Au Revoir, Simon David
Simon David circa two weeks ago, back when it still had stuff to sell.
If you’re the nostalgic type and want to stop by Simon David once more before it closes, you don’t have much time left. Like 24 hours. Tomorrow is last day of operation for the specialty store’s 49-year-old (if Wikipedia is to be believed) Inwood Road location, its last. Not that there will be much left to look at. The zoning battle over the new store, which pitted mostly black residents of the Northpark/Love Field Community Civic League against Randall’s (which owns Simon David and Tom Thumb) and mostly white residents living nearby, is over with. I wrote about that a couple of times, when the City Plan Commission recommended denial of Randall’s request and when the City Council overruled the CPC.
Anywho, I stopped in a few moments ago and almost turned right around and walked out the place was so deserted of non-construction workers/Tom Thumb employees. They’re already at work dismantling display cases and the like and most of the shelves are empty. All that remains are some DVDs and Trac Phones up front, a display of Valentine’s Day-looking merchandice and plants, and a single half-filled aisle consisting of the unwanted dregs of the grocery store (though I admit I paused over a 3 Musketeers bar…I was hungry). There were also an incredible number of employees manning checkout registers, more, ironically, than I see at most stores during busy times. Not that they had much business. Everything was 50 percent off but probably not worth the trip unless you’d just like to be in the building just once more.
Tom Thumb public relations guru Connie Yates (whose glossy, slightly twangy voice you’ll hear welcoming you to Tom Thumb over the PA system, if you’re listening) wouldn’t give a firm opening date for the new, larger Tom Thumb that will take Simon David’s place, but said it will be done “as fast we possibly can.” The store’s pharmacy, which is being built along the eastern edge of the existing parking lot, opens Monday.
Until then, a couple of farewell photos:
If you hurry, you might snatch a pair of those sunglasses for half off.
The pharmacy, on the east edge of the parking lot, opens Monday.
The former Robin Road along the west side of Simon David. It is in the process of being–but has not yet been–redirected a few feet west.
