Author: Mike

Yesterday, Houston’s newest Gordon Restaurant Market (the new moniker for GFS) opened its newest location at 4519 Griggs Rd, Houston, TX 77021. This location brings groceries back to the corner of Cullen and Weingarten for the first time since the 90s. This building was originally a Weingarten’s and later a Rice location. The building was partially renovated in preparation for a 99 Cents Only location, which never materialized. Gordon sells a mixture of consumer and …

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today, we’re taking a look at a unique store. This Food Town at 23221 Aldine Westfield Rd, Spring, TX 77373, might have a relatively unremarkable look, but this building has held some very interesting stores over the years. To start off with some background, retail in this area of Spring was somewhat slow to develop compared to the rest of the area. Smaller strip centers popped up along …

Homesense is the newest TJX concept to debut in Houston and has been open for about a month now at the intersection of S. Fry and the Grand Parkway. The chain, which was initially founded in 2001, started as the Canadian counterpart to Home Goods. The brand was expanded to Europe to follow T.J. Maxx’s operations there in the 2000s, and in 2017 was brought to the United States. The stores sell off-price furniture, fixtures, …

Bojangles made big news last year when it finally looked like they would fulfill a years-long promise to return to Houston. To the majority who don’t remember Bojangle’s first go in Texas, it only lasted about a year from late 1983 to 1985 and made it to less than 15 locations before folding at the end of 1985. While the first go around didn’t leave much legacy beyond some empty restaurants, the desire in Texas …

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today, we’re taking another moment for a “Fuddsdate,” first, I’d like to address the elephant in the room: no, Fuddruckers is not closing all its locations. That seems to be related to an incorrect TikTok that was spread around in the last couple of weeks. However, three Houston area Fudds have at least temporarily closed: Stafford, Copperfield, and Kingwood. It’s been quite a while since our last Fuddsdate, …

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to HHR. To close out the end of the month, I wanted to feature a store tour! If you just joined us, store tours are some of my favorite things to do, but I’ve had to slow down because I will run out of stores if I keep doing one per week! This time, we’re checking out a former Food Lion now inhabited by Sellers Bros #22 in Pasadena. This …

The Steeplechase Center is supposed to receive a new tenant in the way of a gas station at the corner of Jones Road and FM 1960. The new Quiktrip Convenience Store and Fuel Center will replace a former Capital One Bank branch, which closed about four years ago. This new QuikTrip location will be the company’s third in Houston and the first to be located away from a freeway. The chain, widely known for its …

Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail. Today, we’re looking at Nutty Munkey, a tiny frozen custard chain with a brief stop in Houston. I ran across Nutty Munkey completely by accident, while researching a local Kroger via Google Earth I spotted an “oddly shaped” Shipley’s from the sky and flew in to take a look. When I saw this structure, I thought it had to be some local restaurant. I thought the …

Closeout retailer Ollies Bargain Outlet plans an expansion in Texas by entering a stalking horse bid for some of 99 Cents Only Stores Texas real estate. The closeout chain entered Texas in 2018 and Houston in 2021. The properties under consideration by Ollie’s include 11 former 99 Cents Only locations across Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and the Valley, expanding Ollie’s footprint quite a bit. The stores include a mixture of both leased and owned operations. …

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today is the semi-official 10th anniversary of Houston Historic Retail. I want to take a break from the regular pattern and let you all take a peak behind the curtain of HHR. First, let me explain the discrepancy that makes this semi-official. Houston Historic Retail debuted in 2014 on a free WordPress site that only a handful of people saw. The original content was all migrated here to …