To those of you familiar with the mall scene, may be somewhat aware of the sudden closure of ThinkGeek stores all across the country. This has been going on for the past few months in a nationwide and somewhat sporadic manner. In Friendswood, the Baybrook Mall location, “Temporarily Closed” sometime earlier this year, with their relatively active social media going dark in February. The Deerbrook Mall location held a going out of business sale and …
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My name is Mike and I am the founder of the Houston Historic Retail! I have been running this site since 2015. For more information check out the About page!
This Week in Demolition: Retroactive Permits? No Timewise better than the present for Zuma Fun Center!
Howdy Folks, and welcome back to another edition of This Week in Demolition! If you showed up last week wondering where the demo post was, I do apologize, but such are the perils of what is mostly a one-man operation. You can always check Houston Historic Retail’s Facebook page for more information on missing posts. Interesting demolitions this week include the shell station at Chimney Rock, and 59. Originally a Mobil Owned and Operated Station, …
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Steak N Shake, Biglari Style
Over the recent Labor Day weekend, I found myself driving past Ennis. My wife and I both noticed a Steak N Shake sign we’d never seen before, which was a nice surprise as we’re fans of the restaurant. The sign was unusual, not only did it include the Steak N Shake logo, but also a small signature next to the company name. This location hadn’t been here the last time we passed through Ennis, which …
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MarcoPlaza Polo or whatever happened to Pasadena Town Square Mall?
Howdy Folks, and welcome to my (Mike’s) contribution to the Month of Malls! Today we’re taking a look at Pasadena Town Square/Plaza Paseo/Marcoplaza Mall, a location that has been on my radar for a few years so let me start off by explaining how I found out about Pasadena Town Square Mall. In 2017 when my coverage of Northwest Mall began to gain popularity I had a reader get in touch with me about a …
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A former Hartz Chicken in a former Burger King
Nowadays fast food restaurants, and many other retail outlets, are built with such little detail that you couldn’t tell them apart from their competitors with their branding. This isn’t just a coincidence either, bland styling easily allows buildings to be reused by other companies, and is often required in planned communities. This, however, was not the case back in the 70s and 80s when chains like BK and McDonald’s went on expansion streaks in major …
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The one where Safeway and H-E-B made the exact mistake 10 years apart
In late 1982 the Houston Division of Safeway opened a brand-new store to serve the growing Alief, and Mission Bend areas of far West Houston. At the intersection of Bellaire and Synott the modern round edged store opened as the anchor tenant of the shopping center along with an Eckerd. While far from being the last Houston Safeway to open, this would be one of the last built, as most “new” stores going forward would …
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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 …
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This Week in Demolition: 2 Homes and a Pool, right on Memorial Park
This Week in Demolition, we have two homes, seemingly joined at the hip, with a big pool in the backyard, right across from Memorial Park. This lavish monument to 1990s Houstonian exuberance will soon be demolished for something even more grand. Residential Demolitions 6518 Kury Ln, Houston, TX 77008– Timbergrove Manor, Photos 406 & 412 Crestwood Dr, Houston, TX 77007– Rice Military, Faces Memorial Park, Photos, More Photos 409 Schwartz St, Houston, TX 77020– Barnes …
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Dining Out on Highway 6, a reflection on the dead restaurants near West Oaks Mall
Howdy folks and welcome to a companion piece for the Month of Malls. While not a full mall post, our center topic today are the dead restaurants near West Oaks Mall. These eateries are mostly adjacent to West Oaks Village Shopping Center, as opposed to the mall itself. However, let’s start off talking about full service eateries in West Oaks Mall. While the mall had its fair share of staple food court tenants, up until …
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Permit Roundup: Slim Chickens inside the Loop, Taco’s A-Go-Go at Greenway, and a few more Village Medicals
Howdy folks, and welcome to another Permit Roundup! Unfortunately, last week, I ran out of time before I was able to complete the post, and it looks like I’m going to run into a similar issue again this week. While I won’t have time to write a full article, I do still have time to pull the data needed. I’m also included the interesting pieces that were skipped last week. I’m unfortunately going to be …
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