Marble Slab Creamery to open at new location

Marble Slab Creamery opens at its new location in The Shops at La Palmera on Friday. It moved from La Palmera Mall to join Chipotle Mexican Grill and Subway Sandwich shop in the center adjacent to the mall. Two additional new shops slated to open in February: Today’s Vision and the Beef Jerky Outlet. La Palmera Mall also continues to grow with the addition of two new shops on its long list of major retailers and locally owned businesses. MAC Cosmetics opened a 1,000-foot shop Jan. 8 on the mall’s lower level next to Soma Intimates. MAC offers an extensive line of professional-quality cosmetics and accessories. OshKosh B’gosh, a children’s clothing store, will open a 3,127-square-foot space next to Carter’s in the outdoor main entrance area of the mall. Construction on the new store is slated to begin this spring. “The La Palmera shopping district continues to draw new business and contribute to the Coastal Bend economy,” said Fred Walters, general manager of La Palmera and The Shops at La Palmera. “We are pleased with the caliber of retailers we continue to bring to Corpus Christi as we continue to refine our retail and dining mix.” Headquartered in Houston, Today’s Vision has provided eye exams, eye glasses and contact lenses to tens of thousands of children and adults since its inception in 1984. With 48 stores in Texas, it also has a shop in Newberg, Oregon, and one in Laguna Niguel, California. An aggressive franchise operation, the Beef Jerky Outlet has more than 70 (and counting!) shops in at least 19 states. Texas is home to at least 16 of those, including the one coming to La Palmera. The next closest in this area are in Portland and Alice, with one planned for the new Schlitterbahn on North Padre Island as well. The franchise sells jerky made in small batches not available on a mass-market scale. The store allows customers to try before they buy, giving them an opportunity to sample flavors until they find the right one for their tastebuds. MAC Cosmetics began in Toronto, Canada, the brainstorm of a makeup artist and a photographer lamenting the lack of makeup colors suitable for photo shoots. The pair cooked up the cosmetics in their kitchen and sold them from a hair salon that one of them owned. The official retail line of cosmetics launched in 1984. The company is now owned by Estee Lauder and supports animal-free testing of its products. OshKosh B’gosh began selling hickory-striped denim bib overalls for railroad workers and farmers in 1895 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. When someone came up with the idea of designing the same look for children, the company found its true purpose, according to the company website. OshKosh B’gosh became part of Carter’s, another children’s clothing company, in 2005. Marble Slab Creamery is another franchise opportunity with a shop in the city. Since 1983, the company has been serving chef-created, super-premium, hand-mixed ice cream. The company also claims to be the innovator of the “frozen slab” technique for ice cream preparation with ice cream baristas mixing fixings into flavors using spatulas on a cold marble slab. The company seeks to open stores in areas with a population of 60,000 within a 10-mile radius with a median household income of at least $40,000.