Green clean: “It’s not easy being green,” one famous Muppet lamented. But it’s not as hard as it used to be as more businesses offer eco-friendly products and services.
League City resident Mike Piznar on Monday will open Martinizing Dry Cleaning, 11041 Shadow Creek Parkway in Pearland. The business is billed as easy on the earth because it uses a silicone-based cleaning solvent instead of perchloroethylene, or perc, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calls a groundwater contaminant. Perc also has been linked to cancer, federal officials say.
Some states are forcing dry cleaners to phase out perc, though some industry stakeholders say the concerns are overblown.
Piznar, 54, is a U.S. Navy veteran and an environmental engineer for 25 years.
Loveland, Ohio-based Martinizing Dry Cleaning uses GreenEarth cleaning solvent, which it says is nontoxic.
Piznar, who has signed to open five stores in the southwest Houston area, considered opening a League City store. He hasn’t found a strong location, he said. There are 163 franchisees operating 550 Martinizing Dry Cleaning worldwide.
Tax break: Sometimes, politics and business do mix. State Rep. Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, is throwing his support behind HB 831, which would exempt chambers of commerce and nonprofit business organizations from having to pay property taxes on the buildings they own.
The exemption would allow chambers to spend money they would have shipped to the state on economic development initiatives, Taylor said.
One of the leading champions of the proposed bill is Jimmy Hayley, president of Texas City-La Marque Chamber of Commerce, which owns its own building, 9702 Emmett F. Lowry Expressway.
Sinking feeling: Two national retailers are bailing out of the island. But it isn’t personal or hurricane related. Boater’s World Marine Center, 6341 Stewart Road, in the shopping center now anchored by clothing retailer Ross Dress For Less and Marshalls, has been closed since Hurricane Ike.
It won’t return because its corporate parent, Ritz Camera, has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Besides operating 800 photo stores, Ritz Camera also operates 130 Boater’s World Marine Centers. The Webster store is also closing.
Hollywood ending: In the same shopping center, movie and game rental store Hollywood Video, 6105 Stewart Road, has finally ended suspense and said it wouldn’t return, confirms Craig Clark, president of Houston-based Harold A. Clark and Co., which owns the shopping center. Across the street and in a different center, Blockbuster, 6015 Stewart Road, also damaged by the storm, has confirmed it would not return.
Drive-through: Some readers are hungry for news about the post-Ike status of fast-food eatery Jack In The Box, 2300 61st St. Rest assured, repairs are under way, but the restaurant won’t be flipping those Jumbo Jacks for another few weeks, corporate officials say. Can’t wait? The 920 Seawall Blvd. restaurant already has returned.
Biscuit bummer: Hopes that the island’s The Diner on 61st Street would make a miraculous return were dashed last week when crews hung a sign heralding the soon-to-open Island Café at 1017 61st St.
Island Café plans to serve up American, Chinese and Mexican cuisine, according to the sign. News to you? You must have missed Buzz Blog, galvnews.com.
Welcome back: Longtime island business Car Quest Auto Parts, 2826 Broadway has steered its business back on the island and plans a soft reopening Monday with a formal grand reopening later, reports the Scofelia family.
Car Quest is owned by Car Parts & Equipment Inc., in business since 1960. Car Quest was forced to do business in south Houston until storm repairs were made to the island shop. Hurricane Ike knocked out $700,000 in inventory and flooded office and computer equipment. All inventory is new.
While in Houston, the company continued operating through its paint and body business.
Back on the island: “BOI” usually refers to Born on the Island. But maybe it should also stand for Back on the Island. Also returning is SMI Insurance Agency, 1802 Broadway. The storm forced the company, owned by Judy Shaw, to do business in south Houston for four months.
