Category: Randalls

Randalbertsons: It’s Your Boomerang Albertsons Store Because The Locals Rejected Food Lion

As far as Houston Albertsons stores go, this location had a slightly more unique front façade than most. This might help hide the Albertsons origins of this store at first glance, but many of the classic Albertsons features such as the glass bricks and the cart alleyway exist here to give away the origins of this building.

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos taken by Mike It has been 21 years since Albertsons left Houston in 2002, but longtime Houston Historic Retail readers know that Albertsons’ legacy is still strongly felt at various retailers around town. Perhaps this is most strongly felt at various Food Town stores where, as Albertsons Florida Blog has pointed out, ‘It’s Your Town’ looks a lot like ‘It’s Your Store’. Mike has done various recent posts about Food Towns operating in former well-preserved Albertsons such as the North Belt Food …

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Randalls’ Very Successful 1980s Store Format Is Still A Success In Galveston

It is a busy day at the Galveston Randalls!

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos taken by Mike Loyal readers of Houston Historic Retail might remember the Galveston Randall’s being mentioned in July’s The Year of Kroger post about the Galveston Kroger. This HHR post is an extension of that post as we’ll be taking a closer look at the Galveston Randall’s, Randall’s Food Market #31 (Randalls Food & Drug #1031 using the current Randalls numbering system) located at 2931 Central City Blvd, Galveston, TX 77551. Randall’s #31 opened in the second half of 1984 at a …

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Here Everything Was Remarkable: Remembering The Jones & West Randall’s

The windows of the grand entryway looked quite grand at night!

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos taken by Mike Richardson I must say that it has been a while since I’ve had a guest post here at Houston Historic Retail which has not been about a Kroger store! That said, today’s post is related to March’s The Year of Kroger post about the Kroger Signature store at the corner Jones Rd. and West Rd. in the northwest Houston suburbs. As I mentioned in that post, Kroger built that Signature store to compete against the established Randall’s store, Randall’s …

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Antique Pavilion in 1960s Randall’s to soon come down

The awning was added by one of the antique stores

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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Halloween Costume Conversions 2022: Featuring Randall’s, Sears, and More!

Boo! And welcome to Houston Historic Retail! Today, we’re celebrating Halloween by checking out four costume conversions in what is HHR’s longest-running theme post dating back to 2018. Man, I was really playing to an empty room back then, but thankfully my fan base has grown substantially there are dozens of you now! Ever since the 2019 debut of Costume Conversions, the series has always been a favorite of mine. It’s always fun to get back into a dead retailer and see what got left behind. This year, we have the privilege of visiting a chain never seen as a …

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The Kroger-Albertsons Merger, and what it could mean for Houston

Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail. Today we’ll be discussing the Kroger and Albertsons merger/buyout announced last week and what it could mean for Houston. So I’m not accused of burying the lead here, the short answer is we don’t know the exact impact yet. The long answer, however, is we know enough that we can make some predictions. For those out of the loop, Kroger has officially agreed to acquire Albertsons for $24.6 Billion. In Houston, Albertsons is represented by Randall’s, which was acquired along with the rest of Safeway back in 2015. Kroger, on the …

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South Shore Harbour Randalls Gets A Colorful Remodel

Without even stepping inside this Randall's, we can tell that it appeals to shoppers who like colorful, classic things!

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos being taken by Mike. Also, Mike will be the featured speaker tonight at 7 pm (10/5) for the Houston Preservation Society. Click Here to live stream the broadcast! The subject of today’s post here at Houston Historic Retail is something of an oddity here in the 2020s, a suburban Houston-area Randall’s store that appears to be doing quite well. The South Shore Harbour Randall’s is located at 2951 Marina Bay Dr. in League City, TX. For those not familiar with the South …

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El Rancho-Randall’s, a match made in Boise

The grand entrance to Randall's doesn't look bad in tan and red!

Howdy Neighborinos, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail! Today we’re entering new territory and checking out an El Rancho in a former Randall’s. For those not in the know, El Rancho is a Hispanic grocery chain originating out of Garland. An investment was made in the grocer by Albertsons in 2017 while looking to diversify their extensive mainline store operations with something more niche. This began a special partnership, where El Rancho stores would have first dibs on taking over old Randall’s leases and also began carrying Safeway and Albertson’s store brand items. With the first Randall’s conversion opening …

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North Houston’s Remarkable Handy Randalls in Champions

When this store opened, it had a gable front facade. Safeway gave the front of this store a more traditional look in the early 2000s.

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos being taken by Mike For close to 50 years, the supermarket featured in this blog post has been one of, if not the, most upscale supermarkets in all of the northern half of Houston. With that in mind, it’s fair to say that this supermarket is truly remarkable! This remarkable store, the Randall’s Flagship store at 5219 FM 1960 W and Champion Forest Dr., started life out as a Handy Andy Supermarket when it opened on April 8, 1974 in the Champions …

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Why did Safeway close the Fuqua and Sabo Randall’s?

One more look at the outside before we set off

Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail! Today we’re checking out a 1980s Randall’s that has had quite an interesting second life. This former Randall’s at 11021 Fuqua St, Houston, TX 77089, opened store opened in 1984. Taking part in a triple grand opening stunt, which is just as it sounds. Two newly built Randall’s stores and one old Weingarten that had been acquired about a month before all held a grand opening special on the same day! The new store was a first for Randall’s, it wasn’t a revolutionary new design or anything along those lines. Rather, …

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