Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail! Today, we’re doing something I generally try to avoid by rehashing an old topic, Layne’s Chicken Fingers, or the A&M Version of Raising Canes. To make it a bit unique, we are visiting the “Layne’s Express” on Ella. To make a long story short, Layne’s was the first “chicken finger restaurant” to open up in Texas. The history of chicken finger chains is pretty deep; it …
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Retail News: Town & Country Village Barnes & Noble to temporarily close for downsizing
The Barnes & Nobles location at 12850 Memorial Dr. Suite 1600, Houston, TX 77024, located in the Town & Country Village Shopping Center, will temporarily close by February 18th to start a remodeling. According to new site plans released for the shopping center, this will shrink the bookstore down by approximately 8,000 Square Feet. The front left corner of the store will be most affected. The Starbucks portion will be split into its own space …
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Houston’s TGI Fridays closings go deeper than the two reported locations
Thank God It’s Friday! Today, we’re covering the recent closings of multiple TGI Friday’s locations in Houston. If you’ve paid attention to any national news lately, then it shouldn’t come as a surprise that TGI Friday’s closed 36 restaurants, two of which were in Houston (shoutout to HHR reader Kirk who was the first person to share a location list with the Houston location in it). These closing lists have been making headlines for years. …
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A Look Back at Houston Retail in January 2014 with Anonymous in Houston’s Photo Collection
Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston Happy new year, Houston Historic Retail readers! Today’s topic is a bit of a random retail post. Those of you familiar with my guest blog posts here at HHR know that while I enjoy discussing retail history, I am not much of a retail photographer. The wonderful retail photographers out there deserve a lot of credit for their skill in …
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We need to talk about La Michoacana
Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail. Today, we’re taking a deep dive into what might arguably be Houston’s largest grocer, La Michoacana El Ahorro, Sellers Bros, Arlans, et al. For those of you wondering why I’m taking on what you might consider a “small fry” in the Houston grocery market, hold on to your butts unless you work for LMM; this company is bigger than you think. Before we start, I have …
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CVS goes on an AARP Approved Diet in Northwest Houston
Howdy folks, Happy New Year, and welcome back to HHR! Today, we have something brand new: the beginning of a CVS experiment in Houston. The skinny on this “CVS Diet” is that it appears to be the first of many planned conversions of CVS stores into Oak Street Health Clinics. The plan’s start in Houston is coincidental, as Walgreens began a similar experiment here in 2019. However, Walgreen’s commitment to the area was more tied …
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2023 The Year of Kroger, and so much more on HHR!
Howdy folks, and welcome to the only publication this week for HHR and the last of 2023. Today, we’re going to take a brief look back at some of the posts we had in 2023 before regularly scheduled programming returns next week in 2024! This was a banner year for Houston Historic Retail. Readership and commenting are up, as is social media engagement. Everything, really! Before we start, I have to give a couple of …
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Retail News: Houston nets two new Asian grocers on the West Side
99 Ranch Market and Seafood City opened new Houston-area locations last week. Both stores are established specialty Asian grocers based in California, with large followings of loyal fans. While they share many similarities, there are some stark differences between the two chains. 99 Ranch Market is a broad Asian market importing products from many different countries and cultures but mostly focuses on mainland Asia. On the other hand, Seafood City primarily focuses on Filipino products …
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Retail News: Arlan’s Markets purchased by owner of La Michoacana
Rafel Ortega, owner of La Michoacana Meat Market, among other grocery chains, purchased the 15-store chain last week, according to the Galveston Daily News. Arlan’s was the brainchild of Ames Arlan, who was already a veteran of Cox’s Foodarama when he set out to open his first store in the Seabrook area. For the most part, Arlan’s focused on smaller communities along the South side of the Houston area, taking over when other independent grocers …
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Pasadena Town Square Mall 2023 Update
Howdy, folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today, we’re taking a final look for the year at the former Pasadena Town Square Mall. These days known as Marcoplaza Mall, after an ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to rebrand the mall. To recap a small amount of a complex history, Pasadena Town Square took years to come to fruition. The mall was anchored by a Foley’s that was freestanding for years. While the mall was planned …
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