I was recently on vacation in San Marcos, and while on the trip had a chance to visit a few interesting retail outlets. One of the places I wanted to stop by was a “Target Express”. Target has since eschewed any sort of designations for their stores. Even if your local store still claims to be a “Super Target”, it’s actually just a Target with “Expanded Grocery”. However, with a miniscule square footage of 18,000, …
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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!
Retail News: Costco Business Center grand opening October 20th
Howdy folks, and welcome back to another edition of Retail News! With the grand opening of Ollie’s Bargain Outlet in Houston slowly fading in the mirror, our next big grand opening of the year is coming up. It seems that the Houston area’s first Costco Business Center, is nearly ready to open. We first learned the chain had eyes on Houston in April of this year, and we now have the planned October 20th grand …
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This Week in Demolition: That 70’s Home!
I heard “That 70s Show” is getting another reboot. If they need to do a flash back scene, the crew still has a few days left to get period shots. Oh great, he’s doing “comedy” now…. Well onto the demolitions! Residential Demolitions 11851 Durrette Dr, Houston, TX 77024– Lakeview, Carport Only, 4-Bed 4-Bath, Brady Bunch Special, Photos 921 Highland St, Houston, TX 77009– Woodson Place, 1920s Bungalow, Photo 618 Thornton Rd, Houston, TX 77018– Yale …
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So long ThinkGeek, it was nice while it lasted!
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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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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MacroPlaza 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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