One of the best-known businesses along East Douglas is going to have to move

One of the best-known businesses along East Douglas is going to have to move.

Hell Bomb Tattoo, which has been on Douglas just east of Washington for more than two decades, has been notified by its landlord that she’d like her space back.

“I don’t like being a landlord,” said Schane Gross, whose Anchor Meat Market and Anchor bar and grill are next to the tattoo parlor.

Gross was the original Hell Bomb owner and had planned to close it years ago, but others wanted to keep it open and rent from her.

In the time since Hell Bomb has been open, more than a few city and business leaders have been frustrated by its presence, mostly due to its name and a bit due to it being a tattoo parlor in such a prominent area of Wichita.

Since then, the city placed increased restrictions on where tattoo parlors can locate and then loosened them some last year.

The current Hell Bomb owner didn’t return calls for comment. With Gross’ request for the space back, some of the staff already has left to start the nearby Tenfold Tattoo.

Gross isn’t certain what she’ll do with the Hell Bomb space, but she’s working with the business and said she’d give at least four month’s notice before it has to leave.

“I wasn’t going to put them out in the streets.”

Look for more information on the Hell Bomb move as it is available.

Taking a dive downtown?

Most likely, Gross will put a dive bar in the space once Hell Bomb moves, she said.

“That’s probably what’s going to be most lucrative.”

She said she’s considering making it a wood-and-metal studio for “very fashionable function custom items,” but most likely she’ll need the money a bar could generate instead.

“I got screwed from the whole Rail Hoppers thing,” Gross said of her former restaurant in District 96.

That’s the Great Plains Ventures development at K-96 and Oliver where Gross briefly tried a new restaurant concept.

Gross said her intention was to remodel the Anchor first then focus on Rail Hoppers. She said District 96 developer Marque Peer and contractors forced her to do the Rail Hoppers build first, and then numerous issues with the Anchor remodeling took her attention away from Rail Hoppers.

“It’s like I got held hostage,” Gross said.

She said she knew Rail Hoppers wasn’t making what it needed to, but in the end, she said Peer accused her of making too many excuses and also said he simply didn’t like her.

“Well, I don’t remember any of that being said that way, but I’m not going to get into mudslinging,” Peer said. “We just decided to part ways and make it as amicable as possible.”

Gross said her plan had been to establish Rail Hoppers and convert the Anchor to that name in order to franchise it. She said the Anchor is too generic of a name to franchise.

Though she had no specific franchise plans yet, Gross said it would be a way to expand and make money from it.

“It would be nice to be paid by the company I created.”

District 96 possibilities on east side

Natasha Gandhi-Rue’s second Kitchen restaurant is now in the former Rail Hoppers space.

District 96 is not quite 100 acres and is doing well, Peer said.

He said a strip center at the development is 100% leased, “so we think that there is the possibility of doing another strip center.”

“We’re trying to find somebody who would be interested in doing that.”

He said an office building or maybe a full-service hotel are possibilities as well.

“We’re pretty picky on what we’re doing with the remaining lots.”