Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail. Today, I have some sad news. An “Upper Kirby” landmark, the Antique Pavilion, and surrounding businesses will soon be demolished as part of a redevelopment of the block. Before we talk about the building’s future, let’s first discuss its past. The current structure at 2311 Westheimer was initially built by Randall’s in 1965. This location was not built by the Randall’s you’re probably thinking about, but rather the original Randall’s founded in 1946 by A.P. Randall. At that time, the chain was purchased by Blocker Martin, who expanded the single store …
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Posts Relating to Grocery Stores
A tour of Weingarten’s in 1969 at Rummel Creek
Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail. Today we’re setting the time machine to 1968 to take a look at the brand-new Rummel Creek Weingarten’s. A store we’ve seen before on HHR, but never in its original form. Before we go any further, I need to shout out Pleasant Family Shopping, who was able to hook me up with these photos and a few others already on HHR. If you haven’t already followed him on Facebook, be sure to! All of the following text and images are from the 1968 J. Weingarten Inc. Annual Report: Climbing on the bandwagon …
Keep readingA closed remnant of Gerland’s you’ve never heard of, Ziegler’s Foods
Howdy folks, and welcome to Houston Historic Retail. Today we’re doing something we haven’t done in a while and looking at an abandoned retailer, a former grocery store Ziegler’s Foods, located at 2308 FM 517 Rd E, Dickinson, TX 77539. The empty store has a fascinating backstory and unclear future, so let’s jump right in. The building now used by Ziegler’s came into use, likely sometime around the 1950s, initially as Klecka’s Food Market. The Klecka family hailed from Czechoslovakia and, in the 1940s, opened a Department Store in Dickinson, followed shortly after by a second location in East Bernard. …
Keep readingA Warm Greenhouse Welcome to the Year of Kroger here at HHR!
Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos taken by Mike Happy New Year and welcome to 2023, Houston Historic Retail readers! We have many interesting things planned for this year. One of our goals for the year is to cover some of the most interesting Kroger stores in the Houston area. With that in mind, we plan on posting one Kroger post a month in 2023 in order show Kroger’s significant influence in Houston’s retail history. Today’s Year of Kroger post takes us to a surviving Houston Greenhouse Kroger …
Keep readingRetail News: Foodarama adds new location with Texas City Food King on their roster
Local grocery chain Foodarama opened a new location last week at 915 North 6th St in Texas City. The store was purchased directly from the previous operator Food King and was not closed for the changeover. This newest Foodarama represents the first new location of an independent Houston grocery chain since 2015, when Pyburn’s opened its third location. As of this article, Foodarama has eight locations throughout the Houston area. Other independent grocery chains in the Houston area include Sellers Bros, with 11 locations, and Food Town, with 32 stores. Before 2015 half of the Food Town chain was owned …
Keep readingFoodarama’s Weingarten redemption at Maplewood Mall
Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail! Today we’re taking a look at 5665 Beechnut St, Houston, TX 77096. A Foodarama store with a somewhat unique history. The store initially opened on January 28, 1965, as Weingarten’s Store #66. Construction of this store had started early the year prior alongside the adjacent Maplewood Shopping Center. The center was located right next to the boundaries of the greater Meyerland area, a part of Houston on which Weingarten’s had a stronghold, making it a no-brainer for them to open there. While the store made sense, Weingarten’s aimed to get more …
Keep readingThe Journey from Fed-Mart to Fiesta!
Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail! Today we’re looking at a Fiesta on Houston’s Southeast side with an interesting history. The building this grocery store occupies at 5600 Mykawa Rd, Houston, TX 77033, has an interesting history. The building was constructed in 1958 for the Fed-Mart company. For those not in the know, Fed-Mart was a chain of sores based out of California. In modern times the stores are often compared to Costco, or Price Club, both companies in which founder Sol Price would later have a hand in. In reality, though, the store’s merchandise mix would …
Keep readingVintage Ads: Celebrating the 1971 Grand Opening of Braeswood Square
Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston This edition of Vintage Ads will take us back to the grand opening of the Braeswood Square shopping center near Bellaire in Southwest Houston. Braeswood Square’s grand opening was on July 8, 1971 and we’ll be looking at various ads from the July 7, 1971 edition of The Bellaire Texan newspaper which is freely available to read at The Portal to Texas History website. Braeswood Square has been in the news here at Houston Historic Retail in the recent past as the last Belden’s supermarket …
Keep readingRetail News: Home Goods come to HEB in Houston
HEB’s new Home by H-E-B lines have started to roll out at Houston stores. Back over 30 years ago, when HEB decided to try and brave the Houston grocery market, the company knew it had to differentiate itself to survive in this overcrowded market. Now, in 2022 the company is again breaking new ground with a selection of Home Goods in their grocery stores. HEB’s first Houston stores were under the guise of their Pantry Foods banner, with selections cut back to the bare minimum of what could be considered a Supermarket. Three decades later, the San Antonio-based chain had …
Keep readingReturn to Food King, one of the last Weingarten’s out there
Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail! If you’re a longtime reader of the blog, then you might recognize today’s location, Food King! A former Weingarten, still using much of their Grand Union decor update. This store is a gem, locally owned by a Texas City resident, and honestly pretty dang cheap! If you’re interested in the history of this store and more detailed information on decor overlap, then check out my post from earlier this year on the store. Today’s post is going to try and feature some things I missed the first time around. My first …
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