Retail News: Big Lots closing Willowbrook store

Discounter Big Lots has recently announced the close of its 7323 Farm to Market 1960 Rd W, Houston, TX 77070 location. The location represents one of three in a 6-mile stretch of 1960 from Jones Road to Veterans Memorial. The store is the newest of the three, opening in 2011 in a former Toys ‘R Us, which had moved to a larger space adjacent to Willowbrook Mall. According to Big Lots, its recent store closures …

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There is no better way to close this series than with some nighttime Art Deco!

The Year of Kroger Closes with a Silver Anniversary Celebration of the River Oaks Art Deco Kroger

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos taken by Mike It is quite hard to believe that the end of the year 2023 is near! This means, of course, that The Year of Kroger series here at Houston Historic Retail is concluding with this post. I’ll reflect on The Year of Kroger series at the end of this post, but first we’ll discuss the …

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Retail News: Honey Farms replaces some Exxon Timewise locations

Editor’s Note: Shoutout to HHR Fan and contributor Jason McMillon, who provided the photos and information for this story! The franchised Timewise Exxon locations in Houston are finally starting to don a new name, Honey Farms. The change was not unexpected and was announced after 64 stations were acquired by Global Partners LP a few months ago as part of a larger shakeup of Timewise, which landed the company in the hands of Shell Oil. …

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A look at NewQuest’s plan to “WoW” Houston

Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Historic Retail! Today, we’re taking a quick look at arguably the most prominent development in Houston right now, West on West. WoW, as it’s abbreviated, is a project spearheaded by local developer NewQuest, which looks to redevelop a forty-year-old shopping center on Westheimer. Their plan came to light over a year ago with the announcement of a new 99 Ranch Market in the shopping center. While the full …

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Retail News: The first Timewise removal appears to be underway

It has been reported to HHR that what is likely one of the first cases of Timewise rebranding is getting underway on the Northwest side of town. The transition is not unexpected and has been openly mentioned since Shell acquired Timewise from local ownership in June 2022. Since Timewise was mainly composed of Shell and Exxon outlets, the company split itself along those lines and sold its 64 Exxon stores to Global Partners earlier this …

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The Randalls that helped rewrite two corporate histories

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today, we’re looking at an ex-Randalls that had an interesting impact on two different chains. The location we’re checking out today is at 1804 W 43rd St, Houston, TX 77018, and has roots all the way back in 1964, when the building first opened as a Randalls. However, it’s not the chain you’re thinking of, but the first iteration of Randalls. This would be their seventh store and …

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Random Retail: Foodarama Follies, Vintage BK at night and Wok D’Lite!

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to HHR! Today, we’re taking it easy as we slide into Thanksgiving with another Random Retail! Even though my last Random Retail wasn’t that long ago, I feel I should key new readers in. These Random Retail posts are photos that were taken without a post in mind, but I still feel they are worth sharing. There’s not much to say story-wise with most of these, but sit back, relax, …

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Retail News: Kitchen United Mix closes their Houston Kroger outpost

After about a year and a half of operation, the ghost kitchen inside the N Shepherd & 11th Kroger has called it quits. Kitchen United Mix first announced a partnership with Kroger in 2021, with a location opening in a Los Angeles Ralph’s in early 2022. The Houston location was the first of two in Texas and the first specifically in a Kroger; the second in the state would be in Dallas. Upon opening in …

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This was the Sam's entrance on the left, and a closed entrance for Garden Ridge, who reused a portion of the food court for themselves.

Another life long dead mall the Southwest Deauville Fashion Mall

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to HHR. In this post, we’re looking at another one of the former Deauville Fashion Malls, which has spent the last 20 years hidden in plain sight. Before we dive into the Southwest Deauville Mall in the tiny town of Meadows, let’s first talk about the history of Deauville in general. The Deauville Corporation was founded in the early 1970s to build apartments to keep up with the steadily rising …

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Although, overall the shape and layout remains much the same.

Burger House Episode 2: The one in Spring

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today, we’re going back to Burger House. No, not the one we went to a few weeks ago, still operating as a Church’s Chicken, but rather a decommissioned location in Spring (1609 Spring Cypress Rd, Spring, TX 77388). This is the second of three Burger Houses we’ll be visiting, and in today’s post, I want to expand a bit on what I feel are some of the issues …

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