NEW HOUSTON STEAK ’N SHAKES READY TO BAKE 
Thirty years after its first big move into Houston (with 5 locations that didn’t last too long), fast-food burger operation Steak ’n Shake is ready to roll into town in a big way again. Chodrow Realty Advisors’ David Littwitz says he’s been working to get 5 new franchises of the national chain open here soon — 1 this year, and 4 next. A Steak ’n Shake restaurant on FM 1960 at Eldridge has been open for 3 years; a second location on the I-10 feeder at Westgreen in Katy opened last year. [Houston Business Journal; history] Photo: Robert S.
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Franchises and Chain Stores
HOUSTON’S BORDERS WILL REMAIN OPEN As expected, the Borders Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today and announced the closing of 200 of its 644 bookstores nationwide. Nine of the announced store closings are in Texas, but Houston survived this round of cuts. All 7 Houston-area stores — on Kirby at West Alabama, in the Galleria, Meyerland Plaza, the Baybrook Mall, at IAH, in Stafford, and the Woodlands — will remain open. [Wall Street Journal; list of store closings; previously on Swamplot]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: NOMINATED FOR THE WALMART PEACE PRIZE “. . . If everyone arguing against the West End Walmart would stand up and say, ‘I don’t personally like Walmart but I certainly don’t think less of you for thinking they are not so bad’ then we would probably all get along much better.” [Jimbo, commenting on Surprise! Walmart Buying Land Next to Idylwood for Houston’s First Inner-Loop SuperCenter]
Just as Swamplot was reporting on the leaked site plan showing that a new full-size Walmart SuperCenter is being planned off the Gulf Fwy. at South Wayside Dr., Councilmember James Rodriguez comes back from a meeting with the company waving a slightly different site plan. And look, this one shows the proposed East End store between Idylwood and the freeway has already slimmed down by 58,000 sq. ft.! Does that qualify as a rollback? Plus: This plan (shown above, again rotated to fit Swamplot’s format) features 13 more parking spaces! Meanwhile, Walmart spokesperson Kellie Duhr tells the Chronicle the new store would be “about 150,000 sq. ft.” and feature a full grocery. That number jibes with the plan above. Also included this time, at no additional charge: an extra Tire and Lube Express next to the Garden Center on the south side. One curious detail, though: Both this plan and the one featured in Swamplot’s story on Monday are labeled with the same date.
What’s going into the lot at the corner of Maxwell Rd. and the I-45 feeder next to the driveway at the southwest corner of the site, labeled “Outlot 1” on both plans? A source tells Swamplot it’s being eyed for a gas station from Walmart sidekick Murphy Oil.
- Wal-Mart eyes East End
- Previously on Swamplot: Surprise! Walmart Buying Land Next to Idylwood for Houston’s First Inner-Loop SuperCenter
Plan: Doucet and Associates
The first-ever inside-The-Loop Walmart SuperCenter will be built near the corner of South Wayside Dr. and the Gulf Freeway, a source tells Swamplot. The 28-acre site sits between Idylwood and I-45; according to a preliminary site plan currently making the rounds in that neighborhood, the store’s main entrance will be from Wayside, which also serves as the freeway entrance to a few other eastside neighborhoods, including Country Club Place and Forest Park.
According to Swamplot’s source, a real-estate entity connected to Walmart has an 8-month option to buy the property, home to 6 vacant warehouse buildings that once served as a distribution center for Oshman’s — as well as the former corporate offices of the defunct sporting goods company. Walmart has been completing its analysis of the property and is less than 30 days away from completing the land purchase, for a price of $35 a sq. ft., the source says.
Isn’t Walmart already planning its first Inner-Loop store on the other side of Downtown — just south of the Heights? Yes, but that store won’t be a SuperCenter. The Idylwood store is expected to measure approximately 210,000 sq. ft. — almost 60,000 sq. ft. larger than the planned Washington Heights District location. The site plan of the Idylwood store, which is not final (and which we’ve rotated to fit below), shows an asphalt parking lot with 722 spaces, plus a garden center on the store’s south side:
CORNERING THE BURGER MARKET Helping to balance out the intersection of Highway 6 and West Rd. in Copperfield, currently home to a Wendy’s, a Whataburger, a Chick-fil-A, a Shell station, and 2 banks: Houston’s very first Carl’s Jr. Or the first one here, at least, in about 30 years. The company building the franchise plans to blanket Houston with 40 Carl’s Jr. locations by the end of the decade. Next up: Hwy 6 and S. University Blvd. in Missouri City, and just west of 288 on FM 518 in Pearland. [Cheap Eats in Houston; previously on Swamplot]
AND A CORNER BAKERY ON EVERY CORNER 
A new franchisee of Dallas’s Corner Bakery Cafe chain has bought the company’s 2 Houston restaurants — one in the Reliant Energy Plaza building Downtown and the other downstairs from Dowling Music in that double-decker strip mall facing the 59 feeder near Kirby. Next step for Fairview Capital Management Group: Open 19 new Corner Bakery locations in Houston over the next 8 years. Watch your endcaps: Franchisees in other cities are planning to add an additional 31 corner locations in Texas over the same period. [Business Wire; previously on Swamplot]
Got a question about something going on in your neighborhood you’d like Swamplot to answer? Sorry, we can’t help you. But if you ask real nice and include a photo or 2 with your request, maybe the Swamplot Street Sleuths can! Who are they? Other readers, just like you, ready to demonstrate their mad skillz in hunting down stuff like this:
Answers to your questions:
- Downtown: Flagspotters pinpointed the not-so-wavy Lone Star banner pictured above on the parking-lot side of the small office building at 1515 Rusk St. between La Branch and Crawford, directly behind the new Hess Tower parking garage. Yes, it’s even visible on Google Street View, reader Brian points out.
- Cottage Grove: What’s that freshly built structure at 1500 Shepherd Dr. on the corner of Maxie, right across from the shuttered Shuck Daddy’s (which is slated to become another Lupe Tortilla Mexican Restaurant)? According to marketing director Heather McKeon, Bullritos Management is “finalizing the details with the franchisee†to bring the 12th area (and first freestanding) version of that burrito-and-margarita chain to that location. The 2,500 sq.-ft. Bullritos is expected to open in February or March of next year. Here’s a view:
COMMENT OF THE DAY: YOU COULD’VE HAD A CHAIN STORE! 
“this was a terrible gym location, and parking was going to be a battle from day one. hate to be johnny-come-suburb, but it was a better call to work a deal to redevelop the site with CVS and give them their free-standing deal with drive thru. Soma would be down the street somewhere, hopefully with easier access/parking, crew would not be under, and this property would be better served than the future it has. now the owner spent time/effort with this problem, has a built-out gym that is not usable for another gym (nightclub, here we come…for 9 months), has 3500 sf that doesn’t lease (my guess is from lack of parking/ability to pay the rent) and has a basement (???) that will never lease. all of this, and he could be on a beach right now, getting his checks in the mail from year 4 of 20 with CVS as the return addressee.” [jg, commenting on Fitness-Club Scavengers at the Washington Ave Crew] Photo of West End Shopping Center, Washington Ave at Shepherd: Aaron Carpenter
Houston’s only 24-7 Starbucks — the seemingly always-jammed one adjoined with a Jamba Juice at the corner of Post Oak and Westheimer across from the Galleria — is getting its once-in-a-decade makeover this week. The caffeine hub shut down last Friday night at 11 and Brazos Contractors’ construction superintendent expects it to be buzzing again by this Sunday night. What’ll be installed by then? Cast stone benches and entryways . . . and a fountain! Not to mention a shiny new interior. Nighthawks can still get their Ventis and Grandes at Uptown Park this week, as that branch is picking up the slack with 4-am-to-1-am hours through Thursday, and 24-hour stretches Friday and Saturday.
Photo: Aaron Carpenter
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT LOCAL REALLY MEANS “How can you explain that the TacoBell/KFC, Panda Express, Smoothie King, and Subway aren’t local? Each of these are owned by a franchise company which is local. Only a portion of the local money spent there go to the corporate parents and the rest remain with the franchise owner. This is also true for MOST McDonald’s, Starbuck, and pretty much every ‘casual’ dining establishment. Yes, they are national names, but locally owned.” [kjb434, commenting on The New Strip Centers Coming to Heights Blvd. and Other Details of the Washington Heights District West End Walmart Plan]
DAWN OF A PAD SITE CONGLOMERATE Luby’s Restaurants beat out the parent company of Freebirds World Burrito in an auction yesterday to purchase the bankrupt Fuddruckers hamburger chain. The $61 million purchase price includes 60 Fuddruckers locations and three Koo-Koo-Roos in Southern California. An additional 138 Fuddruckers restaurants are run by franchisees. Fuddruckers’ parent company had agreed in April to close 24 corporate-owned locations and terminate other leases. There are 17 Fuddruckers restaurants in the Houston area. [Houston Business Journal]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHAT 4 MILLION SQ. FT. OF WAL-MART DISTRIBUTION LOOKS LIKE “Also, that Wal-Mart facility (which is not in the picture because is just left of the two large buildings) is HUGE. To put it in perspective, it would be like 10 Reliant Centers or George R. Browns to come close and that was phase 1 back when we did the drainage and utility plan. Phase 2 will double the size. Wal-Mart sees Houston as the point of entry of much of it’s goods in the future than Los Angeles. The expansion of the Panama Canal will make the Port of Houston that much more strategic in trade with Asia.” [kjb434, commenting on Courting the Smiths: We Don’t Care Who You Are, But Please Please Like Us!]
COMMENT OF THE DAY: THERE’S A LITTLE BIT OF TUSCANY IN EVERY OLIVE GARDEN “What culinary region of Italy brought us bottomless salad and bread sticks?” [bassmaster, commenting on Sabetta Café Makes Sure To Feed the Blogs First]
The owner of the Dunkin’ Donuts in Pasadena and on FM 1960 near I-45 is renovating the Bellaire location that a previous owner shut down last October, writes Steve Mark:
“I heard they were closing that store and I called the corporate office right away,†[Harshad] Patel told The Examiner. “We don’t have that many Dunkin’ Donuts close to the city, so I asked if I could re-open that one. . . .”
Patel expects the first donuts will be ready later this month — after the gutted building at 5406 Bellaire Blvd. between Bissonnet and Chimney Rock gets outfitted with a new roof, AC system, and kitchen equipment.
- Donut shop returning for more dunkin’ [Bellaire Examiner]
- Previously on Swamplot: Openings and Closings: Down the Donut Hole
Photo: Bellaire Examiner
