When I first heard the Austin-based coffee shop Houndstooth is coming to Lakewood at the corner of Skillman and Oram, I pictured an Austinesque nook crammed with local art and mismatched furniture. And while the owner, Dallas native Sean Henry, says he hasn’t quite pinned down what the shop will look like, if the original Houndstooth in Austin is any indication, crafty and cluttered is probably a far cry.
Henry grew up in Richardson before graduating with a film degree from the University of Texas and opening the original Houndstooth in Austin in May of 2010. He styled the first building around its custom-built, 1960s-Space-Race-inspired espresso machine. Its furniture is minimalist and modern, he says.
“One of the reasons I left our first place relatively blank is because we want coffee to be the experience and we want the people in the coffee shop to make it what it is,” Henry says.
However, the new location in Lakewood will look different than the original, he says.
“We haven’t settled on a specific design. I have some ideas, but it’ll be pretty fun. The goal is just to create an experience around coffee and around people,” Henry says.
If “pretty fun” can be considered specific, that’s about as specific as Henry’s description got.
“The Houndstooth experience is what we want people to have, that we hope our guests have, but the physical look will be different from what we have in Austin,” he says.
Guess we’ll have to wait until he starts setting up shop in January to find out what the interior will look like, but one thing that will quickly set Houndstooth apart from other coffee shops in the area will be the beer and wine lists. 
“There’s not many places in Dallas that offer a place to get an afternoon drink,” Henry says.
Henry says he doesn’t believe parking will be a problem at the Lakewood location, although neighboring shop owners aren’t so sure.
What do you think about Houndstooth Coffee coming to the neighborhood?
