The current election ballot in Austin includes a proposition for an amendment to the city charter to "prohibit the City from providing financial incentives ... for projects that include one or more retail uses." The proposition is the result of a signature drive by Stop Domain Subsidies....

The Oakville Grocery Austin website is no longer up, and for the past several weeks, there was a noticeable absence of products on the shelves so the writing seemed to be on the wall. It sort of begs the question - is it a sign of the economy, or was it just the wrong business in the wrong place at the wrong time?...

Sip 'N' Stroll: As a warm-up for next spring's Hill Country Wine and Food Festival, the organization is sponsoring a very enjoyable-sounding Sip 'N' Stroll event at three of The Domain's new restaurants. The concept is simple: you wander from restaurant to restaurant in groups, and each of them serves you a flight of wines and some paired appetizers. NoRTH features Italian eats, so naturally they'll be focusing on Italy's wine varietals. Regan Jasper, the......

Fall is here, the weather is cooling, and the prospect of an outdoor food and wine tasting has mentally moved from "it's too hot!" to "that sounds perfect." One of the marquee wine events of the fall, Tour De Vin pairs eleven chefs and over 100 wines in a "sip and stroll" format tasting on Thursday, October 4th. This is the fifth anniversary of the event, and the wine lineup looks to be the......

After a long, hot summer, it’s time to check out Austin’s new fall fashions and get in the mood for shopping. Tribeza’s Fourth Annual Style Week is right around the corner—Wednesday through Sunday, to be exact—and there are plenty of fun events open to the public. Style Week is kicking off with a happy hour at By George’s South Congress location, where you can nibble on goodies from Cissi’s Market and peruse the flirty fashions.......

On Saturday, the City presented a preliminary draft of the North Burnet Gateway Re-Development plan, which includes the Domain. We skipped the presentation and went shopping. The shopping is awesome (got some hot Pumas), but we're not sure what to make of the development. It is VMU (at least the part that has been built), appears reasonably dense, and may someday have rail. It is also a freaky, disneyfied version of "downtown." One goal......

We went back to The Domain, Austin’s new consumer wet-dream, to attend "Fashion Live!" The, err, creatively named fashion show was a marketing campaign celebrating the Macy’s opening. How could we resist? The host was Michael Knight, a “fan favorite” designer on Bravo’s Project Runway. This was an important event, judging from the throngs of people (consisting mostly of women of all ages in cocktail dresses, decked out with big hair and bling) stuffed......

The Domain Crossing Shopping Center is opening tomorrow. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know the mega pseudo-mall (disguised as a shopaholic’s theme park) is the new home to Neiman Marcus, Macy’s, Tiffany and Co. – and dozens of stores already in Houston and Dallas. We could’ve waited till tomorrow to sniff out an impossible parking spot, and then dart through a gaggle of “You-wanna-sign-up-for-a-Macy’s-card?” ladies, but the people at Martin +......

The two most anticipated openings for stylish Austinites are the new By George at Cissis’ Market, opening March 1, and Neiman Marcus at The Domain, opening on March 9th. Michael Knight, former Project Runway star, and Robert Verdi, host of E!'s Fashion Police, are participating in a couple of The Domain’s opening events. Women’s boutique Plume is having a closing sale until the end of the month. Pick up silky tops, jersey dresses and Japanese-made......

The Austin Business Journal reported earlier today that Tiffany & Co, purveyors of fine baubles and other really expensive polished minerals, will join the already swank establishments at the upcoming luxe retail development called The Domain. Opening next March and a mere stone's throw from Dell HQ, The Domain will be a massive 700,000 square foot haven of "luxury, couture, contemporary fashion and restaurant space," anchored by the city's first Neiman Marcus (budget masturbation......