Houston Historic Retail

Houston-based grocer Food Town will depart from a longtime location at 1700 Decker Dr, Baytown, TX 77520 this weekend. The building that Food Town is leaving was originally a Globe department store location, with an attached grocery store operated by Rice. After Globe closed, the building was used by local grocer T.D. O’Brien Jr., who in 1982 opened a Superwarehouse Foods location in a portion of the store. The remains of the massive structure were …

Dunkin’ recently opened a new location on the outskirts of Houston. Located at 5320 FM 1463, Fulshear, TX 77441, this location is one of the first planned non-conventional drive-thru sites in the area. The Fulshear location has the distinction of being the first in a converted Salad & Go location. The Fulshear Salad & Go closed a few months before the rest of the chain left Houston to undergo this renovation. The building was slightly …

Howdy folks, and welcome back to HHR. Initially, this was going to be a news post, but the details here are so scant that we’re keeping it in the general blog category. While browsing through permits recently, I noticed some prep work is underway at Katy Mills Mall, involving what appear to be plans for a Dick’s Sporting Goods concept. While I don’t think it’s going to be a Dick’s, and will explain why in …

Target’s newest location in the Houston area will hold its grand opening on Sunday, October 18th. Located at 12565 Arc Ln, Stafford, TX 77477, this store is one of the final major anchors for The Grid. The project is in the midst of redeveloping the former Texas Instruments complex as mixed-use housing, retail, and entertainment. While Target can be argued for both retail and entertainment, a movie theater has been proposed to join the freeway …

Howdy folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today, we’re taking a look at the final standing Carl’s Jr. location in our area, note “final standing”, not final operating, because this restaurant was short-lived. The restaurant located at 5410 Grand Pkwy, Richmond, TX 77407, only made it about a year and a half before shutting down. Those who remember Carl’s Jr. in Houston might recall that the chain started pretty on top of things. Good food, …

Kroger will soon close its location at 13133 Veterans Memorial Dr, Houston, TX 77014, near Bammel North Houston Road. This store opened in 1981 and was featured in a post here in HHR back in 2023. According to reports online, November 8th will be the final day for this location. Kroger has closed four stores in the Houston area so far this year. Starting with a location in The Woodlands, followed by one in Dickinson, …

The number of simultaneous bookstores under construction is the highest it has been in Houston in years, with six new stores currently planned across the city. The stores consist of an even split of locations by Books-A-Million and Barnes & Noble. This push into the city would more appropriately be labeled a push into the suburbs, as all but one of these stores lack a Houston address. BAM is making its second attempt to expand …

Two Krogers, located at 9325 Katy Fwy, Houston, TX 77024, and 2300 Gessner Rd, Houston, TX 77080, closed earlier than initially expected. The closings were first announced last month and were originally slated to occur on September 30th. According to reader reports, the stores were already relatively low on merchandise by the middle of September. The Katy Freeway location closed last weekend, and the Gessner location closed shortly after. These locations are the third and …

Seven Jack in the Box locations across the Houston area have closed over the past month. The locations were all operated by the same franchisee and may have closed as part of a larger restructuring announced by Jack in the Box earlier this year. The plan aims to close 150-200 locations nationwide, meant to right the ship of a listing burger chain. As reported by Chron.com over a month ago, Jack in the Box has …