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Ann Kelso Salon and CitySpa posted a scathing press release on its front page today over the store being locked by property owners earlier this week.
The sign posted on the shop window on Monday read, "Tenant’s lease has been terminated due to tenant’s failure to pay rent. As a result, tenant’s possession of the premises is terminated." The building is owned by 78704 Partners, which consists of Rob Lippincott (owner of Guero's Taco Bar), Abe Zimmerman and Stan Biderman.
Ann Kelso Salon explained that the closure happened unexpectedly while both parties were in the midst of negotiations over a lawsuit that the salon filed against 78704 Partners last year, claiming Breach of Contract, Deceptive Trade Practices Act Violations, and Negligent Misrepresentation, among other grievances.
Lippincott, according to the salon:
...stormed into the salon in the middle of business hours, yelling, "Get out!" at salon employees, and shouting, "You are trespassing! This business is closed!" Employees were then told to gather their personal belongings and vacate the salon immediately, at which point the doors were locked for good."It was terrible," said salon manager Sasha Creamer. "We were all totally shocked and frankly a little scared of Rob. He was shouting and waving his arms. We just got what little personal belongings we could out of the salon and watched him lock the doors behind us."
For now, shop owner Barbara Kelso recommends that clients try to contact their stylists via Facebook, as the salon's client data is stored on computers inside the building.
"Stay tuned," siad Kelso. "You can't just turn off a business that's been around as long as ours. Ann Kelso Salon may evolve, but this story is by no means over."
Coincidentally, the threesome behind 78704 Partners were voted "Best Guardians for Keeping SoCo Locally Owned" in the 2007 Best of Austin Critics Picks.
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They should remove 78704 from their name if they actually acted this way. And if true, this is just another reason to not go to Gueros besides the crappy food.
Anyone who has had business dealings with this woman knows she is a LOON and probably had it coming.
Why's that?
Unfortunately this is true having experienced it personally and financially. She's seems quite happy to pay for lawyers instead of those that work for her.
Kelso only has herself to blame for this situation. There are victims here, but she's not one of them. When you don't pay rent what do expect? As far as I'm concerned the chickens have come home to roost.
Fortunately, there are plenty of nice salons for folks to turn to, the net loss for our fair city is NIL.
I don't care if you're quoting: there is no place in this city called SoCo.
Who told her not to pay her rent? Her Lawyers? She should fire her lawyers if so. You always pay your rent until the courts tell you otherwise.
People should not immediately assume "local" automatically excludes "asshole". This is the same guy who was one of the (lesser, I admit) culprits behind submarining light rail in 2000.
As if we really needed ANOTHER reason NOT to go to Guero's.
'Guero's', 'Gueros's'...actually, ever notice the more you say it, the more retarded the name sounds?
this LippShits guy wants to tear down vulcan and ecowise, and the rest of soco, which he somehow owns. What a jerk. And what kind of wretched boutiques with awful clothes will go up? Jean Paul Gautier? Lanvin? No, my guess is another Jos A Banks.
AHHHHHHHHH!
The food at Güero´s sucks ass, that place is even more over-rated than Trudy's.
20 years ago on South Congress you had to be scared of street thugs robbing you. Today on South Congress you have to be scared of developer thugs robbing you with their high prices.
Good luck finding a client to rent a second story space. Those second store retail spaces never do good.
Why do people eat at a Mexican place that calls them a racial slur like "Whitey"? (Guerro is mexican slang for Whitey)
I think "gringo" is the spanish slang for "whitey" that you're thinking of.
As for what's going on here, well, sure the owners were pretty big jerks by barging in and ordering everyone out immediately, but ultimately it's their right to do that. They own the place, and Kelso signed the document agreeing to the lease terms. When they didn't uphold their end of the bargain, whether they agreed with it or not, they were in breach of contract. Not saying this was handled in the best way, but honestly that press release makes it sound like the Kelso company was completely innocent. They should have just continued to pay their rent whether they liked the price or not. That's what their lease agreement stipulated.
my bad - google informs me that guero is also slang for "white guy."
They probably think the name is pronounced "Gware-o's".
Sounds like there's enough asshattery to go around. Kelso should have honored their contract, but the developers need not behave like turds to prove their point. That's what stern letters from attorneys are for. And Guero's food really is awful. Only tourists staying on south congress go there
Hmmm. This article actually tells me nothing about what happened and why. What was the background of the lawsuit? Why didn't the salon pay its rent? I think it's interesting that everyone who has commented so far is quick to jump to one or the other side of this (based, apparently, on their personal feeling about tacos, no less). But not being "in" on the story as everyone else apparently is, I really don't know whose side I should be on. Maybe some information, rather than a long quote of the Ann Kelso press release, might be of more use to Austinites who want to have an informed opinion.
I don't want to spread mistruths, but I heard a rumor that a certain landlord had changed the locks and posted an eviction notice on the outside of the building. I heard that an evicted tenant showed up, ripped down the eviction sign, and called a locksmith to change the locks again. Then went forward with business as usual. When the landlord heard they were ignoring the eviction, the landlord was furious and barged into the space to boot everyone out of the property.
Yeah, fuck those Gueros people for protesting light rail. Also, Uncommon Objects also protested Light Rail in 2000 with signs in the store windows. Haven't shopped there since.
Seth
When Kelso was doing the finishout on her space, 78704 Partners was still constructing the rest of the building. This construction made it harder to do the Kelso finishout, which made her late to open and had her spend more money. Also, 78704's delayed construction probably hurt her business in the beginning, as she was in the middle of a construction zone.
Even if your landlord screws you over, you still have to pay the rent, otherwise you are not acting on good faith. Then they can evict you.
There are other, simpler reasons not pay the rent, like the business was doing poorly.
If 78704 Partners wants to kick out Eco-Wise and Vulcan, that's within their rights; they own the building. However, haven't they been threatening that for over five years now?
Never "got" Guero's. Bad service and mediocre food. But then again, that's what people consider "Keeping Austin Weird."
curiously, the landlord never added the salon's name to the sign that advertised the different businesses located in the building.
Seth
The tenant usually has to buy the sign that the landlord puts on the building. I don't think the landlord was holding out on them.