Category: Random Retail

Howdy folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today, we’re taking a look at Sam’s Club Now up in Dallas. Located at 2218 Greenville Ave, Dallas, TX 75206, this store has a notable history and an even more fascinating present. Before we dive into exactly what Sam’s Club Now is, let’s get started with a bit of history. The store originally opened as a Safeway in October 1967, replacing an older, still-standing location that dates back …

Wienerschnitzel has a complicated relationship with the Houston area. They arrived here in 1966, only five years after the chain was established in California. They were here consistently from the 60s to 1984, and other than a few co-branding attempts, didn’t attempt a return until 2019. When the first new location opened in New Caney, the franchisees had ambitious plans to build out 32 locations across the area over the next 15 years. We’re now …

FYE closed its single Houston location in Katy Mills Mall last week, ending the chain’s local presence for the second time. What would eventually become FYE opened its first Texas store at the Galleria in 1992. It was marketed under the dual names Record Town and Saturday Matinee and was one of many chains trying to corner the market in both media sales and rentals at the time. The company would continue to grow by …

Happy New Year, Houston Historic Retail Readers! Today, we’re going to take a moment to reflect on 2025. Hopefully, this past year went well for you. It was a good one for HHR. Readership of the website has remained steady, with occasional spikes and dips in blog views, but traffic has been sustained via Google and link building. The HHR Facebook account has been highly active over the past year, recently reaching 14,000 followers and …

Willowbrook Mall is close to having all of its anchor space in use, with the recent opening of Round1. The arcade is one of two tenants to redevelop the former Sears space. European clothing retailer Primark is currently renovating a smaller portion of the same building, with plans to open early 2026. The building, which Round1 and Primark now occupy, opened in 1981 alongside the mall, which Sears helped develop. The Sears closed in 2020, …

After several date changes and multiple setbacks, Houston gains a new Trader Joe’s today at 9715 Towne Lake Pkwy Cypress, TX 77433. The store was permitted earlier this year and was initially projected to open closer to Thanksgiving, but it received an unofficial early-December opening date that came and went. After a few more delays seemingly related to occupancy permits, Trader Joe’s website finally reported an official date, December 17th. Beyond the construction challenges, the store …

The city of Bellaire announced yesterday that Trader Joe’s has officially decided to come to Bellaire. The store will be located at 5130 Bellaire Blvd, Bellaire, TX 77401. The building began as a Weingarten’s location in 1959 and was sold to Safeway, along with multiple other locations, in 1984. After a few years under AppleTree‘s ownership, the store was acquired by Randalls in 1994. The store operated continuously as a grocery store until Randalls closed …

Editor’s Note: The following post is one of a handful from my summer vacation. Howdy folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today we’re taking a stop along our route to Santa Fe. This is a special store for me, as I’ve wanted to visit for at least 5 years. Located at 1000 W 11th St, Quanah, TX 79252, I’m willing to bet most of my readers haven’t ever even heard of Quanah. For reference, Qaunah …

Fast casual Tex-Mex chain Taco Cabana quietly closed six Houston locations over the past month. The restaurant chain was founded in 1978 in San Antonio and has been through quite a few owners since the founding family took the company public in the early 90s. Around 2001, Taco Cabana was taken private after Carrols Restaurant Group purchased it. The chain was paired with Florida-based Pollo Tropical from the former Fiesta Restaurant Group, which would be …