Retail News: Ollie’s holds grand opening, despite hurricane

Howdy folks, welcome to another edition of Retail News, and this week we have some good news! Ollie’s Bargain Outlet was able to hold their scheduled grand opening on Wednesday, September 15th, despite Hurricane Nicholas making landfall just a day before. It seems that so far Ollie’s is a hit! Fellow retail watcher, Anonymous in Houston, noted that nearly 50 photos has been posted on Google Reviews within hours of the grand opening. I had a chance to visit this long awaited Houston branch this previous weekend and found no lack of customers, however it seems that this is a very low-key opening for Ollie’s. While there were photographers, and the “Ollie Costume” present at least on opening day, they were gone by Saturday. What the store lacked in celebration, it more than made up for in well stocked deals, and organization. If you had any remaining doubt in your mind about checking out Ollie’s since they’ve arrived in Houston, let these photos be your guide to do it now!

2 comments

  1. I didn’t get a chance to visit the Ollie’s yet since I had a few things going on this weekend, but I hope to visit it soon. As someone who shopped at the Jones Rd. Target a lot when it was still around, I’m really looking forward to discount shopping in this space once again after a 15 year break! Having seen some photos of other Ollie’s, it’s strange to see one with a drop ceiling, but otherwise the space doesn’t look too much like a Target in the photos.

    We had reason to believe that this store would have Kmart shopping carts, but it’s great to see that actually happen! It appears Ollie’s has a mix of used Kmart carts and some new plastic carts as well.

    Crayola candy, wow, I don’t think I’ve seen that one before! That reminds me of the Hostess wax paper at a Florida DG Market + PopShelf (Dollar General) that AFB posted just a few days ago! I never thought about these stores having products with unexpected brands, but maybe there is something to that. You’d think that Crayola wouldn’t want to set a precedent with kids that it’s okay to eat their products, but I guess that’s not a concern of theirs.

    It’s pretty crazy how many photos of this Ollie’s popped up on Google Maps just on opening day. There was clearly a lot of excitement about this grand opening even with Hurricane Nicholas happening just the day before the grand opening. It’s really neat that the first Houston Ollie’s opened up in my part of town!

  2. Looks like fun, I look forward to visiting in the near future. I’m amazed Kmart ever bought carts with their most recent logo on them. “Roll Tide Laundry Soap” seems an odd message for a store in Texas.

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