The lowdown on what’s up with neighborhood businesses
David Nicolato has been making rain barrels for friends, family and charity for the past couple of years after attending a seminar on eco-friendly ideas for your home. This thrifty LH resident was inspired to create his own rain barrel in an attempt to save his family some money. After “lots of tweaks on design, styles and functionality to the rain barrels, our business, Rain Barrel Guys, became an official business a few months ago,” Nicolato says, adding that the response to his rain barrels has been great so far. (FYI, the other “guy” of Rain Barrel Guys is 2-year-old Jacob Nicolato. David and his wife, Cortney, are expecting their next child at the end of June — actually, another “guy” to add to the family biz.) Nicolato is offering Advocate readers 10 percent off the purchase of a rain barrel or 15 percent off the purchase of two or more barrels. Call 214.341.6369 or e-mail rainbarrelguys@gmail.com for pricing and information.
Aggie’s African Restaurant will soon open at Skillman just north of LBJ in the spot where Boston Burgers lived for a few months. Owner Aggie Akpo says she will schedule a grand opening and has plans to promote the new restaurant all over town in the upcoming months. The eatery will be open 11 a.m.-10 p.m. daily for lunch and dinner, dine-in or takeout.
Lake Highlands residents Dave Anderson and Scott Clouse started up Redo Guys (redoguys.com) two years ago. Often, you can find their truck in the L Streets redoing bathrooms, kitchens and what-not. Anderson was in the construction biz prior to starting Redo Guys. He got the bug after re-doing his own L Streets home, neighbors liked what he did, and the rest is history. “We mostly remodel kitchens, bathrooms and do whole house updates,” Anderson says, “but we will also cater to Realtor needs, which entail some foundation repair, electrical panel updates, general painting and flooring services.” Kitchen and bath redos are pretty popular in LH (seriously, was there a major surplus of “Golden Girl” pink and seafoam green porcelain tile in the ’50s or what?). And here’s a fun fact: After 40-plus years of bachelorhood, Clouse was married just last month.
A Jackson Hewitt tax service office has opened up in the spot that was formerly Earl’s Postal Center (which was formerly Mary’s