Ray Aker’s passion for food originated in the back yard of the small Georgia town where he grew up, watching his father grill and enjoying the smell of smoked meat in the country air.
His enthusiasm gained momentum in the early 1990s when he served in the U.S. Navy and encountered new tastes in China, Japan, the Philippines and other countries.
“Food is my life,” Aker said. “My menu is my life’s journey.”
Jere Stevenson, proud owner of Consignment Collection, said when she opened her shop in 1989, it was the only consignment shop in the area and the only place to buy or sell used goods.“If you didn’t want to have a garage sale, this was it,” Stevenson said. “And if you wanted to look for a good piece of furniture that wasn’t a garage sale item, then we were it.”
Three friends formed DeNovo Coffee in 2015 to bring its drive-thru style—known more widely in the Pacific Northwest—to the Greater Houston area.
“We really like the North Houston area,” co-owner John Hibler said. “The population is full of good people that work hard and benefit from a concept like ours.”
Employee Thomm Hartley demonstrates a puppet in the entryway to Why Not Toys.[/caption]
Old Town Spring’s only toy store started as a boutique named Why Not Accessories in 2001, which sold items like scarves and jewelry, but it was the small toy section of the store that proved to be its most popular feature.
Store owner Laura Roldan said it was difficult to stock the regular accessories because of the capricious nature of the fashion industry, but the toys she stocked were always in demand.
“Toys are timeless; they never grow old,” said Roldan, a Spring native.
Although it has earned a name for its service to the Spring community over 40 years, people often recognize Ripley’s Muffler and Brakes because of the shop’s brightly painted muffler sculptures, owner Tommy Ripley said.
Ripley’s Muffler and Brakes began as a gas station opened in 1973 by Ripley’s father Rodney, who died in 1996.
The whimsical figures that decorate the parking lot are created from cast-off muffler parts and have been part of the shop’s character since its early days, Ripley said.
Some occasions call for flowers, whether it is a date, a holiday or simply for people to tell others how they feel about them, said Shawn Jacks, co-owner of A Yellow Rose Floral Boutique.
“There is no right or wrong way to express your feelings,” he said.
Jacks started delivering orders for the business when his mother, Joyce Dennis, opened the Stuebner Airline Road store in 1996. He discovered he had a knack for design and color and now oversees the shop’s floral arrangements.
Effie Stees knows the magic of a good bottle of wine. Wine classes and romantic dinners formed the backdrop for the beginning of her relationship with her husband, Brad, who co-owns Envy Wine Room with her.
“Our love story opened up over a bottle of wine,” Stees said.
Two years ago, Brad and Effie opened the wine room attached to the couple’s clothing and gift boutique, Why Not Envy Me, on Gentry Street in Old Town Spring.
It is apparent from the camouflage aprons and caps worn by the employees that the owner of Big Sarg’s Home Cookin’ is proud of his military background, but his slow-cooked dishes are inspired by the flavors of old-fashioned meals from home.
“We take the time to cook it like they did back in the day,” owner Isaac Alexis III said. “It’s the food Grandma used to cook.”
Isaac is the “Big Sarg” in the restaurant’s name. He served in the U.S. Army from 1990-2010 and retired as a master sergeant.
Vietnamese and Cajun styles of cooking pair naturally because they share a common influence in French cuisine, said Kim Nguyen, who opened Cajun Fuze in February 2015 to share her unique spin on seafood.
“It really matches well when you think about it,” Nguyen said of the two cooking styles. “The French dominated for years [in Vietnam], and we have adopted French cooking. If we have anything in common [with Cajun cooking] it’s the French influence.”
Vietnamese flavors in Cajun Fuze’s boiled seafood dishes include garlic butter and seasonings like Thai basil and citrus fruits such as orange and lemon.
The Urbina family has sold the traditional Latin American savory pastries known as pasteles since 2002 in Venezuela. However, Marlon Urbina said he researched sites all over Texas before opening the state’s first Pastel Gourmet location on Cypresswood Drive in Spring almost two years ago.
“People are open to trying new things here,” Urbina said.
A warm sense of community, openness to new flavors and the presence of other Venezuelan families drawn to the area by the oil and gas industry made Spring an ideal location for a small specialty restaurant, he said.
