like the latter?

The one thing I don't miss about this being a WHBM were the curtain gaps on the fitting rooms; I loved the luxurious heavy satin curtains they had (and that they still have in their University Park Village and North East Mall boutiques), but the gaps at the edges made me nervous. Back when I used to shop here in 2017 and 2018, I have memories of asking the sales associates for a fitting room that did not face into the store. It doesn't help that two of their fitting rooms faced out into the store and the windows along 3rd Street. No other WHBM boutique I've encountered has ever had curtain gaps as bad as this one did; UPV and North East have no gaps at all despite having the same curtains.

Enough of reminiscing on the past. I would have thought (and hoped) that this space would have become another clothing store, as it seemed ready-made for that. Still, I have no complaints, especially if The Spotlight ends up getting used for stuff like jazz performances and swing dancing which I personally enjoy. I'm not normally a person who goes to bars and lounges (as this space appears to be), though.


Sydney B. Claridge

Proud Horned Frog (TCU Class of 2017) and lifelong Fort Worth resident with a hobby interest in urban planning and design.

Please consider following my Instagram page!  I take a lot of pictures of scenery and urban environments, in addition to my interests in fashion.






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