Target's robot manicurists clock out from 3 Dallas-Fort Worth stores

Beauty news

Photo courtesy of Clockwork

Attention, Target shoppers: The days of popping into the beauty aisle for a $10 manicure performed by a robot are coming to an end. Target and Clockwork, the robots' parent company, confirm that the service will end at all stores - including three in Dallas-Fort Worth - February 20.

"Our robots at Target will be removed as we conclude a very successful pilot," says a spokesperson for Clockwork. "Our last day will be Monday, Feb 20, 2023. We have enjoyed working with the Target team, and thank all our customers for all the love and support they have shown us. We hope to be back to serve them soon."

Adds a Target representative, "At the end of February, Target and Clockwork will conclude a successful pilot that brought Clockwork manicures to select Target stores, an offering that drove new insights around our in-store experience. At this time, we are not expanding the service. We are always evaluating how to better meet our guests’ needs and will continue exploring ways to bring valuable services they will love to Target."

Launched in spring 2022, the Clockwork system was touted as the world's first fully autonomous nail-painting robot and has been offered at Target Fort Worth Central (301 Carroll St.), Fort Worth's Target Cityview (5700 Overton Ridge Blvd.), and Dallas' Target Medallion (6464 E NW Hwy.) .

DFW was the third test-market for Clockwork, behind cities in Minnesota and California. All stores are ending the service.

The Clockwork manicures, dubbed "minicures," are nail-painting sessions that take 10 minutes and cost $10.

Clockwork robot manicures Target The high-tech robots take pictures of your nail. Photo courtesy of Clockwork

To paint nails, the machines rely on cameras, data, and algorithms. Users place a digit on a finger rest and slide it into the machine, where two cameras rapidly take about 100 pictures of the nail. Those images are used to create a 3-D point cloud showing the shape of the nail, and this data is used to figure out where the edges of your nail are located. This information is then used by algorithms that figure out things such as how (and how fast) the machine’s polish-dispensing pipette should move to apply paint to your nail.

A human attendant stands by to help position hands correctly in the machine and to tidy up polish afterwards.

Although the robots are not as accurate as a real-life manicurists, they do provide a quick, cheap alternative for budget-minded consumers on the go.

In a February 13 email to customers, Clockwork says there are some new things in the works.

"We couldn’t be more thrilled to announce that our next generation robot is ready to paint! The first of many next gen robots launched in San Francisco last week at in the LinkedIn building, with more locations to be announced soon," they write. "The most exciting change to our next gen robot is that it is fully autonomous. That’s right, it is now completely self serve, with live customer support available at the touch of a button. We hope to return to Target locations in the future, once our autonomous experience has been perfected for their store environment."

They will be rolling out the next gen robots throughout 2023, they say.

For now, there are still some appointments available through February 20 at all DFW stores. Those with unused service bundles can book their appointments and share discount codes with friends.

Those who are unable to use their bundles before they close should email customer support for a refund.

Courtesy photo

Texas ranks No. 3 best state to start a business in U.S., report says

Calling all entrepreneurs

For years, Texas has been lauded for its business climate being welcoming to new businesses and startups. A new study shows that the Lone Star State has yet again made the list.

Texas ranked third in personal finance website WalletHub's recent report, 2023's Best & Worst States to Start a Business, with a score of 56.85 points. Texas ranked behind Utah, No. 1, and Florida, No. 2, and just ahead of Colorado. Idaho, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma, and California make up the rest of the top 10, respectively.

The study looked at 27 key indicators of startup success across all 50 states. Texas was recognized for these factors in particular:

No. 10 – average growth in number of small businesses
No. 30 – labor costs
No. 10 – availability of human capital
No. 4 – average length of work week (in hours)
No. 14 – cost of living
No. 13 – industry variety
No. 31 – percentage of residents who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19

Source: WalletHub

Richard Ryffel, professor of finance practice at Washington University in St. Louis, noted the importance of policy in making a state a good place to start a business.

"Established businesses looking to expand might expand or relocate entirely based on the relative favorability of the local business climate," Ryffel says. "Recently, Texas, for example, has been the beneficiary of some significant business relocations based on its business-friendly policies."

The methodology of the study focused on three key dimensions — business environment, access to resources, and business costs — and 27 relevant metrics. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, and then each state’s average across all metrics was used to calculate its overall score.

In 2022, WalletHub named Farmers Branch one of the best small cities in Texas for starting a business. It appeared at No. 102 on the list overall, and No. 2 in Texas. Other DFW cities in the survey included Haltom City (No. 406), The Colony (No. 436), Grapevine (No. 457), and Flower Mound (No. 733).

---

This article originally appeared on our sister site InnovationMap.

Ad Placement 300x100

Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

'Yellowstone' stars to greet fans at Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo

Yellowstone news

Yellowstone fans, get your comfy shoes ready - there'll be a long line for this one. Cole Hauser a.k.a. "Rip Wheeler" on Yellowstone, and Taylor Sheridan, the show's co-creator, executive producer, and director of the series, will meet fans and sign autographs at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo.

The event will take place from 4:30-6:30 pm only on Friday, February 3. Location is the 6666 Ranch booth near the south end of Aisle 700 in the Amon G. Carter, Jr. Exhibits Hall.

According to a February 2 announcement from FWSSR, "fans will have the opportunity to snag an autograph as well as purchase some distinctive Yellowstone and 6666 Ranch merchandise while also enjoying all the features the Stock Show offers."

The event is free to attend (with paid Stock Show admission) and open to the public.

It's the second year in a row for Hauser to appear at FWSSR; in 2022, he and fellow cast mates drew huge crowds.

Sheridan, a Paschal High School graduate, is no stranger to Fort Worth; he lives in a ranch near Weatherford and filmed 1883, the prequel to Yellowstone, in and around Fort Worth. Currently, another spinoff, 1883: The Bass Reeves Story, is filming in North Texas.

The Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo is winding up its 2023 run on Saturday, February 4.

Best restaurants for lunch top this week's 5 hottest Fort Worth headlines

This week's hot headlines

Editor's note: A lot happened this week, so here's your chance to get caught up. Read on for the week's most popular headlines. Looking for the best things to do this weekend? Find that list here.

1. Where to eat in Fort Worth right now: 6 best restaurants to grab lunch. The March edition of Where to Eat, our monthly feature recommending best Fort Worth restaurants to try, centers on a meal that needs some attention: lunch. Here are six Fort Worth restaurants where you can grab a bite for lunch.

2. The top 10 neighborhood restaurants in Fort Worth offer a feeling of home. Up first in our special editorial series leading up the Tastemaker Awards, the category of Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year. These places are close and convenient to established residential neighborhoods and offer a feeling of home that keeps regulars coming back over and over again. Here are the 10 nominees for Neighborhood Restaurant of the Year.

3. Where to drink in Fort Worth right now: 7 best new bars for March. A fresh batch of new bars has popped up in recent weeks, and this round is prime for spring sipping. All offer either expansive patios or picturesque interiors, and there’s plenty of space at each to spread out; so going with a group is welcomed. Live music is also a common theme with this collection of new spots.

4. 10 new ideas for a FOMO-free spring break staycation in Dallas-Fort Worth. It’s spring break time across North Texas. For families who did NOT jet off to ski the slopes or head to the beach, there’s still plenty of fun to be had in Dallas-Fort Worth. We once called this "staying home." Now it's a "staycation!" Here are 10 new ideas for fun things to do, even into the weekend.

5. 5 Texas cities make a splash as best places for family-friendly vacations. Fort Worth families looking to create lasting memories - or just really need a last-minute getaway for spring break - don’t need to look outside their state. In a new report from lawn care company Lawn Love, five Texas cities ranked high as Best Cities for Kid-Friendly Vacations.

Fort Worth's buzzy new Koe Wetzel's Riot Room pops open beer-can chicken

Koe has arrived: Koe Wetzel's Riot Room, a new Fort Worth bar and restaurant in which famed country singer-songwriter Koe Wetzel is partnered, has softly opened in the 7th Street district at 1100 Foch St., with live music and a food menu of Southern and Texas classics.

Wetzel is the Texas-born "outlaw" singer-songwriter who's been blazing a trail with albums such as his most recent release, Hell Paso, which debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard 200.

The new venue is an exciting collaboration put together by hospitality veteran Emil Bragdon, whose Funky Lime Hospitality Concepts portfolio includes Reservoir, The Whiskey Garden, Junk Punch, and Your Mom's House.

Their vision for the Riot Room was a venue steeped in country music culture, a high-energy country bar and restaurant with drinks and live music — and the reason we are here today, a menu of comfort food executed by chef Chad Burnett, and with creative input from Wetzel.

Burnett is a partner and VP of Culinary for Funky Lime Hospitality Concepts who oversees menu development and kitchen design. He worked with Wetzel to give the menu a country focus.

"The food is country-style cooking with a Southern backbone and Texas flair," Burnett says. "So we have cornbread, chicken-fried steak, and brisket that we smoke overnight."

Their signature dish: beer can chicken. Burnett says they put "a lot of love into it."

"We brine it overnight, then smoke them for six hours every day before service," he says. "Our smoker’s only so big, and it's first-come first-serve. You can’t call ahead and reserve."

The cornbread is a "sticky jalapeno & cheddar cornbread" and is one a handful of appetizers along with fried pickles and cheddar-stuffed jalapenos with house-made garlic ranch. Blackened chicken quesadilla and fried catfish fingers with chunky Cajun remoulade can be shared as appetizers or serve as an entree.

For their chicken-fried steak, they get the steak from 44 Farms and offer a Nashville-hot-chicken style of preparation, where it gets dipped in jalapeño oil, then doused with dried jalapeno seasoning.

Their other signature is the Trailer Park Sandwich, featuring two breakfast sausage patties smothered in cheddar cheese and served on a soft, buttery biscuit with strawberry jam.

Last but not least, the burgers.

"Our burgers are some of the best you'll find," Burnett says. "We use a smaller quarter-pound patty, so you can order it with one or two. It's on a brioche bun, nicely toasted, with garlic butter, and the burgers are cooked on a flat top, with raw onion."

Prices are low with the most expensive item topping out at $14.95 for the CFS. "We like to have scratch food prepared with a chef's touch, but offer it at a value," he says.

Wetzel also helped craft the name, which is how they arrived at "riot room."

"The definition a riot in this context is someone who's fun to be around — not with people rioting," says Emil Bragdon. "It's a place you have fun. Inside the venue, we'll have that definition of 'riot': a bunch of people who want to have a good time."

View All Listings