Houston Historic Retail

06/24/2026

On the west side of town, hidden behind the trees, is the remains of an untouched Krispy Kreme.

This location was part of the doughnut chain's return to Houston. It opened in late 2015 and served as both a storefront and a commissary, frying donuts for local grocery stores.

Krispy Kreme’s franchisee in Houston never achieved the expansion the company had been looking for and sold his stores to the company that ran the locations in San Antonio and Austin (if you have any memory of the Bug Red doughnut that was them)

Around 2020, Krispy Kreme corporate began buying up franchisees as part of a failed plan to reorient operations. Ultimately, this would never work out and would result in the closing of all but two of the Krispy Kreme locations in our area.

After closing, most of the restaurants have been redeveloped, except for this one, which continues to sit and rot.

What’s your favorite doughnut?

06/23/2026

I took these photos last weekend after the rain died down. It’s sad to see what was once a bustling grocery store essentially left to rot. Even more sad is that this store has a very unique story.

Originally a Safeway, this building replaced an older store in the same shopping center. As a Safeway, this was a prototype store. It was the first use in Houston of a new design that would eventually roll out in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.

A unique feature of this store was the off-center layout; everything was diagonally centered around the central service departments. The store also featured a bank branch, a rare amenity when it opened in the 80s.

So why did this type of store never take off? Well, shortly after its debut, Safeway was in hot water. They had to dodge a hostile takeover attempt and immediately cut expenses. That meant that this prototype, which was potentially called “Food Emporium,” was cut.

When AppleTree was spun off from Safeway, they did intend to use this new design, and you could see it at the sister Echo Lane location of Safeway/Kroger.

Now this building awaits its future. Grocery could return here, but it’s not super likely either. Whatever comes will likely destroy much of the facade and interior of this otherwise untouched old Safeway.

What would you like to see replace this old Kroger at Gessner and Hammerly?

06/22/2026

Why yes, I did bring my reusable Trader Joe’s bag to the Bellaire HEB. Why do you ask? 😂

Work on the new Bellaire TJs is fast underway, but this buildout might take a bit longer than you expect since they’re starting from the ground up. I would not expect this store to open much earlier than the spring of next year. Thankfully, in the meantime, you can get a birds-eye view from the two-story HEB next door.

Where would you like to see new Trader Joe’s locations?

06/21/2026

Why is Applebee’s replacing Fuddruckers? That sounds like an odd question to ask, but two ex-Fuddruckers in the Houston area are currently being renovated from a dead restaurant chain to one on life support.

Fuddruckers, which was part of Luby’s until being spun off in 2021. Under new ownership, the company struggled to operate its own stores and closed most of its Texas locations, including these two, in the early 2020s.

So how did Applebee's get into the mix? Well, all evidence actually points to Fuzzy’s Taco Shop scouting out these locations. In fact, the first steps of renovations on the Kingwood location were done with Fuzzy’s on the permits.

So what happened to Fuzzy’s? Well, their owners, who also own IHOP and Applebee's, seem a little gun-shy about Fuzzy’s. After a few years of failed expansion plans, it’s not unreasonable for the owners to pick a slightly stronger brand than Fuzzy’s.

Long-term, Applebee’s will likely attract a similar crowd to Fuddruckers. Still, at a company where the biggest innovation going on is co-branding Applebee's and IHOP, you do wonder how bright the future is.

What would you like to see happen with the remaining former Fuddruckers?

06/21/2026

🚨 Retail News 🚨

Work is once again proceeding at the old Bear Creek Fiesta, on Highway 6 at Clay. Crews working inside the building included a refrigeration company. Permits were filed a while back to build out this space for a Fiesta store, and I think that’s what we might be seeing here. While I’m not positive it’s Fiesta, it’s sure looking like this space will end up a grocery.

What would you like to see come to this space?

06/19/2026

🚨 Retail News 🚨

Value World (formerly known as Value Village) will soon open a new location in Northwest Houston. Located at the corner of FM 529 and Barker Cypress, this building was originally home to a prototype HEB location.

After HEB left the building, it sat vacant for years, until Planet Fitness took over about half of it in 2016. The rear of the former has remained vacant until earlier this year, when work began.

While we don’t have an ETA for the grand opening, based on my visit, we’re getting close. The store's build-out is progressing, with crews working on electrical when I was there.

06/19/2026

Here’s a slightly out-of-date look at the new Joe V’s in Humble. Work is underway to refit the building to HEB’s needs. For those not in the know, Joe V’s is owned by HEB. They have lower prices in exchange for a more limited selection.

Where would you like to see new grocery stores?

06/19/2026

A more in-depth look at the development and remains of Westwood Mall

Howdy folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today's post covers a topic you may have already seen covered by me. If you follow me on Facebook, you likely saw my recent post about returning to Westwood Mall (in fact, those who follow me on Patreon saw it even earlier). Today, we're going to dive a bit deeper into my return, looking at more photos and expanding on the mall's development....

Howdy folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today’s post covers a topic you may have already seen covered by me. If you follow me on Facebook, you likely saw my recent post about returning to Westw…

06/17/2026

Here’s a bit of a throwback, back to 2024 and the final days of 99 Cents Only Stores. First, a little history: this was the Rosenberg location, which I am quite familiar with. It was originally a Weingarten’s, and was sold off to Schepps Grocery when they went under.

Over the next few years, we’d see a couple of independent stores here before Stanley Stores picked it up for Price-Lo. While they lasted longer than the other independents, they would go bankrupt and close up around 1997.

The building sat vacant for quite a while, and when 99 Cents Only started looking at Texas, this was an easy sell for them. The California-based company had been expanding East, and was in talks to buy Albertsons' huge new warehouse in Katy.

In Houston and Dallas, these early 99 Cents Only Stores filled vacant grocery store spaces. With the chain carrying a selection of fresh groceries, it was actually beneficial to the community.

While it started out selling everything for 99 Cents, inflation soon caught up with a company that had set prices in 1982, and items costing more than a dollar were added to the mix. Balancing prices was the challenge of the 2000s.

The challenge was so much that in 2008, 99 Cents Only Stores decided to exit Texas. A decision that would ultimately be vetoed, instead, would close about a quarter of the locations here. Despite being able to bounce back, this was one of the first big signs of trouble.

In 2011, the chain went private, and by 2013, the founding family had cut ties with 99 Cents Only Stores. Under new ownership, the chain continued to expand, but not like before. Little money was put back into existing locations, and increasing inflation made the deals worse than ever.

While 99 Cents Only Stores managed to survive COVID, it was already a sinking ship by then. A failed rebrand as “The 99 Store” wasn’t helping either, and in late 2023, the chain filed for bankruptcy.

I still miss the old 99 Cents Only chain. Their first go-around, which was heavily focused on buyouts, imported items, and other bargain-basement deals, made this a great place to shop.

06/16/2026

I’ve never seen these Hill Country Fare potato chips before, but for $1.50, I’m not passing them up!

We tried regular and BBQ-flavored chips, and both were excellent—nice, thin chips, good flavoring, no funky pieces, and, best of all, lots of chips.

Have y’all seen these?