Category: News
Retail News: Sears at Willowbrook Mall’s last gasp!
Sears Hometown Store at Willowbrook Mall is having its last gasp this upcoming week. While store employees could not provide a final date, they said this week would likely be it for them, as the store slowly runs out of stock. What little remained in the store largely consisted of fixtures and merchandise that had been purchased but yet to be picked up. Many of the items in the store had been shipped in from other locations, including stock labeled for Kmart. The gate to the mall sits shut now, no longer providing the best parking spot to entrance ratio. …
Keep readingRetail News: Ollie’s Friendswood to open Wednesday
Nearly one year after its debut, Ollie’s Bargain Outlet is opening a second Houston area location Wednesday, September 9th. This store located at 18182 Gulf Fwy, Friendswood, TX 77546, has been a long time coming and was part of the reason Houston lost its only Dick’s Warehouse store. As of now, Ollie’s third and only other publically planned Houston store is on the Westside at 1747 Fry Road Katy, TX 77449.
Keep readingRetail News: Let the Tim Bits flow, Tim Horton’s in Katy finally holds soft-opening
Howdy folks, and welcome to Houston Historic Retail. Thanks to readers in Katy for keeping HHR abreast of the Katy Coffee Wars and its latest chapter as Tim Hortons has finally opened its first Texas location. The soft-opening took place yesterday, Monday, August 29th, and according to Google Reviews, a full grand opening is planned for September 9th. Canucks may notice two oddities about our Tim Horton’s location. First, our store features the ‘United States Menu,’ which has very limited food options. Featuring only three breakfast sandwiches, omelet bites, and a focus on baked goods, in addition to a slightly …
Keep readingRetail News: Gordon Food Stores starts making some real progress!
Gordon Food Service, a wholesale distributor and operator of GFS Retail Outlets, have yet to make any official announcement on their entry into Houston. Although it is quite apparent that their intent is open as quickly as possible. The story behind GFS, first broke here on HHR back in April when initial permits were initially filed by the company. Progress, however, was slow, with construction sites sitting mostly dormant, as behind the scenes, Gordon worked on lining up more sites. As of this article, there are six prospective locations, throughout the Houston area, in various states of completion. 215 W …
Keep readingReal Estate News: Apartments to take over 19 story hotel at I-10 and 6
In what would be a scoop for Swamplot if they were still publishing, it seems that Hotel-to-Apartment conversions are back in style again in Houston. Most famously in Houston, the former Holiday Inn at 2100 Memorial Drive, which was demolished just over a year ago, was converted into rent-controlled apartments for seniors, mostly by the City of Houston. Unlike the previous concept, these new hotels to apartments are being developed using private funds. As of this post, there are currently four conversions permitted or partially underway, backed by two different companies. MCRE (originally Mountain Country Real Estate) is a …
Keep readingRetail News: Burlington moving into two former Best Buy locations
Your best buys are always at Burlington, may not be the new slogan painted above the door, but it would be apt. Off-price retailer Burlington (Coat Factory) has recently made moves on two former Best Buy properties in the Houston area. The stores at 13238 Northwest Fwy, Houston, TX 77040 and 24230 Commercial Dr. Rosenberg, TX 77470 closed in 2021 and 2022, respectively, both part of a larger restructuring Best Buy has undertaken over the past two years. The 290 location is likely meant to make up for the closure of a longstanding location at 12005 Northwest Fwy, Houston, TX …
Keep readingSears Willowbrook Mall Experiment is Closing
The Sears Hometown located inside of Willowbrook Mall has started the closing process for their store a short six months after opening. The scheme was a way to put former Sears Mall buildings and a few former Kmarts to use as prospective tenants for this former mainline store, which closed in 2020, failed to step up. The closure was first reported to HHR by regular contributor Anonymous in Houston, who noticed a Google Review stating the store was closing. This rumor was confirmed by visiting the store and finding the yellow closing/clearance tags attached to all products. The closing does …
Keep readingRetail News: Biglari is back! – The return of Steak N Shake to Houston
The great fast food hamburger debate has so many sides: loyal Texans stumping for local Whataburger, west coast transplants singing the virtues of interloping In-N-Out, those squares who like Wendy’s. These sides have their merits, but I found my favorite fast food burger to be the midwestern-style steakburger, smashed flat with crispy edges, the cheese melted into the thin patty so completely that the two are practically an alloy. Specifically (and with apologies to Kansas-based Freddy’s and their many Houston-area locations), I came to love the steakburgers from Illinois-founded Steak N Shake. While it has long been an institution in …
Keep readingRetail News: Best Buy Outlet plans move across 249, towards Willowbrook Mall
Best Buy Outlet, currently located at 17713 Tomball Pkwy, Houston, TX 77064, has filed permits to remodel a former Toys ‘R Us building across Texas 249. This new space would allow the currently cramped store to expand. The Outlet store’s former space is a former Golf Galaxy location, which was once a larger part of the Venture Department store which once inhabited that block. Best Buy Outlet’s proposed move would not only net new space, but it would also put the store on the Willowbrook Mall side of the highway. Have a retail tip you want to share? …
Keep readingHow To Get in Touch
Recent Comments