Mocca-Couture launched a website called Harwindrive.com. It's a fashion guide to all the stores on Harwin Drive. The hope is that Harwin will be easy to navigate so you can find those back to school bargains.
Perfume shops, rug stores, furniture and T-shirt stores, it all can be found on Harwin drive in southwest Houston. Some stores have names, others don't. It's a no-frills kinda shopping experience that can overwhelm the first timer, but one thing is certain: shoppers come here for the bargains.
"This is a great place to come and get more bang for your buck," Mocca-Couture with Harwindrive.com said.
Mocca-Couture hopes the website makes it easy for bargain shoppers to find the trendiest items. At the site, it gives you a guide to where you can find specific items and then provides consumers with a map of where to find those items.
"Harwindrive.com makes it easy to shop because it lets you go directly to what you are looking for, and sometimes, you see stuff that you are not looking but just catches your eye," Mocca-Couture said.
The indoor mall called Harwin Central Mart in the 9700 block of Harwin is featured on the site. The mall has dozens of shops, mostly filled with accessories and designer lookalikes.
At Lily's Monogram, we found items that rival similar looks from Pottery Barn kids and Vera Bradley but at a fraction of the price. And if you spend $12 or more on one item at the store, you get free monogramming.
"When you buy here, you get five letters; after the five letters, it's a dollar per letter," Lily's Monogram employee Elizabeth Morales said.
Backpacks, duffel bags, lunch boxes and iPads covers can all be monogrammed. It's on Meredith Collins' back-to-school list.
"I picked out a lunch box for $5.99," Collins said.
Just a couple of shops down, we found Bow World, a bow shop that has every bow you can think of; they include character bows, big bows and teeny tiny bows. Prices start at $1.99 but there the more you buy, the more you save. At the Jewelry Outlet, we found sterling silver gemstone earrings for $4 each.
For the teenagers, we decided to bring 16-year-old Grace Notestine with us on our shopping trip to spot items teens really want.
At Jewelria in the 9700 block of Harwin, she picked up a purse for $31.99 and an additional 25 percent off.
"It looks really expensive," Notestine said.
She also spotted some trendy necklaces for just $5.99. And at a store just across the way, she found ballet flats for $9.99 and back-to-school sandals for $10.99.
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