Swamplot Archives by Category: Shopping Centers

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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Expanded Heights Kroger: Now Wider Than Wide Angle

October 28, 2009 – 1:00 pm

How big is the newly expanded mega-Kroger on 11th and Shepherd? So big that a Swamplot reader standing in the parking lot couldn’t fit the entire store in one photo. The best attempt, above, shows the place is “too big to do that now.” At 96,000 sq. ft., the Merchants Park Shopping Center Kroger at 1035 N. Shepherd is now apparently the largest grocery store inside Houston city limits.

The new section of the store opened last Friday, reports our reader,

to much rejoicing in the Heights. Both the new and the old section of the store is in use. I assume now that the new part is open they will begin renovations on the old part of the store.

The new part of the store has a Starbucks, large produce section & bakery, Mediterranean bar, hot food bar, and prepared foods section.

More reader-submitted pics from inside and out:

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1:00 pm | 9 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Houston Heights, Redevelopment, Renovations, Retail, Shopping Centers
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Monday, August 17, 2009

Alabama Bookstop Theater: The Balcony Is Closed for This Performance

August 17, 2009 – 11:07 am

You were maybe planning to stop by the Bookstop in the old Alabama Theater on Shepherd for one last browse before the store closes on September 15th? Do a little clearance-sale shopping, grab a coffee up on the balcony and look out over that live-on-stage magazine stand?

It may be a little too late for that now. On the Houston Press Twitter feed this weekend, Katharine Shilcutt reported that the upper levels of the store are already cleared and closed . . . for good.

Photo: Houston Press

11:07 am | 6 Comments | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Historic Preservation, Neighborhoods: Upper Kirby, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers
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Thursday, August 6, 2009

Alabama Bookstop Stop Date: September 15th

August 6, 2009 – 2:36 pm

That summer clearance sale that’s been going on at the Bookstop in the Alabama Theater Shopping Center on South Shepherd is uh, final. The store will be closing for good on September 15th. The new Barnes & Noble in the River Oaks Shopping Center on West Gray will be opening the next day (a bit sooner than was announced earlier), but no unsold books from the Bookstop location will be making the trip north.

So what happens to the Alabama Theater after then?

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2:36 pm | 24 Comments | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Historic Preservation, Leasing, Openings and Closings, Renovations, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers
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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Centre at Post Oak: Holding Steady

July 8, 2009 – 4:25 pm

A reader sends photos from a recent visit to the Centre at Post Oak shopping center, across Westheimer from the Galleria:

It’s been a while since I’ve been by here, so maybe this is old news, but … are the shopping cneter owners hurting so bad they’ve got to resort to selling ads for overactive bladder medications in the parking lot?

The parking lot sign suggests empathetic readers go to the conveniently named website www.overactivebladder.com. There you can take a brief urination quiz, view bladder illustrations, and read extensive advertorial content from Pfizer, makers of Toviaz — a pill “clinically proven to significantly reduce bothersome symptoms of OAB like strong sudden urges to go, frequent bathroom visits, and accidents.”

The reader continues:

I wonder how many urgent visits from highly suggestible customers this has brought to the stores there. How’s the Mattress Firm holding up?

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4:25 pm | 6 Comments | Read more about Leasing, Neighborhoods: Galleria, Parking, Real Estate Marketing, Shopping Centers
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Thursday, July 2, 2009

Comment of the Day: The Supermarket Standstill in Timbergrove

July 2, 2009 – 4:26 pm
   

“Outside of internal remodels, they can’t do anything with the [H-E-B] Pantry location [at T.C. Jester and 18th St.] except leave it. The Shopping center along with the one located across the bayou (old K-Mart) are located in the Floodway (not just floodplain). There isn’t much they can do [to] those [sites.] HEB would need an entirely new location.” [kjb434, commenting on Buffalo Modern: The New H-E-B in West U]

4:26 pm | 1 Comment | Read more about Comments, Development Restrictions, Flooding, Neighborhood Restrictions: Timbergrove Manor, Quicklink, Shopping Centers
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Buffalo Modern: The New H-E-B in West U

July 2, 2009 – 9:17 am

Two new buildings designed by regional architecture stars Lake/Flato Architects will open in Houston in the next couple of months: Rice University’s new swimming-pool and palm-tree festooned Wellness Center . . . and this sleek new H-E-B on Buffalo Speedway and Bissonnet.

Strangely, the San Antonio architecture firm didn’t get the late-nineties memo that specified an Alamo flavored Mission Revival strip and shopping center style for the inner Westpark corridor, and opted instead for a modern-looking hangar with a reflective butterfly roof, lots of glass, and a bunch of eco-features. Plus, fancy foods:

Buffalo Market will feature a Central Market Cafe on the Run, offering gourmet to-go items; a cheese shop with, for example, 54 varieties of bleu cheese; 2,000 varieties of wine; and a sushi and cooking demo station.

Half of the 68,000-square-foot H-E-B store will be devoted to perishables. Typically, supermarkets give perishables about one-third of the store space, [H-E-B and Central Market President Scott] McClelland said. There will be less general merchandise.

Buffalo Market will be similar to the H-E-B/Central Market hybrid in The Woodlands, only it will be an updated version, he said.

A few more photos sent in by a reader:

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9:17 am | 43 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: West University, New Construction, Retail, Shopping Centers
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Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Coming Soon to the River Oaks Shopping Center

June 24, 2009 – 1:52 pm

Writing in the River Oaks Examiner, Cynthia Lescalleet has a few updates on the River Oaks Shopping Center. Here’s what Swamplot has pieced together:

  • That well-trafficked space across the atrium from The Gap on the south side of West Gray will soon have a new tenant. Yes, this is the spot previously occupied by clothing retailer Harold Powell (whose parent company, Harold’s Stores, declared bankruptcy in November). Before that, it was occupied by M. King Interiors (which skipped out in the night a few years earlier, according to reports), before that Mesa Restaurant (ditto), and apparently way before that a restaurant called XIT. A new 6,200-sq.-ft. Mutual of Omaha Bank will be moving into the space soon.
  • Meanwhile, across the street, Barnes & Noble will be opening in its brand hulking new building around October 1st.

What else?

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1:52 pm | 57 Comments | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Leasing, Neighborhoods: River Oaks, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers
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Monday, June 15, 2009

Signs of Retail Life at the Corner of Kirby and Richmond

June 15, 2009 – 4:58 pm

A reader sends in a pic of the action at the renovated but long-suffering strip center at the southwest corner of Kirby and Richmond, which looked to be getting awfully lonely again after the departure of its lone tenant, Hue Vietnamese restaurant, in March.

But Hue is back as Kata Robata Sushi and Grill, and that white banner on the opposite leg indicates that the Dessert Gallery has moved in. Off camera, to the right, signs announce that the endcap is slated for a Texas Community Bank, but our reader reports seeing no sign of any money inside.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

4:58 pm | 21 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Upper Kirby, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers
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Friday, May 29, 2009

New Fat Kroger Twins

May 29, 2009 – 5:14 pm
   

The largest Krogers in Texas will be opening late this year, 10 miles apart: “The 125,000-square-foot Kroger Marketplace stores, which will both feature the same layout, will be located in Brazos Town Center in Rosenberg and at Waterside Marketplace in Richmond. . . . [Kroger's Gary] Huddleston says the Brazos Town Center store, located at U.S. Highway 59 and FM 762 in Rosenberg, will primarily serve the Richmond/Rosenberg market, while the Waterside Marketplace location, at Grand Parkway and Mason Road in Richmond, will serve the Katy market. Both Kroger Marketplace stores will feature a Fred Meyer Jewelers’ store as well as a large home furnishing section with Ashley Furniture.” [Houston Business Journal]

5:14 pm | Add a Comment | Read more about Neighborhoods: Richmond, Neighborhoods: Rosenberg, New Construction, Quicklink, Shopping Centers
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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

The Detention Battle of Bunker Hill: Flooding Above the New Katy Freeway

May 19, 2009 – 10:08 am

Some residents of Long Point Woods are blaming the new and well-paved 48-acre Village Plaza at Bunker Hill shopping center along the north feeder road of the expanded Katy Freeway for the late-April flooding that damaged many homes between Bunker Hill Rd. and Blalock, south of Westview. Abc13’s Miya Shay reports, opting not to mention the neighborhood or the development by name:

[Resident Barbara] Hunt says homeowners grew worried when a large development along I-10 and Bunker Hill [was] allowed to be built without additional retention, and when heavy rain fell, it ran off the parking lots and into their homes. . . .

But Mayor White says the developers didn’t get special treatment because the property was already covered in asphalt before the developers bought the land and began building.

“If something is built, and somebody buys it from somebody where it already has some paved over and is already developed, we don’t have new detention requirements,” said Mayor White.

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10:08 am | 10 Comments | Read more about Flooding, Neighborhoods: Long Point Woods, New Construction, Shopping Centers
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Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Comment of the Day: Weingarten’s Black Eye

April 1, 2009 – 2:43 pm
   

“Maybe Mr. Alexander could solicit such basic needs tenants for the River Oaks Shopping Center; perhaps a local bakery and a quick-serve restaurant like the Black-Eyed Pea, for example? [Hellsing, commenting on And What About the River Oaks Shopping Center?]

2:43 pm | 14 Comments | Read more about Leasing, Neighborhoods: River Oaks, Quicklink, Redevelopment, Shopping Centers
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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Comment of the Day: White Oak Deco Strip

March 17, 2009 – 4:05 pm
   

“Per HAIF, the tower rendering on this sign has been replaced by a rendering of a renovated version of the current retail center.” [ArlingtonSt, commenting on White Oak Tower: It Was All Just a Bad Drawing]

4:05 pm | 15 Comments | Read more about Comments, Commercial Real Estate, Neighborhoods: Houston Heights, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers
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Hue Gone Away

March 17, 2009 – 12:16 pm

A couple of readers have written in to let us know that Hue Vietnamese Restaurant — otherwise known as the first but hopeful occupant of the revamped but still extremely lonely strip center at the southwest corner of Richmond and Kirby — has closed. One writes:

I have a feeling it was a casualty of a low occupancy building with additional damage inflicted by continual Kirby Ave roadwork. It’s a shame, the food and drink were mighty tasty and the building itself has some nifty lighting. Better looking than most new builds.

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12:16 pm | 16 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Upper Kirby, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers
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Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Heights Kroger Stats: Double Plus Goods

March 11, 2009 – 5:41 pm

Following up on Swamplot’s story from yesterday, the Houston Press’s Richard Connelly sizes up the bigger-and-better Kroger that’ll be going into the Merchants Park Shopping Center at the corner of North Shepherd and 11th St. in the Heights.

. . . says Kroger’s Gary Huddleston, the new place will be 96,000 square feet, more than double what the store is now.

That would make it the biggest Kroger in Houston, and almost as big as the 110,000-square-foot monsters the chain has opened in Pearland and Missouri City. . . .

The refurbished store should be finished in a year, he says. The current operation will remain open during the renovation, which will slow things down a bit.

Photo: Swamplot inbox

5:41 pm | 16 Comments | Read more about Demolitions, Neighborhoods: Houston Heights, Redevelopment, Retail, Shopping Centers, Strip Centers
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On and Off Cite: What’s the Matter with Houston Pavilions?

March 11, 2009 – 3:23 pm

Houston’s Downtown office district, writes Christof Spieler in the RDA’s OffCite blog, “wraps around Pavilions on two sides. It ought to be delivering swarms of office workers to restaurants and the book store. But at lunchtime on weekdays, Pavilions seems empty compared to the streets a few blocks away. What’s wrong?”

In Cite, the blog’s paper-bound cousin, Max Page wishes all the stores in Houston Pavilions had simply faced the street, and that the apartments and condos hadn’t been cut from the project:

Like the residential component, the decision about whether to orient the project to the existing street grid, or turn away, was made in the wrong direction. [Architect Roger] Soto laments the choice. “We had some compelling ideas about activating the street,” he told me. “But in the end, the developer chose to attach retail stores to a ‘central spine,’” perhaps because that approach created a scheme that more closely resembled the traditional covered malls [Developer William] Denton had spent years developing.

How about the action along that central spine?

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3:23 pm | 3 Comments | Read more about Malls, Neighborhoods: Downtown, Retail, Shopping Centers
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