Author: Mike

Fabric and Craft chain Jo-Ann will be closing four of its nine Houston area locations in the coming months. These store closings are part of a more significant move to cut 500 underperforming stores from the chain, which has filed for bankruptcy twice in the past year. Jo-Ann has been in the Texas market since 1979 and in Houston since 1981, originally under the name “Showcase of Fine Fabrics.” However, serious competition and a poor …

Party City announced its plans to go out of business just over a month ago. The decision followed the company’s second bankruptcy in recent years. However, the chain, which is comprised of both corporate and franchised locations, will not completely vanish. According to their franchisee, two Houston Party City locations will remain open, with similar news coming from Austin and San Antonio franchisees. While this might remind some of the shutdowns of Blockbuster or RadioShack, …

Bojangle’s Fried Chicken has finally returned to Houston after departing our market 40 years ago. The franchisee is planning six locations across the Houston area, and the first grand opening will potentially occur today at 19230 W Bellfort, Richmond, TX 77407. It was initially set for Monday but has been pushed back because of the weather. The other locations include 9534 Fry Rd (Katy), 6705 Grand Pkwy (Spring), 510 W Bay Area Blvd (Webster), 1401 …

An iconic store closed last month, as Food Town shut down their outlet at 570 El Dorado Blvd, Webster, TX 77598. The store started as a Randalls and was famously visited by Boris Yeltsin in 1989. The stop was impromptu and was requested by Yeltsin after a planned trip to the nearby Johnson Space Center. Yeltsin wanted to see a “typical” American grocery store, and what he found shocked him. The store was fully stocked, …

The sign from the former N Shepherd Sears is all that remains of a once-great retail site. The land on which the store sits is undergoing the first stages of redevelopment and is slated to become a mixed-use property. The sign, which initially served as a bus stop for the Sears store, spared the wrecking ball, much to the delight of preservationist neighbors, when the building finally came down last year. However, new development documents …

Macy’s has announced they will close the Almeda Mall location sometime this year. This closing includes 65 other stores across the U.S. and is part of a plan to cut 150 stores by the end of this year. The store initially opened as a Foley’s in 1966. Almeda Mall and its twin Northwest Mall were first proposed by Foley’s, although developed by another company. The closing has been a standard prediction for Houston since Macy’s …

A popular thrift store at 1811 Gessner Rd, Houston, TX 77080, has a new name, Value World. The thrift store remains under the same ownership as it had under the name Value Village. This is presumably a move by the company that owns the stores officially named “Mercantile Thrift Stores” to align their operations in Houston with their locations in Ohio and Michigan. The company was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1955 and expanded to …

Howdy folks, welcome back to HHR, and Happy New Year! Today, we’re looking at the best-preserved example of a chicken chain that flew the coop in Houston just about four years ago. PDQ landed in Houston in 2015 as part of an aggressive expansion campaign for the still-new chicken restaurant. This location at 9440 Katy Fwy, Houston, TX 77055, was the first to open in the area of many planned. The concept was born in …

Howdy folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today, we’re going to take a look at the Brookshire Brothers in New Caney. For those of you already asking, “Didn’t that store close?” Yes, it did, but there is a successor! While it has a Tobacco Barn sign-up, this location is quite more than just that; it also has a fascinating history. Brookshire Brothers started in New Caney in 1982, with the construction of a new store …

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today, we’re taking a look at an interesting Fiesta. This location at 20331 FM 529, Cypress, TX 77433, was the final location to open with any direct input from much of the original staff. This store opened in January 2015 and was one of the last moves from Grocers Supply Co. before Fiesta was sold to an investment firm later that year. This location was an odd duck …