On Retailing

Tuesday, May 1, 2001

Old name to vanish

Second jewelry store called Taylor Brothers will go out of business

A prominent jewelry store will leave its second vacant retail space on the market since it was founded 73 years ago.
   By May's end, Taylor Brothers By Marie Colson at 3636 S. Alameda St. will go out of business, putting 3,200 square feet of retail space on the market and signaling the official demise of the old jewelry business. That space is expected to be leased quickly. The same cannot be said for Taylor Brothers' previous location, in downtown Corpus Christi.
   Taylor Brothers Jewelry began operating at the corner of Starr and Mesquite streets in 1928. The Taylor family moved operations to the Alameda location in 1987. But after all these years, the original location remains vacant.
   Though the Taylor family sold the store a couple of years ago, the name endured. Marie Colson bought the store in November of 1999. At the time of the acquisition, she owned a custom jewelry shop. When she merged the two stores, Taylor Brothers By Marie Colson was the result.
   The Taylor family owns the retail center where the jewelry store operates and is Colson's landlord.
   George K. Taylor and his wife, Sandra, said they don't think the Alameda location will be vacant for very long. The Taylors are negotiating with at least two retailers vying for the space that Colson will leave behind, but they won't give potential tenant names.
   The jewelry store isn't the only property Colson will return to the market. She also will close her 20-year-old Colson Parrot Farm at 6702 Yorktown Road in the next few months, and is looking for a buyer for about six acres that once belonged to Courtesy Ford.
   Last year, Colson acquired the old dealership site at 4601 S. Staples with plans to morph it into an upscale shopping center. But Colson decided the market here was too weak for such a development.
   "I didn't feel the Corpus Christi economy was ready for the development at this time," she said.
   Although family members helped her manage the jewelry and parrot ventures, Colson said, all the businesses were becoming too much to handle.
   But she said she'll stick with her oil and gas company, she said.
   "That way I can handle one job successfully," she said.
   Colson's unfinished mansion on Yorktown Boulevard was in the news recently. In 1992, Colson and her husband Bill stopped construction of the mansion, and filed a lawsuit contending the home had foundation problems. The couple also asserted in the lawsuit that the home wasn't built properly. The house, which was supposed to have 26 rooms, was considered an eyesore by the city and attracted a lot of attention.
   Demolition of the mansion has begun, a process that Colson said brings her some relief.
   "I'm so happy about that," she said. "I tried to get it down in 1992 when I first filed the lawsuit, and it's finally coming down."
  

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Contact Laura Elder at 886-3678 or elderl@caller.com

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