Greetings readers, I have some sad news for you as we approach the end of the year. Northwest Mall’s final retail tenant, Thompson’s Antique Center, is set to close their doors for the last time December 31st. The shutdown comes with little notice to the public, and a similarly small amount of heads up for vendors. After speaking with one vendor at the antique center, they supposedly received only about a month’s worth of notice. The space occupied by the antique center is as of 2021 the only retailer still operating out of what was once Northwest Mall. While a …
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Retail News: Remarkable! Randalls Returns to Card Free Savings
Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston Here’s some recent retail news that I found to be quite remarkable! For the first time in almost exactly 25 years, Randalls shoppers no longer need to have a Randalls Remarkable Card, or the Safeway Club Card equivalent, to get most sale prices. I was recently reading some new posts at the Retail Watchers forum recently when I came across a post from someone indicating that their Randalls store in Austin was advertising that the card was no longer necessary to get sale prices. After …
Keep readingThere’s news round the corner! Gas Station coming to Former Walgreens Highway 6 and Westheimer
Howdy Folks, and welcome back to some retail news at the corner of Highway 6 and Westheimer. It seems that two shopping centers, at the crossroads, are coming closer to 100% occupancy again for the first time in nearly 20 years! This intersection has long been considered to essentially be a no-mans lands in terms of retail. Beyond West Oaks Mall’s initial success which is long gone, the two power centers sitting catty corner both managed to maintain decent tenancy, but have more recently struggled. With the Village at West Oaks (Northwest Corner) losses included longtime anchors Barnes & Noble …
Keep readingRetail News: Costco Business Center grand opening October 20th
Howdy folks, and welcome back to another edition of Retail News! With the grand opening of Ollie’s Bargain Outlet in Houston slowly fading in the mirror, our next big grand opening of the year is coming up. It seems that the Houston area’s first Costco Business Center, is nearly ready to open. We first learned the chain had eyes on Houston in April of this year, and we now have the planned October 20th grand opening date within reach. Checking the store out over the previous weekend, I found refrigerated trailers which were likely delivering fresh groceries, which is normally …
Keep readingPermit Roundup: Sugar Factory Express is coming to Houston, and Memorial City Target remodels
Howdy Folks, I hope Monday is treating you well so far! As far as new permits go this week, we’re not seeing too much but what we do have is yummy, so we’ll start with the new end with the old. Sugar Factory Express has filed a demolition permit for the space they’re moving into in Galleria I. If you’re like me, then you’ve probably never heard of Sugar Factory, much less their Express variant. So let’s talk a moment how this place ended up in the title this week. Sugar Factory seems to be an experiment in excess, it’s …
Keep readingRetail News: Costco Business Center sets a grand opening date, while Ollie’s Bargain Outlet stalls
Welcome back folks, it’s been a bit since our last news update, and as per usual not much too crazy has gone on in that time. So let’s start off by checking on some older bits of information. We first became aware of Costco’s Entry into Stafford’s GRID development (the former Texas Instrument Plant) back in 2020. The store was to replace what was originally intended to be an interactive driving range in the style of Top Golf. While the removal of this large entertainment piece throws a wrench into the mixed used intents of the space, you’re sure to …
Keep readingPermit Roundup: New chains, meet old locations
Howdy, folks, and welcome back to another edition of Permit Roundup! Today we’re taking a look at a few retail developments throughout the Houston area. Let’s start off with some newcomers to town. It seems that the Post Oak California Pizza Kitchen, who closed their Texas outlets during a COVID induced bankruptcy, may be host to a new restaurant. Il Braco, a noteworthy Dallas Italian restaurant, has filed remodel permits at 1705 Post Oak Boulevard after announcing their intent to build a second location in Houston. While this is a few digits of CPK’s address, the only other vacant restaurant …
Keep readingPermit Roundup: P.F. Chang’s on the move from Highland Village
P.F. Changs on the move from Highland Village, and other new restaurants In 1996 P.F. Chang’s was a four restaurant chain, with 3 restaurants in Southern California, and one in Scottsdale, AZ. The same year executives, including some former Brinker folks, set their eyes on Houston for their first restaurant in Texas, and while I can’t confirm it, I believe this may have been the 5th location ever. The restaurant was built into new space at 4094 Westheimer Rd, Houston, TX 77027 expanding into what had once been a road connection into the neighborhood behind. However, it seems that 25 …
Keep readingEye on “The Ion” an inside look at the former Midtown Sears
Editor’s Note: Today’s post comes to us from friend of the blog, and frequent commenter, billytheskink. While he self describes as a lizard, I find his writing to be vibrant as a Macaw. As a reader of a blog about historic Houston retail, you no doubt know that Rice University’s planned renovation of the former Midtown Sears at 4201 Main St. into a hub for innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship has been well underway. The centerpiece of what was originally dubbed as the “Midtown Innovation District”, the building is now being referred to as “The Ion” and the surrounding area (including …
Keep readingPermit Roundup: Visitors abound: Mr. Potato drops in from New Orleans, and Happy Lemon from China!
Newcomers enter into Houston Howdy, folks, and welcome back to our regularly scheduled Permit Roundup! This week seems to have been relatively quiet as far as new filings go. However, we do have a few standouts, so let’s start with those. Two “out of town” restaurants have filed permits to build locations in Houston. One of these is Mr. Potato. The restaurant concept was born over in New Orleans originally as a food truck, opening their first brick and mortar location in 2020. An article earlier this year from Nola.com gives a good rundown on the chain, but the idea …
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