Houston Historic Retail

Houston’s newest Goodwill has finally arrived, as the thrift store holds its official Westchase grand opening this week. The long-awaited store, located at 10770 Westheimer Rd, Houston, TX 77042, has been in a soft opening phase since late April but has been planned for quite a while. Goodwill initially had a spot in the neighborhood, further up Westheimer at its intersection with Dairy Ashford. This store closed in early 2020 without explanation, and GFS now …

The last couple of years have been difficult for Deep discounters. Some of you may remember the Big Lots culling, which hit Houston late last year. Many of you are likely aware of Dollar Tree/Family Dollar’s plan to close 600 stores by year-end. Of course, the 99 Cents Only Stores chain plans to wrap up business by the end of May, which is now national news. It looks like we’re in a major shift for …

Walmart announced yesterday that it plans to completely shut down its chain of 51 clinics and a virtual care service that debuted only a few weeks ago. Walmart began opening the clinics in 2019, with the first in Georgia and Florida. Texas was seen as a growth market, and April 9th marked the start of four new locations around Houston. The plan was to provide primary care office visits, dental, labs, and x-rays under one …

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today, we’re looking at a former Gerlands and touching on the question of the future of dollar stores in Houston, given 99 Cents Only’s pending exit. We will get to that question, but let’s start with some history. The King Dollar at 2555 Gessner Rd, Houston, TX 77080, started life in 1969 as the newest branch of Gerland’s Food Fair. While the store is often misidentified as a …

Houston staple Pinkerton’s Barbecue announced recently that they’re in the works to bring the former home of 59 Diner back online as their newest location. The building, which is best remembered as either the long-term home of 59 Diner or its predecessor, Phil’s Restaurant, is actually much older than either. The structure was built in 1950 by Guy Francis, a known Houston restauranteur who operated it under various names, including Guy Francis’ Flame House. It …

Editor’s Note: Today’s photos come courtesy of  HHR Contributor billytheskink Rax Roast Beef is an interesting topic; they never operated in Houston but certainly came close. Chances are, as well, if you’re a retail fan and reading this, you’re at least somewhat aware of Rax’s existence. It’s one of the few stories to make it into the mainstream, and honestly, in my opinion, for the wrong reasons. For some background, Rax was founded as Jax …

It looks like the retail center housing long-time Upper Kirby favorites Avalon Diner and Shanghai River may soon be demolished for a 14-story office tower. The situation seems to have first come to light on HAIF last week. While the demolition of the building is not yet set, Trammel Crow and CBRE have launched a website detailing their plans for the tower, which include multiple offices, parking, and ground-floor retail. While this ground-floor retail includes …

Supermarket Decor is not something we have an excess of in Houston. In fact, in a talk with Randall Onstead, I had a while back, we discussed the declining role of style and looks in grocery. Randall expressed that there was a disconnect between the older generations, who valued looks and feel, and modern shoppers, who were price-conscious above anything else. The emphasis on everyday low prices means grocery shopping really isn’t what it once …

Just over a week after Bloomberg News wrote about 99 Cent Only Stores potentially filing bankruptcy, news has broken that the chain will instead window business complete sometime shortly. According to the Chain Store Age article that broke the news, liquidation sales are set to begin today at all 371 locations. Of these stores, 51 are located in Texas, making it 99 Cents Only’s second-largest market, behind its home state of California. The deep discounter …