Houston Historic Retail

10/26/2025

Hands up if you remember shopping at Kmart!

This photo from the HHR archives shows a Kmart located on Mason just South of I-10. This store was the last Kmart built in Houston. It opened in 1999 and lasted just until 2003 when Kmart left Houston altogether. It's hard sometimes to believe that Kmart has been gone from Houston for over 20 years, and even harder to think that they're pretty much gone.

Kmart arrived in Houston in 1962 and lasted forty years before succumbing to intense competition. Specifically, Walmart and Target had a presence that proved hard for Kmart to overcome. Kmart's own troubles quickly led it to become a third-tier store in a market that really could not support one.

Want more details on Kmart's history here? https://houstonhistoricretail.com/department-stores/kmart/

10/26/2025

I drove by Katy Mills Mall and Primark is certainly coming along. This is an Irish department store, with locations in El Paso and McAllen currently.

10/25/2025

I checked out the new Target in Stafford, which just opened last weekend. It’s a pretty cool-looking store with some updates that I really like. The store features a standard Target layout, with a left entrance. The grocery store is located on the right side as you enter. The store's entrance sits a little to the left of center, so you enter the store just next to the beauty area. The store does have a CVS, but I didn't see an Ulta.

The grocery at the location was expanded compared to a typical new P-Fresh. It’s not quite at Super Target levels, but it’s better stocked and laid out than a standard store. It also features a built-in cooler, something I’ve never seen in a Super Target. The store has excellent lighting, and the drop ceiling feels nice. I also liked the lighted aisle markers. The front end was really cool. The open ceiling felt very natural, and the light bars are pretty cool. The glass facade and Starbucks make for a very cool-looking store.

All in all, I think this is a good show of Target's store design ability. The store looks very much like you’d expect a rendering to come out. What do y’all think?

10/24/2025

Hey, you know it’s gonna be a good day at work when the James Coney Island, Coney Cruiser stops by for lunch! A coney and tots sounds like the perfect Friday lunch, and it’s even better that JCI brings it to you! Thanks to Ty Jacobsen for sharing these photos! I have seen the Coney Cruiser on the road but never in action, and wondered if they had tots. Looks like I’ve got my answer now!

10/24/2025

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....

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…

10/23/2025

You know how they say you can never go home again. Well, that's true, but given the right circumstances, you can certainly emulate the feeling of going home again. These photos are a throwback to 2014, but rather from this summer. This is actually the Dallas Micro Center!

The layout of the store is a pretty exact copy of the Houston location, which makes sense since the two opened within days of each other in 1997. It was much closer than the Columbus location I visited a few years ago.

It's an odd sensation walking through a place you haven't been in over 10 years. Somewhat nostalgic, and somewhat befuddling at the same time. Thinking back to the gaming department and how much time I spent there, and how it seemed so much bigger back in the day.

As with any other Micro Center trip, I couldn't help myself and ended up buying something. A small sub-$100 "crapbook" that I needed for the journey I was on. As strange as it may seem, the nostalgia of going through the old front end, remembering where the shareware $1 CDs were, was almost worth the cost of the netbook alone.

10/22/2025

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....

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…

10/21/2025

Here’s a weird throwback, 7 Pie Pizza. If you missed them, 7 Pie popped up in Houston in November 2022. Their creation seems to have responded to a major Church’s Chicken franchisee in Houston having their franchise revoked. The franchisee in question, David Davoudpour, also owns Shoney’s.

This spot on Westheimer between Kirkwood and Dairy Ashford had started initially as a Shoney’s Express, a short-lived concept that tried to apply drive-thru service to the chain. It was replaced shortly after by a Church’s Chicken, which operated into 2022.

Sometime after the summer of 2022, this and a few other ex-Church’s locations transitioned into 7 Pue. The concept was that one could get an entire pizza or a combo for $7. In addition to pizza, 7 Pie also sells chicken tenders and fries. There were plans to convert any possible ex-Church’s but these were never fulfilled. 7 Pie lasted a few months at this location, with maybe only 5 locations around Houston; they quietly faded away in early 2023.

Despite leaving Houston, 7 Pie appears to have a single location in Georgia, which has a much broader menu, including hamburgers. Do any of y’all remember 7 Pie’s brief stay in Houston?

More info on this building: https://houstonhistoricretail.com/2022/11/18/shoneys-houston-experiments-from-churchs-chicken-to-cheap-pizza/

10/21/2025

Did you know that Slick Willie’s on Westheimer in Montrose was Houston’s first Minimax location? This store opened in 1931 and was preceded by locations in the Brazos Valley area. The building has remained largely unchanged since its days as Minimax. One of the most interesting pieces to me is the original brick driveway left between the edge of the street and the parking lot.

While many physical aspects remain the same, many other things have changed about and around this building. Montrose is no longer a suburb on the edge of town. The area around the former grocery store no longer has the town square appeal it once did, and of course, the grocery store is now a pool hall. That said, it’s still neat to see this building remain.

More history: https://houstonhistoricretail.com/grocery/minimax/

10/20/2025

With Halloween coming up, is anyone planning on dressing up like scary Wendy? No, this part of it isn’t their cross-promo for Wednesday! Something happened with the printing of these older Wendy’s decals, which has caused them to degrade over the years. This location at 290 and Bingle has since replaced its signs, but others exist across Houston.

10/19/2025

I was in search of cheap Chinese food once again, and reading tips led me to Happy Lamp Restaurant. Located at the corner of Hillcroft and S Braeswood, this place has been here quite a while. Stepping inside is like stepping back in time.

The food was delicious and low-priced. We got two lunch specials, and the total was under $20! We got garlic chicken and mandarin chicken. The garlic chicken was slightly spicy and full of veggies. The mandarin chicken was sweeter than regular orange chicken, but very good. The meals also come with soup and an egg roll. We both had egg drop soup, which was delicious and full of eggs. The egg rolls were also very fresh.

Overall, I get why Happy Lamp has been around for so long. It’s good food at a good price. The place was a little empty for lunch on a Sunday, but the customers who were there were mostly long-time visitors. If you’re in the area, show Happy Lamp a little love!

10/18/2025

Since I was in the area, I stopped by the new Quik Trip in Katy. It’s right across the freeway from Buc-ee’s. The gas was cheap, the store was well stocked, and for the first time ever, I tried their breakfast. I got a sausage biscuit, and it was the star of the show. It's probably about twice as big as McDonald’s and, to me, better tasting.

Being so close to Buc-ee’s, this store makes me consider what would have happened if they had continued their suburban expansion. In the 2000s, before Buc-ee’s got into mega travel centers, they were building small to medium suburban stores. Most in Houston were on the south side, with one in Tomball and another in Richmond. I don’t think Buc-ee’s would have ended up as a clone of QuikTrip, but we in Texas would have likely been pretty receptive to that type of expansion.