Category: Random Retail

Houston may soon have two new Trader Joe’s locations along its Northern side. While neither store is set in stone, the more concrete of the two looks to be headed for 600 Kingwood Dr, Kingwood, TX 77339, taking a small portion of a former Randalls in the Kingwood Commons shopping center. Building permits have been filed for this location, and word on the street is that the lease is working on being secured. The other …

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today, we’re still in New Caney, taking a visit to what may be the cheapest place to get groceries in town. This is Grocery Warehouse, located at 17844 US-59, New Caney, TX 77357. Grocery Warehouse is what is commonly referred to as a salvage grocer. They sell items acquired from non-traditional sources at a discount, and yes, sometimes the items are close to or past their expiration/best-by date. …

Japanese-based Round One Corporation has been on an arcade-building spree in American Malls lately, and soon, Humble will join Arlington and Grapevine as the third Texas city to host one of their arcades. The new Round1 locations will be at Deerbrook Mall in Humble and Willowbrook Mall in Houston. The Deerbrook location will be the smaller of the two, taking up the space formerly occupied by Palais Royal in that mall. The Willowbrook location will …

Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail. Today, we’re checking out a Food Town at 20851 FM 1485, New Caney, TX 77357, way up on the Northeast side of town. This store, like a few other Food Town locations featured on HHR, originally started out as an Albertson’s. In general, I tend to hold a Food Town conversion of an Albertsons in pretty high regard, and this location is no different! First, though, …

The past few months have been a wild ride for anyone following along as Big Lots’ bankruptcy has dragged on. The first signs of major trouble came in 2023 when Big Lots began shutting down locations around Houston. By September of 2024, the company announced they were filing for Bankruptcy with plans to sell to Nexus Capital. While this was not a best-case scenario for the ailing discount retailer, it did seem like it would …

Party City announced its plans to go out of business just over a month ago. The decision followed the company’s second bankruptcy in recent years. However, the chain, which is comprised of both corporate and franchised locations, will not completely vanish. According to their franchisee, two Houston Party City locations will remain open, with similar news coming from Austin and San Antonio franchisees. While this might remind some of the shutdowns of Blockbuster or RadioShack, …

Bojangle’s Fried Chicken has finally returned to Houston after departing our market 40 years ago. The franchisee is planning six locations across the Houston area, and the first grand opening will potentially occur today at 19230 W Bellfort, Richmond, TX 77407. It was initially set for Monday but has been pushed back because of the weather. The other locations include 9534 Fry Rd (Katy), 6705 Grand Pkwy (Spring), 510 W Bay Area Blvd (Webster), 1401 …

An iconic store closed last month, as Food Town shut down their outlet at 570 El Dorado Blvd, Webster, TX 77598. The store started as a Randalls and was famously visited by Boris Yeltsin in 1989. The stop was impromptu and was requested by Yeltsin after a planned trip to the nearby Johnson Space Center. Yeltsin wanted to see a “typical” American grocery store, and what he found shocked him. The store was fully stocked, …

The sign from the former N Shepherd Sears is all that remains of a once-great retail site. The land on which the store sits is undergoing the first stages of redevelopment and is slated to become a mixed-use property. The sign, which initially served as a bus stop for the Sears store, spared the wrecking ball, much to the delight of preservationist neighbors, when the building finally came down last year. However, new development documents …

Macy’s has announced they will close the Almeda Mall location sometime this year. This closing includes 65 other stores across the U.S. and is part of a plan to cut 150 stores by the end of this year. The store initially opened as a Foley’s in 1966. Almeda Mall and its twin Northwest Mall were first proposed by Foley’s, although developed by another company. The closing has been a standard prediction for Houston since Macy’s …