Houston’s oldest operating Half Price Books location will soon likely be on the move to the Westchase Shopping Center. According to the Houston Chronicle, HPB leased space at 10915 Westheimer Rd, Houston, TX 77042. This portion of the shopping center was originally part of the mall space, between Target and Weingarten. The space to be developed into the bookstore has most recently been Spirit Halloween and Mattress One. Prior to this, it was a Shoe Carnival, originally serving as a Walgreens in the mall days, and for a few years after. Attempts by Houston Historic Retail to confirm the …
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Retail News: Final Vacant Carl’s Jr. buildings take on new feathers as Slim Chickens
Carl’s Jr. left Houston in early 2020 at the start of the pandemic. Down to just a few locations, and seemingly unable to find staffing over the past few years, Carl’s had a less than grand time in the Houston market. The chain had only been in the Houston market about 10 years before pulling the plug. Various locations have found one-off tenants, like a subdivided 24 Subway, or even Taco Bueno’s reentry into the Houston market. However, starting early last year, permits were filed for a single Slim Chickens location in a former Carl’s Jr. on S. Main, signaling …
Keep readingRetail News: Phonecia’s got company, as 99 Ranch Market lands ex-CompUSA spot
Howdy folks, and welcome back to HHR. In this week’s news brief 99 Ranch Market lands an anchor spot, on Westheimer, and Quiktrip prepares for its first Houston proper location. 99 Ranch Market lands former CompUSA spot on Westheimer across from Phonecia Nearly two months ago, I posted some photos to Facebook of the old CompUSA/Goodwill Computer Works spot on Westheimer near Kirkwood. The interior of the buildings was being gutted, and nearly every tenant had moved out. It was clear something was in the works, but no one knew what new anchor tenant landed in this spot. Sitting vacant …
Keep readingRetail News: Burlington likely to move out of Almeda Mall and Ollie’s makes plans for Friendswood Babies ‘R Us
Welcome to Retail News: This week we learn about a big tenant loss for Almeda Mall, a new Ollie’s Bargain Outlet pops up in a familiar location! Almeda Mall Burlington is likely to close as a new nearby store is being planned The Burlington (Coat Factory) at Almeda Mall has operated at Almeda Mall for just shy of 15 years at this point. The store opened in 2009 replacing JC Penney after they chose to relocate in 2006. While ambitions seemed to be for the space to end up subdivided between multiple tenants, only Burlington ever occupied the space. Their …
Keep readingRetail News: Randall’s in Sugar Land prepares to close as Sam’s Club in West Houston prepares to reopen
Edit: 5/3 Interested in following the status of the remaining Randall’s in Houston, then consider following Houston Historic Retail on Facebook or subscribe via email for updates! Welcome back to Houston Historic Retail, for another Retail News brief! This week we have some bad news for Randall’s fans and some good news for bulk shoppers on the West Side. Randall’s in Sugar Land prepares to close The headline this week is the announcement that Albertsons plans to shut their Randall’s location at 3346 Hwy 6 S, Sugar Land, TX 77478. The store which opened on November 14, 1982, traces its …
Keep readingRetail News: North Oaks Mall loses Half Price Books, but we gain Gordon Food Service stores in Houston
Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail. Today we have a brief news check-in! North Oaks Mall loses Half Price books, but re-signs Big Lots North Oaks Mall was recently put up for auction by the property owners. The former mall, now a shopping center, once housed interior corridors, and a larger number of shops. These days however, the tenant list is dwindling as more and more make their exit from North Oaks. With the impending sale of the shopping center, Half Price Books opted not to renew their lease, citing rising rent prices as their determining factor. …
Keep readingRetail News: Thompson’s Antique Center permanently closes, after new location falls through
Welcome back to Houston Historic Retail folks, today we have some very sad news and a photo dump of a very odd store. It Looks like the final end is in sight for Thompson’s Antique Center and no unfortunately this is not an April Fools joke. After their surprise going out of business sale last December, things looked up for the antique mall. A new location had been announced via Facebook, the former Louis Shank’s store at 2800 Fondren would provide ample space to house the large ranks of vendors the former JCPenney was able to fit. Over the next …
Keep readingRetail News: Circle K Quietly disposes of 4 Houston locations to newcomer Prime Spot
Strange things are afoot at a few Houston area Circle K locations as they begin to rebrand as Prime Spot. The brand is a new one, with their operations mainly consisting of wholesaling fuel prior to this point. Circle K made its reentry into Houston during a 2018 conversion spree, after purchasing the CornerStore chain of C-Stores in 2016, which had recently been spun off by Valero. Many of these Corner Store locations came from Diamond Shamrock’s acquisition of Stop n Go, with a good number of stores dating back to the 1970s as various independents. While some of these …
Keep readingAmazon to shutter two brick and mortar locations in Houston as part of company wide closures
As part of Amazon’s restructuring of their retail arm, two Houston area retailers will soon close their doors. Amazon Books and Amazon 4-Star will be phased out of Amazon’s brick-and-mortar operations. Each store has one branch in the Houston area. With Amazon Books at Baybrook Mall, and Amazon 4-Star in Deerbrook Mall. This will leave Amazon’s physical presence in Houston to only Whole Foods. Prior to the writing of this article, the Amazon-associated retailer I had stepped foot into had been Whole Foods. I had been plenty of times prior to the buyout as well, and never really developed a …
Keep readingMacy’s San Jacinto Mall location prepares to close by March for demolition of closed mall
Howdy readers, I have some sad, but not unexpected news today. The end is finally in sight for San Jacinto Mall. While this is a sad day for mall lovers everywhere, this has also been a long time coming, and almost everyone would agree that the property should be redeveloped rather than left to sit in the state it currently does. Originally envisioned back in 1978 by Paul Broadhead & Associates, a mall development company based out of Meridian, Mississippi. Broadhead had already made his mark on malls in Texas during the last decade. Originally getting his start in 1966, …
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