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    Liquor Delivery App

    Skip a trip to the liquor store thanks to new bar app that delivers to your home

    Eric Sandler
    Apr 22, 2015 | 11:41 am

    Houstonians are becoming well acquainted with the new generation of delivery apps that are making life in the Bayou City a little more convenient. Whether one uses Instacart for groceries or Favour for, well, just about anything, the new services are popular with people like executives or new parents who find it hard to tear themselves away from their obligations.

    The only downside is that neither delivers any sort of alcoholic beverages. Sometimes a person just wants a drink, even if she doesn't have time to go to a liquor store to acquire the proper provisions. Thanks to an app called Minibar that launched in Houston on Tuesday, wine, beer, spirits and mixers are just a click away via iOS, Android or the web.

    Minibar doesn't mark up the prices that the stores charge everyday; customers simply pay a flat, $5 delivery fee per order.

    "Basically, we saw a hole in the market in wine, beer and spirits delivery," Minibar co-founder Lara Crystal tells CultureMap. "We thought you should be able to get spirits as easily as groceries."

    They launched the company in New York in 2013 and have grown to cities across the country including San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas and Austin.

    Don't worry. It's legal. Minibar has partnered with two local liquor stores, downtown's Posh Liquors and The Liquor Store #5 in the Medical Center, to ensure everything stays TABC compliant. Furthermore, Minibar doesn't mark up the prices that the stores charge everyday; customers simply pay a flat, $5 delivery fee per order.

    Minibar works with the local stores to ensure a selection of popular wine, beer and spirits in each market. "Obviously, there are some essentials in each category," explains Minibar's Texas general manager Andrew Jacobson. "People are going to expect to see Grey Goose . . . We rely on our local partners to recommend beers and liquors."

    The website also provides recipes, tasting notes and pairing suggestions. Everything a person needs to host an event at home.

    In New York, Minibar even allows users to hire bartenders to staff cocktail parties. That feature hasn't come to Houston, but Crystal says the company is constantly evaluating what its users want. "Customer service is our number one priority," she affirms.

    Minibar works with local vendors to ensure customers have a large selection.

    Minibar liquor delivery
      
    Courtesy photo
    Minibar works with local vendors to ensure customers have a large selection.
    unspecified
    news/innovation

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    washed and folded

    Texas-based 'DoorDash for laundry' tumbles into Houston

    Jef Rouner
    May 1, 2025 | 4:00 pm
    NoScrubs founders
    Photo courtesy of NoScrubs
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    Laundry may seem like an endless task that piles up, but a new service offers a solution to overwhelmed Houston families.

    Enter NoScrubs, an Austin-based home laundry pickup service that has just expanded to Houston. Described by the company as "DoorDash — but for laundry," they wash customer's clothes at local laundromats and return them the same day folded and ready to be put away.

    The service took off like gangbusters in Austin, making an expansion to the state's largest city an obvious choice. It's not universal coverage just yet. For now, only the following zip codes have NoScrubs service available: 77002, 77004, 77005, 77006, 77007, 77008, 77009, 77010, 77018, 77019, 77024, 77025, 77027, 77046, 77056, 77057, 77081, 77098, 77401, 77030, 77003.

    A single pickup starts at $40 for 20 pounds of laundry, while the basic monthly subscription is $60 for two pickups. All services use hypoallergenic detergents.

    The average American family spends about 240 hours a year on laundry, making it a very time-consuming chore. For people with disabilities, difficult work schedules, and other circumstances, it can be a real help, says co-founder Matt O'Connor.

    "Some of our favorite customer stories simply revolve around saving people time when they have something challenging going on," he writes in an email. "For example, one customer reviewed NoScrubs saying 'So happy I could cry! (Partially because I'm pregnant and my emotions are heightened!)...1000% recommend if you have time restrictions or physical restrictions! ' So, whether it’s saving time, the affordability, or the pleasantly surprising turnaround time, NoScrubs has a variety of benefits for any customer."

    NoScrubs is also a new opportunity for Houston's gig workers. Because there are no passengers, it can be a safer alternative to driving ride share for women and other people apprehensive about having strangers in their cars. As NoScrubs partners with local laundromats, drivers are also going to centralized locations rather than all over the map, leading to less wear and tear on their cars. The laundromats benefit as well, since NoScrubs loads are ones that would otherwise be done at home.

    "Our model makes driving a tiny fraction of the time, so folks who don’t want to wear down their vehicles and spend a ton on gas love working at NoScrubs," added O'Connor.

    To celebrate the Houston launch, NoScrubs is offering 50 percent discount off the first two months for CultureMap readers with the code CULTUREHOUSTON at noscrubs.com.

    laundry pickup servicenoscrubsapps
    news/innovation
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