{"id":430551,"date":"2026-09-09T11:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T11:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/430551\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T11:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T11:06:10","slug":"how-sweetcup-became-the-last-business-standing-at-3939-montrose-blvd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/430551\/","title":{"rendered":"How SweetCup Became the Last Business Standing at 3939 Montrose Blvd"},"content":{"rendered":"

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SweetCup Gelato is the last one standing.<\/p>\n

SweetCup Gelato owner Jasmine Chida is a rarity these days: a local small business owner who doesn\u2019t seem to have any complaints about her landlord<\/a>. This is especially notable since she also operates the last remaining business in one of Montrose\u2019s most well-known strip centers.<\/p>\n

Originally constructed in 1984, 3939 Montrose Blvd once stood as a bustling cornerstone of the neighborhood<\/a>, housing restaurants, nail and hair salons, a dry cleaner, and a fitness center. But any Houstonian who has driven past or stopped over for a scoop of stracciatella likely noticed that the strip center now houses only one remaining tenant within its 26,522 square feet\u2014Chida\u2019s 14-year-old frozen treat emporium, appropriately enough in a former Marble Slab.<\/p>\n

The slow exodus didn\u2019t come from a mustache-twirling villain behind the scenes. Several factors contributed to the entropy, and plans to fill the rest of the storefronts continue to move forward. Still, Chida doesn\u2019t mind being the last one standing. She turned the lonely reality into a\u00a0humorous social media campaign<\/a>, posing her wares in front of the graffiti-etched signage out front and performing skits about her years in the space.<\/p>\n

With her lease up for renewal next year, she doesn\u2019t yet know if she\u2019ll remain the final tenant, meet some new neighbors, or move out entirely. \u201cI\u2019m trying to enjoy every minute of it and just take it all in and really enjoy our new customers, our regulars, our longtime customers\u2014everybody,\u201d Chida says.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Gelato is the only reason residents now visit 3939 Montrose Blvd.<\/p>\n

A self-described \u201cSan Antonio transplant,\u201d she scoped out the Montrose neighborhood for about a year before deciding to make her home among the art, culture, and community she grew to love. Restaurateur Claire Smith\u2014who recently opened\u00a0chr\u00f4ma<\/a> in the former home of Bistro Menil\u2014was already at 3939 Montrose with Canopy (the accompanying Woodbar didn\u2019t come until later). At one point, the center boasted 100 percent occupancy. There was a dry cleaning business next door, Timberline Fitness\u2019s original location, an eye doctor, an IBC Bank, a General Joe\u2019s Chopstix, and office space upstairs. Before that, there was queer bookstore Lobo and Monica Pope\u2019s first restaurant, the Quilted Toque. Nippon also made its home there before moving farther down Montrose Boulevard, closer to the Museum District.<\/p>\n

Chida grew close to her neighbors. She dined at Canopy several times before conceptualizing SweetCup. She watched as the children of Montrose Cleaners grew up, doing their homework in the back while their parents worked the dry-cleaning machines and interacted with customers. \u201cMontrose was, back then, very much alive. Much different than what you have today,\u201d Chida says. \u201cIt felt like somewhere I could belong, not somewhere that\u2019s just like, \u2018Oh, open a business, and that\u2019s it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Her neighbors at 3939 Montrose started leaving before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, which \u201creally affected small businesses.\u201d Leases were up, and numbers were down; Chida herself started selling gelato pints via the now-defunct Kickin\u2019 Kombucha distribution system<\/a> to make up for the lack of in-person customers. The dry cleaners retired after their kids headed to college at the University of St. Thomas across the street. Timberline Fitness, needing a larger space, found a new home along Richmond Avenue. Smith wanted to focus more on running her now-closed restaurant Alice Blue in the Heights and raising her then-teenage son. COVID-19 may not have been the exclusive reason for the closures, but it certainly hastened the center\u2019s current state of nigh-suspended animation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gave us some opportunity to look at how we might how we might retend it,\u201d says Bob Schultz, president of RHS Interests, which owns and operates the strip center. \u201cMontrose has evolved quite a bit since that time\u2026 We\u2019ve been a little nervous about some of the construction that\u2019s going to happen there, and how do we coincide that with a renovation?\u201d<\/p>\n

Schultz knows little about the original owners or developers, but when he \u201cbought it off the courthouse steps\u201d in the early 1990s, following a foreclosure, it had only a few tenants. \u201cIt was a very dark place, didn\u2019t have much lighting,\u201d he adds. His plan was to \u201cfreshen it up, and \u2026 and bring life back to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Schultz and his team did. They invested directly in many of the businesses that inhabited the strip center. He helped the cleaners go independent after they initially opened as a Dry Clean USA franchisee, and he assisted the owners of Timberline Fitness in building out their inaugural space. He remains friends with Chida and other former tenants, and even attended Smith\u2019s soft opening for chr\u00f4ma.<\/p>\n

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Though prime real estate, 3939 Montrose Blvd remains largely empty.<\/p>\n

The heyday of full occupancy is still a goal to strive toward, but Schultz says the space hasn\u2019t seen any new businesses, and not because of a lack of interest (potential renters, including several chefs, often approach Chida with questions about where to go with leasing questions). Rather, it\u2019s Schultz\u2019s deliberate choice to selectively curate future commercial activity. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe frustrating part to everybody\u2026is that the beginnings of these things are incredibly important. The first tenants that you choose in some of the most important locations set the tone,\u201d Schultz says. \u201cSo, we have turned down quite a few offers of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hookah lounges, for example, tend to be pretty fly-by-night operations; there\u2019s a lot of interest in opening one up in the strip center, but that doesn\u2019t exactly fit with what RHS has in mind. Right now, they\u2019re aiming for health and wellness businesses to continue on in the spirit of Timberline, as well as a restaurant to occupy the still-empty former Canopy.<\/p>\n

A full renovation isn\u2019t out of the question, either. The RHS Interests website<\/a> already has a mockup of a potential updated fa\u00e7ade, estimating expenditures at around $3.09 million. Rent currently sits at $33 to $55 per square foot, on par with other retail spaces in the 77006 zip code.<\/p>\n

Schultz is happy to see that the sidewalks and roads will finally get fixed, even as he weighs it against his hopes of restoring 3939 Montrose to its original vibrancy. Despite appearances, the space meets the City of Houston\u2019s parking minimums, and additional parking is available behind\u00a0Handies Douzo<\/a> next door.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Chida continues to await answers about the future of SweetCup and its original home, but she prefers focusing on what matters most to her: the art of gelato and building up the Montrose community around it. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t feel like this is SweetCup without the spot,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n