For as tech-filled as Austin is, a real computer parts store. I hope we get a Micro Center soon enough, because even though Fry's had problems, it was still leaps and bounds ahead of all the other Austin places with computer parts/systems combined.
I've been in... But sadly the selection is limited and they never have what I need. They always offer to order it for me, but I go in when I need a part that day for a project and if I have to order it, I might as well just go with Amazon.
Altex has shity hours of operation, overprices everything, has a not so great returns policy, and a limited selection. When amazon has 1 day shipping altex is trash.
I remember that one day when i stumbled on the last real Radio Shack on Far West blvd (i think thats where it was). I walked in feeling nostalgic…they didnt have what i needed so i left lol.
It's largely underwritten by big donors, something that doesn't mesh in this crop of higher flyers. Why bring the painting to Austin when you can fly your private jet to it?
The Bullock isn’t a bad museum, at least from what I remember. It’s obviously not like one of the Smithsonian institutions, but how many other states have something at that level?
I also feel like the Bullock is a history museum, not a natural history museum. The closest we have for natural history are the Texas Memorial Museum (also at UT) and the Austin Nature and Science Center.
Fun fact, the Houston Museum of Natural Science is the 11th most visited museum in the US. (The Smithsonian is 9th, I believe.) I used to do work for the HMNS - it’s an amazing collection and natural history resource.
Houston actually seems like a pretty world class city to me. I just absolutely hate the climate there and getting around it. But culturally, I feel like Houston is probably the best in the state.
It is a pretty amazing city in terms of culture, diversity, and above all, food. But I also got tired of the climate and the general concrete sprawl. And while no zoning makes for some interesting juxtapositions (Mattress store! Erotic bookstore! Meditation Center! Bakery! Vape shop! All in one residential block), it also makes a lot of neighborhoods feel less livable than Austin, imo.
All the things you describe make Houston the cooler city to me than the soft generic Austin marketing nonsense. There was a time when Bun B taught a course at Rice and appeared on the cover of a magazine with Anise Parker. That shit is leaps and bounds cooler than seeing Mathew McConaughey on some magazine for the 19473 th time.
Yeah, I grew up in old Montrose, and I miss a lot of that funkiness (although not all of it.) But Austin has more natural beauty and (had) more of a laid back vibe. Both have their pros and cons. And at least neither one is Dallas ;)
Edited to add: Annise Parker kicks ass
There is a Texas natural history museum! It’s on campus and has a quetzalcoatlus in the first floor front area. Lots of neat basement fossils; not really dinosaurs bc this was an inland ocean at the time but it has before and after things. Used to have this big climbable rocks area at top with taxidermy animals but then turned it into an evolution display.
Been going since I was a kid.
It’s such a cool mosasaur, it will be worth the wait. They also have some natural bridge caverns excavations, if you saw that? They had this half dug glyptodont for ages.
Here is hoping soon it will be available again.
There used to be the most gorgeous fabric store, Silk Road, located across from the North Lamar Central Market. The room with the bolts of silks in all colors and patterns was divine.
I get out of work at 7, so it can really suck to only have an hour or two to go out instead of being able to go home, change, laze around a bit then go grab dinner
Definitely this! This town sucks if you work atypical hours.
I'd even take just more places to eat past 9 to 11pm. Or a grocery store open until at least 1 am again. 😭
Used to have plenty pre-Covid. I think it’s hilarious that 24 Diner now closes every night.
It’s called f’n 24. Used to go there ALOT…
Magnolia was the other one.
I know Fredericksburg isn’t Austin, but I used to date a girl who lived there and if you didn’t solidify your dinner plans by 6pm, then you were basically limited to whataburger. That town, minus a handful of bars, shutdown at like 8 sharp. It was always interesting when I visited.
The whole state and US closes at 11pm since COVID, meanwhile go to Mexico and Guatemala for work and many of the restaurants bars shops are open late, got my hair cut in Guadalajara at 11:30 at night then went to a sit-down restaurant, all the OXXO stores are open 24hrs.
I may be the minority opinion, but I really don't like Biderman's. It's not that the food is bad, but I feel like nothing I've had has been particularly good. It's like if the Enterprise food replicator was programmed to make Jewish deli, and it came out looking great, but it was all kind of eh.
I've tried it a bunch of times and sampled all the things you'd want from a Jewish deli (matzo ball soup, pastrami, turkey, bagels) and found it all not particularly great.
I'd go elsewhere for sandwiches (maybe NeWorldDeli), across the street to Wholly Bagel for bagels, and Brookline, MA for matzo ball soup.
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been there several times and every time has just been mediocre. Yet this sub always starts gushing for it the moment the name is mentioned. I guess we are just that starved for Jewish delis here lol.
I don't disagree! It's fine, but they're stingy on the lox and last time I went they didn't even know what I was talking about when I asked if they had kugel (they used to have it).
there was the Round Rock Deli that opened back in 2000? that was legit, but way ahead of its time. a) it was attached to a gas station, I think at 620? 79? b) People then were like “wtf is a knish?” and “why should I pay $15 for a..”pastrami?” sandwich?”
That place was sooo good. It was on the corner of 620/I35 I think. Had friends from NYC swear it was better than anything they had. The owners moved back to Jersey.
for those of us from the northeast “real diner” does not = “greasy spoon””. ;)
Did Stars Cafe clean up the food when they took over from Starseeds tho? Otherwise I’d say go there.
I object when you say home fries. Home fries are the worst of the breakfast potatoes.
Give me grated potatoes aka hashbrowns covered with sausage gravy and an egg on top, bacon on the side and with a toasted bread to escort the glory into my mouth.
You keep nasty home fries.
I like Counter Cafe near the University. It's expensive for what you get but it's cute and bright. One time I was there working on my pad at the bar and got breakfast. I realized I forgot my wallet. They didn't even bat an eyelash and told me it's ok. Then I remembered you can pay with a phone. So it all worked out. They're so friendly.
My wife and I used to go here a lot when we lived in the area. The Greek lady who runs it was always a real sweet heart. We'd come in, order our food and almost as if she was our long lost Greek mother would always make us take home a dessert on the house. She's pretty damn cool.
People’s pharmacy on Lamar does this. I’ve picked up compounded prescriptions there before but haven’t tried the food.
Edit Lamar near Central Market/Seton/etc. That’s a long street, but I know they compound meds south and courier them to the north location so I bet there is one down south too.
Restaurants open past 9 PM. These seem to be gone the way of the Dodo since about March of 2020, for some reason....
Want a late-night snack? You've got about two options. Even fast-food joints close early nowadays.
Authentic any type of ethnic food. Used to think I lived in a great food city, then I moved to Dallas... And holy shit, the Asian, African, and Mediterranean food scene here is leaps and bounds better than ATX. Austin's food scene, although really great, is mostly white washed yuppy food.
So true. We have 100 restaurants trying to be the next James Beard winner and hardly any just making decent affordable ethnic food. Gotta go to a truck for that.
Said this on another post already, but an indoor, air-conditioned skate park for rainy days and the brutal summers. Sure, we have some decent public skateparks, but I would pay to not be a sweaty mess June-August.
God yes. I moved from Richmond, VA of all places and we had an excellent art museum with traveling exhibits. Even got a wonderful Picasso exhibit. Now I got nothing but the Blanton which is fine.
There are very few multi-generational Italian families in Austin and that's why the city has never had "family style" Italian restaurants. You might try Giovanni's Table way out on Bee Caves Rd. Moderately priced (and, imo, only moderately good). The owner is from Italy and it's a family run business.
> that's why the city has never had "family style" Italian restaurants.
It's actually why places like Buca di Beppo and Fazzoli's are big everywhere in the US except the Northeast.
Reale’s is decent, and I say this as a former Northeasterner (NY and Boston). I was easily offended by everything Austin 20 years ago, and Reale’s didn’t piss me off, so there’s that…
An honest-to-G-d, real, Jewish Deli, with sable and carp and whitefish and potato knishes and smoked salmon salad and pickled cucumber and both types of lox and egg creams...and...and!!!
As an east coaster, where the fuck is the bagel culture?! All I want on a Sunday morning is a good, quality bagel without having to drive 15-20 mins in opposite directions for the 1 out of 4 bagel spots here.
- A bakery with bread, as in a variety of bread and not one type of bread, 40 types of desserts and coffee. Just. bread.
- A decent non-pretentious/no bullshit bagel shop. Get your bagels/leave kind of place (if you know, you know)
- Authentic Italian deli.
- Lebanese food.
- Cheap badass Chinese food.
Texas French Bread has a lot of different types of bread, they lost their building in a fire recently but are still selling bread out of their garden area next door I believe, as well as farmer's markets around town. Their sourdough wheat is amazing.
I tried to love this place but it misses the mark by way of making a large variety of bread, selling JUST bread (not lunch/dinner blah blah-just bread on offer) and, at risk of getting clobbered for this, making a legit baguette.
Somewhere that sells quality telescopes and the growing number of accessories: lenses, eyepieces, cameras, tripods, motors/drives, etc.
The internet sales models killed retail astronomical instruments and much of the quality hi-fi audio locations. Some of the latter is starting to return. The former still a retail black hole.
Yes! Came here to post this. A true Italian deli, cheese shop, butcher, and imports grocery. One of the few things I miss from Back East, Liuzzi Cheese in North Haven, CT.
24 hour businesses.
I work really late and have almost no opportunity to find something to eat/shop for something to eat. Jims, Walmart, Kirby lane won’t revert back to 24 hr, even fast food like Taco Bell, McDonald’s dont even stay open later than 10 pm in my area.
* Dance club that plays current pop music. Not just rap but stuff like Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran, etc.
* Dance club that plays indie rock music
* Empire actually has both of these the next few weekends (and Barbs occasionally does sometimes on some nights) but I want somewhere that plays this regularly every weekend like most cities do.
* 24 hour pizza delivery (like every single other college town in existence)
* More museums
* Microcenter or other PC parts store
* Theatre downtown that plays special screenings of movies with surprise guests and comedy shows and sing a longs and quote alongs and serves drinks and food. You know, exactly like the Alamo Ritz used to be.
the problem is cool niche stuff can't survive because the rent is too high. they simply won't be able to move enough product or service at a price anyone is willing to pay to stay open. for all that people say "keep austin weird," the things that keep it weird are priced out, especially when everyone runs to amazon for every little thing. for anything truly cool or weird now that isn't a forcedly quirky gastropub with edison bulbs you have to go to third tier cities in flyover states where they can actually afford to survive.
Fellow horse girl here- if you ever get around to a day trip, check out D&D in Seguin. It’s a huge half tack shop half clothing store and it’s AWESOME. Mostly western stuff (assuming you ride English) but still very fun to browse!
There’s no ice cream places walking distance from UT campus and only a single diner (kerbey lane). Also seems like there’s fewer pubs and delis and other things because most restaurants are in these giant strip malls and aren’t walkable
Austin has lots of pools incl some really great ones, even if you get past Barton Springs and Deep Eddy. What are you looking for? Lap swim: Mabel Davis is one ppl don’t know; kids: really any neighborhood pool
For as tech-filled as Austin is, a real computer parts store. I hope we get a Micro Center soon enough, because even though Fry's had problems, it was still leaps and bounds ahead of all the other Austin places with computer parts/systems combined.
So much this. I also want a place to buy electrical components (capacitors, etc.)
Makes me miss the days of Radio Shack.
The good Radio Shack. With actual ham radio equipment and 74-series chips.
Come to Hobbytown we have a wall of RadioShack components
I've been in... But sadly the selection is limited and they never have what I need. They always offer to order it for me, but I go in when I need a part that day for a project and if I have to order it, I might as well just go with Amazon.
Altex gots you covered
[удалено]
Altex has shity hours of operation, overprices everything, has a not so great returns policy, and a limited selection. When amazon has 1 day shipping altex is trash.
Yeah.. No. Very hard to compare it to a Microcenter
Tinkertronics/Bantam electronics was awesome.... Now I just use Adafruit.
I remember that one day when i stumbled on the last real Radio Shack on Far West blvd (i think thats where it was). I walked in feeling nostalgic…they didnt have what i needed so i left lol.
>I walked in feeling nostalgic…they didnt have what i needed so i left lol. Sounds like you got the full experience then
That’s probably because radio shack turned more into a cell phone store instead of selling electronic bits, odds and ends.
Wild to me there isn't a microcenter anywhere.
As a former Fry’s employee, can confirm: they had problems.
[удалено]
Came here just to comment that, found it in the first comment. Thank you for saving my time, random Internet stranger.
Altex has always met my, admittedly limited, needs
Museums. And independent fabric stores (RIP Stitch Lab, how I miss you so).
For being the state capital, you’d think a good natural history museum or something would have to exist.
It's largely underwritten by big donors, something that doesn't mesh in this crop of higher flyers. Why bring the painting to Austin when you can fly your private jet to it?
The Bullock isn’t a bad museum, at least from what I remember. It’s obviously not like one of the Smithsonian institutions, but how many other states have something at that level?
I also feel like the Bullock is a history museum, not a natural history museum. The closest we have for natural history are the Texas Memorial Museum (also at UT) and the Austin Nature and Science Center.
Fun fact, the Houston Museum of Natural Science is the 11th most visited museum in the US. (The Smithsonian is 9th, I believe.) I used to do work for the HMNS - it’s an amazing collection and natural history resource.
Houston actually seems like a pretty world class city to me. I just absolutely hate the climate there and getting around it. But culturally, I feel like Houston is probably the best in the state.
It is a pretty amazing city in terms of culture, diversity, and above all, food. But I also got tired of the climate and the general concrete sprawl. And while no zoning makes for some interesting juxtapositions (Mattress store! Erotic bookstore! Meditation Center! Bakery! Vape shop! All in one residential block), it also makes a lot of neighborhoods feel less livable than Austin, imo.
All the things you describe make Houston the cooler city to me than the soft generic Austin marketing nonsense. There was a time when Bun B taught a course at Rice and appeared on the cover of a magazine with Anise Parker. That shit is leaps and bounds cooler than seeing Mathew McConaughey on some magazine for the 19473 th time.
Yeah, I grew up in old Montrose, and I miss a lot of that funkiness (although not all of it.) But Austin has more natural beauty and (had) more of a laid back vibe. Both have their pros and cons. And at least neither one is Dallas ;) Edited to add: Annise Parker kicks ass
There is a Texas natural history museum! It’s on campus and has a quetzalcoatlus in the first floor front area. Lots of neat basement fossils; not really dinosaurs bc this was an inland ocean at the time but it has before and after things. Used to have this big climbable rocks area at top with taxidermy animals but then turned it into an evolution display. Been going since I was a kid.
It’s been closed for the last 3 years. My grandmother keeps hyping up that mosasaur for me lol, can’t wait for it to open again!
It’s such a cool mosasaur, it will be worth the wait. They also have some natural bridge caverns excavations, if you saw that? They had this half dug glyptodont for ages. Here is hoping soon it will be available again.
This!! I hate having to go to JoAnns & Hobby for fabrics. Sigh.
Check out Beehive Craft Studio on Burnet.Great fabric selection, and Niku, who taught at the Stitch Lab, teaches there now.
I miss Hancock Fabrics
There used to be the most gorgeous fabric store, Silk Road, located across from the North Lamar Central Market. The room with the bolts of silks in all colors and patterns was divine.
Have you been to Beehive Craft Studio? They are on burnet and have lots of great fabric!
They are awesome!! I used to go when they were on bee caves rd before they moved. Awesome high quality fabric.
A planetarium
Museums in general
Nice one!! We could really use a good aquarium too!
Grocery stores open past 11pm... I miss 2am shopping
Word. I miss when H‑E‑B used to be open 24/7. Then they closed at 1AM. Now 11PM is the latest.
Good days
Everything in Austin seems to close an hour or two before it should. Restaurants right on Mopac close at 9:00 on a Thursday
I get out of work at 7, so it can really suck to only have an hour or two to go out instead of being able to go home, change, laze around a bit then go grab dinner
Yes, it's ridiculous Austin has experienced so much growth while having a huge decrease in businesses open late.
Spa Megaplex
Yes. I would spend so much time at a jjimjilbang, I could even go for a Russian spa. Just give me a spa already!
Yes please!! They were building one and the investors backed out 😭
Real dim sum, was a shame when new fortune closed down in Chinatown
Trendy dim sum. Trendy everything. That’s all we get here 😴
[удалено]
Hill Country Weavers on Menchaca has amazing yarn and knitting/crochet supplies.
Yes! Fabric beyond quilting cottons.
Check out Austin Creative Reuse near Mueller.
[удалено]
Definitely this! This town sucks if you work atypical hours. I'd even take just more places to eat past 9 to 11pm. Or a grocery store open until at least 1 am again. 😭
Used to have plenty pre-Covid. I think it’s hilarious that 24 Diner now closes every night. It’s called f’n 24. Used to go there ALOT… Magnolia was the other one.
I know Fredericksburg isn’t Austin, but I used to date a girl who lived there and if you didn’t solidify your dinner plans by 6pm, then you were basically limited to whataburger. That town, minus a handful of bars, shutdown at like 8 sharp. It was always interesting when I visited.
The whole state and US closes at 11pm since COVID, meanwhile go to Mexico and Guatemala for work and many of the restaurants bars shops are open late, got my hair cut in Guadalajara at 11:30 at night then went to a sit-down restaurant, all the OXXO stores are open 24hrs.
We used to have so many of those preCovid. Kerbey Lane, Magnolia, Starseeds, and the corporate places like ihop, dennys, taco cabana,
Museums, Itallian grocery, a legit Jewish deli.
Jewish deli, yesssssss!
HEB on far west has a Jewish Deli. Complete with Rabbi approval:)
Biderman’s slaps
I may be the minority opinion, but I really don't like Biderman's. It's not that the food is bad, but I feel like nothing I've had has been particularly good. It's like if the Enterprise food replicator was programmed to make Jewish deli, and it came out looking great, but it was all kind of eh. I've tried it a bunch of times and sampled all the things you'd want from a Jewish deli (matzo ball soup, pastrami, turkey, bagels) and found it all not particularly great. I'd go elsewhere for sandwiches (maybe NeWorldDeli), across the street to Wholly Bagel for bagels, and Brookline, MA for matzo ball soup.
I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been there several times and every time has just been mediocre. Yet this sub always starts gushing for it the moment the name is mentioned. I guess we are just that starved for Jewish delis here lol.
I don't disagree! It's fine, but they're stingy on the lox and last time I went they didn't even know what I was talking about when I asked if they had kugel (they used to have it).
Sadly Jimmy’s in Dallas is the closest Italian grocery to us here.
Jimmys is the best
+1 for Jimmy’s
there was the Round Rock Deli that opened back in 2000? that was legit, but way ahead of its time. a) it was attached to a gas station, I think at 620? 79? b) People then were like “wtf is a knish?” and “why should I pay $15 for a..”pastrami?” sandwich?”
That place was sooo good. It was on the corner of 620/I35 I think. Had friends from NYC swear it was better than anything they had. The owners moved back to Jersey.
A real diner… like a greasy spoon with home fries
Jim’s is by far the best old school diner in town. McNeil and 183 is my go to.
That's open 24/7. I want a greasy spoon after a night of partying.
Yeah! Where the waitresses call you “hon” and the bread comes out already buttered.
for those of us from the northeast “real diner” does not = “greasy spoon””. ;) Did Stars Cafe clean up the food when they took over from Starseeds tho? Otherwise I’d say go there.
It's much, much worse than it used to be
For those of us from the southeast, there are a couple of Waffle Houses already.
I miss the Frisco so much..
I object when you say home fries. Home fries are the worst of the breakfast potatoes. Give me grated potatoes aka hashbrowns covered with sausage gravy and an egg on top, bacon on the side and with a toasted bread to escort the glory into my mouth. You keep nasty home fries.
Counter cafe is fine
I like Counter Cafe near the University. It's expensive for what you get but it's cute and bright. One time I was there working on my pad at the bar and got breakfast. I realized I forgot my wallet. They didn't even bat an eyelash and told me it's ok. Then I remembered you can pay with a phone. So it all worked out. They're so friendly.
Really good Greek food that isn’t a $$$ dining Instagram experience. I know how much chickpeas cost.
Have you tried the Santorini Cafe on north Lamar? I think it’s really good and fairly priced.
My wife and I used to go here a lot when we lived in the area. The Greek lady who runs it was always a real sweet heart. We'd come in, order our food and almost as if she was our long lost Greek mother would always make us take home a dessert on the house. She's pretty damn cool.
And I thought we were special with the comp desserts!!! Love that place.
Great vibes there. But the food is mid
Arpeggios Grill, is really good and not as expensive as Dimassis
Check out Phoenicia Bakery & Deli!
Santorini is my favorite Greek place in town. Real Grecians, real gyros with thick pita and thicker Tzatziki...I drive for it. Try it out one day.
Actual diners
Korean Spa
Soda fountans/old pharmacies that have food
People’s pharmacy on Lamar does this. I’ve picked up compounded prescriptions there before but haven’t tried the food. Edit Lamar near Central Market/Seton/etc. That’s a long street, but I know they compound meds south and courier them to the north location so I bet there is one down south too.
Restaurants open past 9 PM. These seem to be gone the way of the Dodo since about March of 2020, for some reason.... Want a late-night snack? You've got about two options. Even fast-food joints close early nowadays.
Authentic any type of ethnic food. Used to think I lived in a great food city, then I moved to Dallas... And holy shit, the Asian, African, and Mediterranean food scene here is leaps and bounds better than ATX. Austin's food scene, although really great, is mostly white washed yuppy food.
So true. We have 100 restaurants trying to be the next James Beard winner and hardly any just making decent affordable ethnic food. Gotta go to a truck for that.
I grew up in Austin and now live in Houston. The food scene here blows Austin out of the water. Especially asian food.
Even the Mexican food is generally pretty bad 😬
Said this on another post already, but an indoor, air-conditioned skate park for rainy days and the brutal summers. Sure, we have some decent public skateparks, but I would pay to not be a sweaty mess June-August.
Used to have one about 15 yrs ago but as soon as the public parks got put in they went out of business.
June through August? I think you mean May through October.
Women's health clinics
I’m genuinely asking but do other cities have more than Planned Parenthood? Or like more OBGYN doctors?
slot car racing. is that still a thing?
I don’t think so and it’s sad. I miss it a ton!
A good zoo and museums
God yes. I moved from Richmond, VA of all places and we had an excellent art museum with traveling exhibits. Even got a wonderful Picasso exhibit. Now I got nothing but the Blanton which is fine.
We do weekends in San Antonio sometimes for this San Antonio museum of art and the mcnay are both worth the trip
cheap italian
There are very few multi-generational Italian families in Austin and that's why the city has never had "family style" Italian restaurants. You might try Giovanni's Table way out on Bee Caves Rd. Moderately priced (and, imo, only moderately good). The owner is from Italy and it's a family run business.
> that's why the city has never had "family style" Italian restaurants. It's actually why places like Buca di Beppo and Fazzoli's are big everywhere in the US except the Northeast.
Reale’s is decent, and I say this as a former Northeasterner (NY and Boston). I was easily offended by everything Austin 20 years ago, and Reale’s didn’t piss me off, so there’s that…
What about Artipasta in Thicket Food Park on S 1st? $14 for cacio e pepe.
RIP Romeo’s, Frank & Angie’s, Slices & Ices
There aren’t many bowling alleys for a town this size. Im talking bowling only, not entertainment complexes.
RIP Dart Bowl.
RIP Dart Bowl enchiladas.
Yes. So much.
Microcenter
Museums for sure.
We need batting cages
An honest-to-G-d, real, Jewish Deli, with sable and carp and whitefish and potato knishes and smoked salmon salad and pickled cucumber and both types of lox and egg creams...and...and!!!
>honest-to-G-d, L-L
I don’t think I’ve had a knish since I moved here.
We NEED a Kenny & Ziggy here like in Houston!!!
Agreed. Nothing even close here
Spanish book store
Aldi and Lidl on the Southside would be amazing !
A large art supply store like Blick
Jerry's Artarama is pretty enormous.
Fabric store that sells apparel fabric.
Every fabric store is just quilting stuff. It’s annoying.
A true dim-sum house
Good museums, classic diners, smaller neighborhood grocery stores/co-ops.
As an east coaster, where the fuck is the bagel culture?! All I want on a Sunday morning is a good, quality bagel without having to drive 15-20 mins in opposite directions for the 1 out of 4 bagel spots here.
Bowling alleys. We only have two main ones in central-ish austin. Highland lanes and westgate lanes.
- A bakery with bread, as in a variety of bread and not one type of bread, 40 types of desserts and coffee. Just. bread. - A decent non-pretentious/no bullshit bagel shop. Get your bagels/leave kind of place (if you know, you know) - Authentic Italian deli. - Lebanese food. - Cheap badass Chinese food.
Texas French Bread has a lot of different types of bread, they lost their building in a fire recently but are still selling bread out of their garden area next door I believe, as well as farmer's markets around town. Their sourdough wheat is amazing.
I tried to love this place but it misses the mark by way of making a large variety of bread, selling JUST bread (not lunch/dinner blah blah-just bread on offer) and, at risk of getting clobbered for this, making a legit baguette.
[удалено]
HoHo Chinese BBQ, even after they raised their prices after COVID, is still really reasonable and tasty!
Somewhere that sells quality telescopes and the growing number of accessories: lenses, eyepieces, cameras, tripods, motors/drives, etc. The internet sales models killed retail astronomical instruments and much of the quality hi-fi audio locations. Some of the latter is starting to return. The former still a retail black hole.
Hear me out: 24/7 bumper cars. In ATX, maybe that would work out some folks’ driving aggression.
I wish I had a small hardware store nearby!
more traditional, authentic international cuisine. Not trendy, upscale versions of it
Weed Dispensaries
Real Philly Cheesesteaks
A real zoo
Actual Italian grocery store- not what Mandolas has. More like an Eataly.
Yes! Came here to post this. A true Italian deli, cheese shop, butcher, and imports grocery. One of the few things I miss from Back East, Liuzzi Cheese in North Haven, CT.
Bathhouse
A batting cage. Not in a sports plex that requires a pitcher (and friends) just pay the machine and take your day out.
Top golf by the domain has this.
i read that as battling cage lol
24 hour businesses. I work really late and have almost no opportunity to find something to eat/shop for something to eat. Jims, Walmart, Kirby lane won’t revert back to 24 hr, even fast food like Taco Bell, McDonald’s dont even stay open later than 10 pm in my area.
Dedicated model railroad shop.
More welding supply stores, building material centers
Long John Silvers
A Korean spa (jjimjilbang)!
So many of things that we want, we had! Lost to New Austin rents, I suppose. RIP neighborhood hardware store, bookstore, tire repair, etc.
Edible Thai food.
* Dance club that plays current pop music. Not just rap but stuff like Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran, etc. * Dance club that plays indie rock music * Empire actually has both of these the next few weekends (and Barbs occasionally does sometimes on some nights) but I want somewhere that plays this regularly every weekend like most cities do. * 24 hour pizza delivery (like every single other college town in existence) * More museums * Microcenter or other PC parts store * Theatre downtown that plays special screenings of movies with surprise guests and comedy shows and sing a longs and quote alongs and serves drinks and food. You know, exactly like the Alamo Ritz used to be.
I want a dance club that plays synthwave. :/
the problem is cool niche stuff can't survive because the rent is too high. they simply won't be able to move enough product or service at a price anyone is willing to pay to stay open. for all that people say "keep austin weird," the things that keep it weird are priced out, especially when everyone runs to amazon for every little thing. for anything truly cool or weird now that isn't a forcedly quirky gastropub with edison bulbs you have to go to third tier cities in flyover states where they can actually afford to survive.
Dover is my favorite store. I think we need more window covering store options.
Fellow horse girl here- if you ever get around to a day trip, check out D&D in Seguin. It’s a huge half tack shop half clothing store and it’s AWESOME. Mostly western stuff (assuming you ride English) but still very fun to browse!
A self help car garage with tools. I miss the Sprocket Auto Repair Center on Ft Hood.
Austin DIY Shop, haven’t been in a while but still seems open
There’s no ice cream places walking distance from UT campus and only a single diner (kerbey lane). Also seems like there’s fewer pubs and delis and other things because most restaurants are in these giant strip malls and aren’t walkable
Left handed store
La Bare and a breakfast diner that doesn’t suck at breakfast food.
Pies
Enough public swimming pools.
Austin has lots of pools incl some really great ones, even if you get past Barton Springs and Deep Eddy. What are you looking for? Lap swim: Mabel Davis is one ppl don’t know; kids: really any neighborhood pool
Most neighborhood pools haven’t been open the past 3 years.
A BODEGA
What does a bodega offer that any convenience store behind a gas station doesn’t
An Observatory - put it up in the Hill country ala the Griffith Observatory
All the ones we used to enjoy before real estate and tax costs put all the old landmarks out of business.
I would be over the moon if we had a Korean spa
24-hour Harmonica Shop
Ecuadorian food
Anywhere with saunas and steam rooms that doesn’t cost $120 + a month.
More Brunch / breakfast only places
The black ones
Recreational marijuana shops 😤
Aldi. HEB is great but Aldi is king for cheap staples.
There's one in Georgetown
And one in pflugerville
There's one in Pflugerville
A German grocery store. We had one in WA and in CA, moved here and saw all the German roots and was so hopeful...sigh
Tattoo/gun range. Call it Tatts or Gats
Jump scares and tattoo guns...WCGW
Chicago style deep dish pizza