Before we start if you’re interested I now have a way to subscribe to my blog via email. There is a box in the sidebar you can input your email. If you’re on mobile scroll to the bottom of the page to find it. This week in demolition things start to get back to normal. I hope you’re seeing a return to normalcy for you and yours as we transition back into everyday life. Our …
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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!
Geoffery’s Bargain Box of Toys: The Toys “R” Us Concept you probably never saw
On the heels of Toys “R” Us second departure from the Houston area (which I unfortunately have no photos of). I wanted to take a look at a store that TRU opened in Houston only months before their bankruptcy. You might be thinking, oh I already know all about Geoffrey’s Toy Box, however that was deployed post bankruptcy! You might even think, oh well duh everyone knows about the rural, child-sized Wal-Mart stores simply named …
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When Kid’s Meals came with records
Good morning! This week in demolition, we don’t really have any demolitions. With Winter Store Uri, City of Houston permitting offices were closed most of the week so only 2 new permits were issued. Both small houses with nothing very significant about them. However just because we don’t have a demolition post doesn’t mean we can’t have Monday content! So today I want to show you one of the cooler items in my collection of …
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Retail News: Raceway speeds out and 7-11 Zooms In, Luby’s puts locations up for sale, & Randalls leaves Bellaire
Happy chilly Friday to you loyal readers! I hope you are all doing well and managing to stay warm, as power comes back on around the state. This post is coming a bit late due to technical difficulties between myself and the power grid, but I don’t need to tell you about that. So far in February we’ve had a decent amount of retail proceedings develop. First off what seems to have been a quiet …
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This Week in Demolition: Flames lit under Candelari’s 1940s house
This week in demolition, things slow down a bit. Some interesting houses include 2532 Reba which is objectively the best-looking house of the week. The location in Avalon Place really ties the place together, although the house is a bit small by modern standards (those fish-eye lenses aren’t fooling anyone!). Next on the list is 12507 Woodthorpe which is a relatively unremarkable 60s Ranch with a primo location in the middle of Memorial Meadows. Finally, …
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When Fiesta failed to “Re-brand” Bravo Ranch
Fiesta Mart is one of the larger grocers in Houston with over 30 stores throughout the metropolitan area. They have been able to capture a niche market generally undeserved by more traditional retailers, specifically customers with foreign roots. This is far from accidental as the idea for Fiesta came from a Houston man who had experience managing grocery stores in South America. As the company grew and expanded the product mix shifted to cover multiple …
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This Week in Demolition: We lose a 1936 C.C. Rouse Colonial on Rice Blvd
This week in Demolition, we’ve got a lot to get into! Let’s start off with our headline. If you’re not in the know, C.C. Rouse was consistently considered one of Houston’s top builders in the early 20th century. Designing and constructing some of the most prominent homes in the city, and many in the River Oaks area, C.C. Rouse was known for building lavish homes, with ornate details.* Sadly, many of the original Rouse homes …
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Que mas is CVS y más? | What more is CVS y mas?
If you’re at all like me then you’re a person who pays attention to the city’s “signscape”. A littered mess of stylish corporate identities mixed side by side with generic bold letter text. Many signs around Houston are in foreign languages, you can easily find them in Vietnamese, Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, and most often Spanish. An interesting addition to our signscape is CVS y más. Literally it means CVS and more, and the differences aren’t …
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This Week in Demolition: An updated 40s bungalow in Garden Oaks to the chopping block!
One thing I have learned from doing demolition reports, is that some weeks it can be hard to find a demo worth writing anything about. This Week in Demolition, we’re spoiled for choice. Some houses of note this week include second place 12122 Mossycup a 1950s Tudor in Memorial Forest, 2426 Goldsmith a thoroughly ugly but minimally renovated 1940s house South of Rice, and 813 1/2 Columbia a 1920s Garage apartment in the Heights. The …
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7-Eleven is starting to get in the swing of things
Today we’re dropping in on a brand new convenience store! The last time we discussed 7-Eleven on the blog we found that progress on new stores in the Houston area was extremely slow. It all started in 2013 when the company acquired four Tetco stores to convert to 7-Eleven locations. By 2014 these locations would be had their names and signs changed and were carrying 7-Eleven branded products. It seemed like things were on track …
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