Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail! Today we’re talking about Joe V’s Smart Shop, a Houston-developed discount grocery store headed for DFW. The first Joe V locations opened in the summer of 2010. HEB pitched the stores as Aldi-Fighters, just as the discount German grocer gained a foothold in the Houston market. Despite this comparison, the first stores were reminiscent of the old HEB Pantry Foods concept. You could still find the …
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Posts Relating to Grocery Stores
Over 50 Years Later, Baytown’s Kroger Family Center Is Still One Of The Houston Area’s Most Unique Kroger Stores
Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos taken by Mike In April’s The Year of Kroger post here at Houston Historic Retail, we took a look at the Texas City Kroger, the second oldest still-operating Kroger building in the Houston area. If you think that store is unique, we have a special treat for you today. As promised in February’s The Year of Kroger …
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Visiting the 99 Cent Only Store all these years later
Howdy folks, and welcome to Houston Historic Retail. Today we’re visiting a new place for the blog, but a spot with a special place in my heart, the 99 Cents Only Store. Today’s location is actually a new one for me. Located at 10787 Jones Rd, Houston, TX 77065, this store space in the Steeplechase Center was originally filled by Sav-On Drugs, opening in 1982, and later Walgreens, which took over the stores when Sav-On …
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Food Town vs. Albertsons: a Pearland grocery decor showdown
Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Hisotirc Retail. Today we’re looking at an independent conversion of a former major-owned grocery store. A concept that is not unfamiliar to any longtime HHR reader. Houston still has a decent number of independents in operation. Mostly split up between Food Town, Foodarama, and El Ahorro/La Michoacana/Sellers Bros, each chain taking a unique approach to decor. Foodarama has mastered a very standardized look of replacing department signage with …
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Arlan’s attempt in The Woodlands, a history of “Food Basket”
Editor’s Note: The photos in this post were submitted by a reader who found them during a liquidation sale of the closing Arlan’s. The original listing has since been deleted. If anyone knows who took these photos, credit will be provided. Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail. Today we’re taking a look at a now-closed grocery store with an interesting history. The building at 26824 I-45, Oak Ridge North, TX 77386, which …
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Grocery Update: GFS Braeswood Square Opens
Gordon Food Stores, Houston’s newest grocery chain, opened another store this week—the new location at 5300 N Braeswood Blvd, Houston, TX 77096, is located in Braeswood Square. The company opened its first four area locations back in March. GFS is a mix between a traditional grocer and a food service distributor. While they may not carry every grocery item an individual wants, larger households and small businesses can shop GFS quite easily. I visited the …
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HEB Clear Lake, sitting closed and empty!
Editor’s Note: Today is this blog’s eighth birthday and the week of my own birthday! If you like HHR you can easily help keep me going in one of two ways. First, please consider following, liking, and sharing my content on Facebook. Social media is not something I use excessively, but it helps bring new readers, especially those interested in local history. Second, please consider donating to HHR. I don’t run ads, have a corporate …
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4000 Polk, Houston’s 90+ year old Henke & Pillot Kroger location
Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos taken by Mike Welcome to the latest installment of The Year of Kroger here at Houston Historic Retail! After three consecutive months of looking at early examples of Kroger Signature stores, this month’s The Year of Kroger post will take us to a Kroger that is the opposite of a Signature store. Those who have read the …
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Why is Pearland’s newest HEB already getting a remodel?
Howdy, folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today we’re checking out something we haven’t seen in a while, a grocery store expansion. Specifically, the remodel going on at the East Pearland HEB at 2710 Pearland Pkwy, Pearland, TX 77581. Before we answer the question as to why this HEB is getting an expansion, let’s dig into why this has become somewhat unusual. For years, HEB’s focus in Houston was on Pantry Foods stores, which on …
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Retail News: Foodarama holds official Texas City grand opening this week
Grand opening sales and festivities at Foodarama’s newest location at 915 6th St N, Texas City, TX 77590, will commence this week. Foodarama, which is turning 50 this year, took over this location in late December 2022 from the previous operator Food King. Personnel from Foodarama disclosed to Houston Historic Retail that they had planned on removing some of the remaining Grand Union-era decor features, such as the overhead mural above the checkout, but had …
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