Galveston's Hendley Market Finally Reopens (Kinda) After Ike

Hendley Market, Galveston's destination shopping place on The Strand for knick-knacks, sweets and other things you never knew you needed, is finally reopening after fixing its Ike damage.

"We are back in business after getting rid of that bad old Ike hangover," their announcement says.

They also note what Alanis Morisette would no doubt call ironic -- shortly before Ike hit, we here at the Houston Press cited them for being the place for "Best Hip, Fun or Nostalgic Gifts."

Here's what we said:

Hendley Market is the perfect place to buy '60s-era toys and wax lips for kids, knitted catnip-filled toys for cats, old coins for house-sitting neighbors and embroidered linens for co-workers. There are antique oddities such as medical instruments, quirky old books, gift items that hark back to the Victorian Age (in a good way, not a chastity-belt way) and Mexican retablos. It's a charming haven from the usual "sun 'n' sand" beach tourist claptrap predominant on an island.

As the reopening announcement noted, "we were forced to close before anyone could actually get to see for themselves how amazingly accurate was this designation."

The reopening won't be total -- the announcement refers to a "slimmed-down" market, and it will only be open on weekends for the moment.

But a little Hendley Markey is better than none, and it's good to get yet another piece of Galveston back.