Category: News

Retail News: River Oaks Ex-KFC to house another fried chicken joint

According to permits filed recently, Layne’s Chicken Fingers appears to be headed to River Oaks. The new restaurant will rehab a former KFC located at 2359 S Shepherd Dr, Houston, TX 77019. The KFC, which closed in 2016, long enough ago that Swamplot covered it, has sat continuously vacant for nearly seven years. College Station-based Layne’s Chicken Fingers (LFC) is being franchised locally by the Houston franchisee of Halal Guys and has collocated their two Layne’s Outlets with existing Halal Guys locations. The existing locations are Cinco Ranch and the “Ella Fast Food Boulevard.” Layne’s has yet to make an …

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Retail News: Houston’s first Shoppers World opens June 8th

Shoppers World will open its first Houston location on June 8th, according to the Houston Business Journal.  The store at 10701 Jones Rd, Houston, TX 77065, will complete the reconfiguration of the former Target in Steeplechase Plaza. The building was vacated in 2006 when Target, which built the structure, moved to a larger location along FM 1960. The first portion to be redeveloped was the right third of the building, which was renovated as a Planet Fitness in 2012. The gym would move out, relocating further down Jones Road in 2018, leaving the space completely vacant again. Until Ollie’s Bargain …

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Retail News: Target proposed for Heights area residential tower

A rendering of the proposed mixed used tower. Source: PropertyCommerce.com

A block in the Heights at W. 26th between Durham and N. Shepherd is currently undergoing the planning stages of redevelopment. At the end of 2022, WGS Retail Investments announced plans to redevelop the existing business on this land. Their plan involves demolishing the industrial sheds and former homes that had all turned to retail use by the 21st century. The plan as it stands now is to construct a low-rise 8-story residential tower, with retail making up the ground floor. While Target has yet to make an official statement, all proposals from the developer include Target in their plans. …

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Retail News: Trill Burgers work shows on former James Coney Island

The former James Coney Island, located at 3607 S Sheperd Dr. Houston, TX 77098, has been slated to reopen as local rapper Bun B’s Smash Burger concept Trill Burger since closing last year. Work started on the interior earlier this year, as reported here on HHR. However, this last week the first stages of exterior change began. A new black and gold paint job, in addition to updated signage, has all been applied. Photos from inside the building show that structurally much remains the same. However, red, white, and blue have similarly been swapped for black and gold throughout. Booths …

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Retail News: Stafford gains a Target location, and P Terry’s makes Houston promises… again

A P. Terry's Sign Credit: bruthanick

Target has filed permits for a new store in the Stafford mixed-use development, The Grid. Likely to be located next to the present Costco Business Center, the new store will come in around 125,000 Square Feet. This will be an average-size store for Target, about 20k Sq ft less than their new Katy store. For comparison, the Walmart across West Airport Blvd from The Grid is almost 100,000 Square Feet larger, representing one of the competing discount retailer’s largest stores in the Houston area. Target’s signing on to this project seems to validate the initial goal of redeveloping the former …

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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 changed their minds after installing brighter lighting in the over 70-year-old store, which was built by Weingarten’s in 1952. Grand opening sales will last until …

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Retail News: Shoppers World confirmed as coming to Houston

Shopper’s World is in the process of finishing out the former Target space in the Steeplechase Center seen here in 2021. Houston Historic Retail first reported that New York-based Shoppers World is planning on bringing one of their discount department stores to Houston last October. While the company has yet to release any official statement on its new Houston store, its list of locations has been updated to include 10701C Jones Road, Houston, TX 77065. This Shoppers World would be the second location in Texas after their first opened in a former Bealls at South Park Mall just over a …

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Fuddrucker’s Houston outlook is mostly grim

Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail. Today we’re trying to figure out What the Fudds is going on at Houston’s remaining Fuddruckers. Things began first publically to unravel for Fuddruckers towards the end of 2017 when parent company Luby’s Inc posted one of many continuous losses in sales. To help abate this, Luby’s Inc. would begin closing locations nationwide. Throughout 2017 and 2018, a number of low-performing Luby’s and Fuddruckers locations would close, including some in Houston. However, this action would not end up being enough, and in 2019 Luby’s began to “refranchise” nearly all of the …

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Retail News: Highland Village, Houston’s first Starbucks abruptly closes

Houston’s original Starbucks location abruptly closed its doors last week. The store at 4081 Westheimer Rd, Houston, TX 77027, has been a mainstay in the shopping center for nearly 30 years. The shutdown looks like it may not have been at Starbucks’ discretion owing to ongoing construction in the area. A ramp leading to the store’s entrance along with the front sidewalk across the entire building was demolished just after the store closed. Neighboring stores Janie & Jack and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams also had their portions of the sidewalk removed, leaving only the steps up to their doors. …

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Retail News: Daiso will open fifth Houston store next week

The Willowbrook Daiso will be at 7740 FM 1960, Houston, TX 77070

Daiso will open its fifth Houston area store next week on March 29th. The Japanese Yen Shop is a rough equivalent of an American Dollar Store. Generally, the quality of Daiso items is higher than expected at Dollar Tree or Family Dollar. That being said, the prices reflect this, ranging from $1.75 to just over $15. This location is Daiso’s 92nd in the United States, after only arriving in the country just over 15 years ago. Daiso is planning to hold a grand opening event the following Saturday and Sunday (April 1 & 2). The first 100 customers to spend …

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