Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail. Today, we’re visiting the Ollie’s in the former Babie’s ‘R Us at across from Baybrook Mall. The last time we saw the inside of this store, it was the short-lived Dick’s Warehouse Sale. Ollie’s Bargain Outlet has since remodeled the building, removing most remaining traces of BRU, except for the flooring. They have also embiggened the floor space, adding room for mattresses and box springs. This location is the second Ollie’s to open in the immediate Houston area, so far, my favorite one. I, unfortunately, have to admit that I was …
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Sprouts ‘R Us ten years with Houston’s newest natural grocer
Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail! Today we’re taking a look at a grocer never before featured on HHR, Sprouts Farmers Market. For those not in the know, Sprouts is a natural grocer, a little bit different from Whole Foods. First entering Texas in 2005, Sprout’s stores are smaller than the competition and have almost no focus on non-grocery selection, with exception of a small assortment of HBA products. This “laser focus” Sprouts uses brings in what I would argue is a bit more diverse crowd than Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. While you won’t find 12 …
Keep readingVintage Ads: Celebrating the 1971 Grand Opening of Braeswood Square
Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston This edition of Vintage Ads will take us back to the grand opening of the Braeswood Square shopping center near Bellaire in Southwest Houston. Braeswood Square’s grand opening was on July 8, 1971 and we’ll be looking at various ads from the July 7, 1971 edition of The Bellaire Texan newspaper which is freely available to read at The Portal to Texas History website. Braeswood Square has been in the news here at Houston Historic Retail in the recent past as the last Belden’s supermarket …
Keep readingRetail News: Ollie’s Bargain Outlet starts to emerge in Friendswood
Deep Discounter, Ollie’s Bargain Outlet first laid its eyes on the Texas market in 2018 with the opening of a distribution center. The next few years saw Ollie’s popping up mostly in former Toys ‘R Us locations throughout the country, a few in Texas. By early 2021, the retailer had already opened a branch in Clute and was starting work on their first location in Houston. The Jones Road Ollie’s would open in November of last year to a warm, somewhat quiet reception. The new store is receiving a bit more attention thanks to its prominent location in a former …
Keep readingDick’s Warehouse Sale, Grand Opening, Now Closing! With special appearance by Babies ‘R Us!
Howdy folks, welcome back! A few months ago in February, Dick’s Sporting Good’s announced they were planning on expanding a new concept to Houston with Dick’s Warehouse Sale. The location opened in Friendswood on February 17, 2021. According to the original press release, which has since been deleted by Dick’s, the stores were intended to be “temporary pop-up shop” experiences, with discounts up to 70%. I had known about the new store for quite some time, but hadn’t made the time to visit. I happened to be in the area taking other photos, not planning on covering this store but …
Keep readingKids’ Kounty: Goodness Grace-ious, What a Toy Store!
Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston If I told you, the loyal Houston Historic Retail reader, that a retailer opened a toy store that made the typical Toys R Us seem quaint by combining the typical big-box toy store with a children’s clothing/shoe store, a youth furniture store, a pet store, a photo studio, a full-service bicycle shop, a hobby shop, and a nationally-known fast food restaurant in a building that is larger than typical supermarkets of the time, you’d probably think that this toy store opened during some point between …
Keep readingDigging 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 also found a large collection of retail annual reports at the Internet Archive. Friend of the HHR blog and fellow retail blogger South Texas Retail …
Keep readingWho’s living in Geoffry’s House now? The Houston Galleria Toys ‘R Us Failure
Howdy folks! I know if you’re here than by now, you know what to expect mostly retail from my blog, but today’s topic is probably one you’re familiar with even if you don’t follow retail goings-on. The bankruptcy of Toys ‘R Us took almost everyone by surprise back in 2018 (can you believe it was 3 years ago?!). Not to reiterate the entire story, but the situation that landed TRU in bankruptcy put them in a strange situation where their parent company could continue to operate and a licensee and even owner for some of their foreign stores. Almost as …
Keep readingRandom Retail: Two out of place Big Box Retailers, and Two former Burger Joints
Welcome folks, today we’ve got another edition of Random Retail! This week we have a heavy emphasis on a former Wal-Mart, but not enough that it warrants its own post. If you’ve never experienced Random Retail before, well it’s basically a dump of photos I’ve taken that don’t really fit in with anything else I’m doing at the moment. A good portion of these Random Retail photos come from former Wal-Mart #597 at 7075 FM 1960 W., Houston, TX 77069. I had originally planned to go a bit more in-depth on the location, but found myself lacking any good photos …
Keep readingThrough the Annals: A Guide to Retail History in Annual Reports
Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston Researching the operations of a publicly traded company here in the 21st century is most certainly not a very difficult thing. After all, there are numerous reports about companies available through their own websites and through various websites that can all be accessed very quickly. However, those who were around before the rise of the World Wide Web might remember that it was quite difficult to obtain information about companies back in the day. One thing which could be requested from libraries or by contacting …
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