Howdy folks, and welcome to another entry into what almost became truly “historic retail” in Houston, Fuddruckers! The beloved burger joint was saved at the last minute earlier this year. Luby’s Inc. who announced their intent to dissolve their company over a year ago had looked for but was unable to find a buyer for any of their restaurant chains. Fortunately, at what was truly the last minute, an offer was accepted by the company’s …
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Digging through the Photo Box: 1980s Houston Retail On Vintage Aerial
Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston Every so often, someone in the retail enthusiast community will stumble upon great sources of retail history in unlikely or hidden corners of the Internet. Loyal Houston Historic Retail readers will know that in just the last few months, we’ve managed to find a large repository of retail news videos clips at The Portal to Texas History website and we …
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Steak N Shake, Biglari Style
Over the recent Labor Day weekend, I found myself driving past Ennis. My wife and I both noticed a Steak N Shake sign we’d never seen before, which was a nice surprise as we’re fans of the restaurant. The sign was unusual, not only did it include the Steak N Shake logo, but also a small signature next to the company name. This location hadn’t been here the last time we passed through Ennis, which …
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A former Hartz Chicken in a former Burger King
Nowadays fast food restaurants, and many other retail outlets, are built with such little detail that you couldn’t tell them apart from their competitors with their branding. This isn’t just a coincidence either, bland styling easily allows buildings to be reused by other companies, and is often required in planned communities. This, however, was not the case back in the 70s and 80s when chains like BK and McDonald’s went on expansion streaks in major …
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Dining Out on Highway 6, a reflection on the dead restaurants near West Oaks Mall
Howdy folks and welcome to a companion piece for the Month of Malls. While not a full mall post, our center topic today are the dead restaurants near West Oaks Mall. These eateries are mostly adjacent to West Oaks Village Shopping Center, as opposed to the mall itself. However, let’s start off talking about full service eateries in West Oaks Mall. While the mall had its fair share of staple food court tenants, up until …
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Happy Birthday First Colony Mall, sorry we sorta forgot!
Editor’s Note: Today’s guest post, written by my favorite scincidae, billytheskink, is part two in our Month of Malls! Be sure to check out Part One! -Mike March 2021 came and went, and we failed to wish First Colony Mall well on its 25th birthday! Sincere apologies for this egregious oversight. Hopefully this belated happy birthday post full of photos and reminiscence (and also more photos!) from a Fort Bend County kid can in some …
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Permit Roundup: Slim Chickens inside the Loop, Taco’s A-Go-Go at Greenway, and a few more Village Medicals
Howdy folks, and welcome to another Permit Roundup! Unfortunately, last week, I ran out of time before I was able to complete the post, and it looks like I’m going to run into a similar issue again this week. While I won’t have time to write a full article, I do still have time to pull the data needed. I’m also included the interesting pieces that were skipped last week. I’m unfortunately going to be …
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Happy 40th Anniversary, Willowbrook Mall!
Editor’s Note: Today we begin Houston Historic Retail’s Month of Malls! Our 3 Wednesday posts will feature all new Mall content! Lets start off Part One with Northwestern Houston Resident Expert Anonymous in Houston! -Mike Those who have visited the Willowbrook Mall area in Northwest Houston know that several words can be used to describe the territory, but ‘sleepy’ is probably not one of them in current times. However, prior to the official opening of …
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What’s going on inside the vacant Luby’s and Fuddruckers in Cinco Ranch
Howdy Folks! Today we’re taking a look at a recently closed Luby’s/Fuddruckers Combo. This store at 24033 Cinco Ranch Blvd, Katy, TX 77494 represents the final generation of stores built, and was an older “new” location originally opening in 2014. This store was significant as being the second combo location to open, as the Fuddruckers deal was still relatively fresh at the time. During bankruptcy, this location was put up for sale. While both restaurants …
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Permit 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 …
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