Tag: Retail

07/25/14 2:15pm

Whole Foods Market Will Hop Wilcrest, Take Over Larger Spot from Randalls on Westheimer

Leasing, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers, Westchase

10 Comments

Randalls Grocery Store, 11041 Westheimer Rd., Westchase Shopping Center, Westchase, Houston A new 45,000-sq.-ft. Whole Foods Market will move into a portion of the ~~soon-to-be-closing~~Â recently closedÂ Randalls grocery store in the Westchase Shopping Center, landlord Weingarten Realty announced today. The 25,663-sq.-ft. Whole Foods Market that’s been operating in the same REIT’s Market at Westchase since 1991 — just across Wilcrest at 11145 Westheimer — will shutter when the new Whole Foods opens — in 2016.

Chasing Groceries in Westchase

77042, Leasing, Openings and Closings, Retail, Shopping Centers, Westchase, Whole Foods

Houston Heights

07/22/14 4:15pm

Zelko Bistro: We’re Not Gone Yet

Leasing, Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants, Retail

8 Comments

ZELKO BISTRO: WE’RE NOT GONE YET Zelko Bistro, 705 E. 11th St., Houston Heights Was the “for lease” sign (at right) posted and then removed this morning in front ofÂ Zelko Bistro at 705 E. 11th St. just part of a high-stakes lease-extension negotiation? Responding to reports that her restaurant is a goner from the Heights location and that the converted bungalow is available “immediately,” owner Jamie Zelko reports it’s all part of . . . the process? Here’s the latest from the restaurant’s Twitter accountÂ this afternoon: “Hello everyone. We are currently in negotiations to exercise our option to renew our lease. We should come to agreement soon!” [Twitter] Photo: The Heights Life

77008, Houston Heights, Leasing, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail

Leasing

07/21/14 2:30pm

Just Say ‘Oui’ to Drive-Thru Banh Mi at the Former Lucky Burger Spot

Montrose, Quicklink, Restaurants, Retail

2 Comments

JUST SAY ‘OUI’ TO DRIVE-THRU BANH MI AT THE FORMER LUCKY BURGER SPOT Keys to Former Lucky Burger Building at 1601 Richmond Ave., Montrose, Houston The photo at right, posted to the Instagram account of Oui Banh Mi, a new venture from the Vietnamese-cuisine crew behind Washington Ave restaurant Les Givral’s Kahve and Kirby Dr. sweet outlet Oui Desserts, would seem to confirm Swamplot’s report last week that the group is planning a new drive-thru Banh Mi establishment in the recently vacated building at 1601 Richmond Ave — the barrel-shaped structure long occupied by the recently shuttered Lucky Burger. On the other hand, it could be that they’re just borrowingÂ keys from the landlord for a little look-see. [Previously on Swamplot] Photo: Oui Banh Mi

77006, Drive-Thrus, Leasing, Montrose, Restaurants, Retail

Apartments

07/15/14 11:00am

The Second New Market Square Apartment Tower Set to Replace Another Downtown Surface Parking Lot

Downtown, Highrises, Proposed Developments

39 Comments

Site of Proposed Market Square Tower, 777 Preston St., Market Square, Houston

Proposed Market Square Tower, 777 Preston St., Market Square, Houston Downtown surface parking lots have been disappearing left and right, notes reader Debnil Chowdhury, who works downtown. The latest to bite the dust is the vacant lot at 300 Milam St. (above), directly adjacent to the Market Square Parking Garage, on account of Woodbranch Investments’ 40-story, 463-unit apartment tower going in there. The lot was closed permanently last week, Chowdhury reports.

If the Preston St. elevation of the proposed building (pictured above right) looks vaguely like Discovery Green neighbor One Park Place but without the tack-on pediments at the roofline, that might be because the new Market Square Tower was designed by the same architects, Jackson & Ryan, and because the roof is reserved for a glass-enclosed gym, sundeck, and pool, as shown in this more recent rendering:

777 Preston

77002, Apartments, Downtown, Highrises, Market Square, Parking, Proposed Developments, Retail

East End

07/14/14 2:00pm

Updated: H-E-B Isn’t Planning Any Grocery Store on the Harrisburg Blvd. Rail Line

Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers

28 Comments

Harrisburg Crossing, 4300-4500 Harrisburg Blvd. at Lockwood, East End, Houston

Former Historic Houston Salvage Warehouse, 4300 Harrisburg Blvd., East End, Houston Update, 3:30 pm: A spokesperson for H-E-B informs Swamplot that the company has no plans for a Joe V’s Smart Shop in this area. Separately, a rep from Lovett Commercial indicates that the plans and declaration posted on its website that a Joe V’s Smart Shop is coming to the center are “outdated,”Â and that no grocery store is currently planned for that site. We’ve updated the story below accordingly.

This row of metal warehouse buildings at 4300 Harrisburg Blvd. was used for a time recently as a temporary home for the Historic Houston salvage warehouse and more recently as a spraypaint-covered tribute to the deceased graffiti artist known as Nekst (see video below) ~~— will be torn down to make way for a new grocery store from H-E-B, according to site plans posted online by the property’s developer.~~ The 5.34-acre site, which stretches between Oakhurst St. and Eastwood St., sits just east of the Maximus Coffee plant east of Downtown, and just north of Eastwood. This should be the first new grocery store built on a light rail line, but it won’t be a conventional H-E-B. Instead, the plans show it’ll be a Joe V’s Smart Shop, the Texas grocery chain’s low-cost, low-selection, high-volume, low-touch warehouse-style market.

No Ice

77011, East End, Eastwood, Grocery Stores, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Retail, Shopping Centers

Midtown

07/14/14 11:00am

There Shall Be No Net Loss of Sugar on Gray St. in Midtown

Openings and Closings, Quicklink, Restaurants, Retail

4 Comments

THERE SHALL BE NO NET LOSS OF SUGAR ON GRAY ST. IN MIDTOWN Former Sweet Lola Yogurt Shop, 304 Gray St., Midtown, Houston Top Chef: Just Desserts contestant and $53,580 Kickstarter winner Rebecca Masson has finally announced the exact Midtown location of the Fluff Bake BarÂ storefront she’s been working on since late last year, on account of she just signed a lease last week: It’s set to go in place of the shuttered Sweet Lola Yogurt Bar, (pictured) which ended its reign at 304 Gray St. in Midtown last September. The spot is one of the city’s relatively small number of to-the-sidewalk retail spaces with actual apartments above. Downstairs, customers will be able to dig into Fluff’s Chocolate Stout Syllabub, risotto fritters with gingered blueberries, or chocolate beet cake with cream cheese ice cream — along with beer and wine — but give her another 3 or 4 months to build out the space before you come knocking, please. [Food Chronicles; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Bluebirds and Butterflies

77002, Cafes, Midtown, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail

Comments

07/11/14 5:30pm

Comment of the Day: Stuck with That Same Ol’ Mix of Uses

Mixed Use, Quicklink

33 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: STUCK WITH THAT SAME OL’ MIX OF USES Drawing of Apartments and Retail “I donâ€™t get peopleâ€™s desire to live in a Mixed Use development, I lived in one for a couple of years and itâ€™s as useless as a sh*t flavored lollipop. You get tired of the couple of restaurants there within 2 weeks, the drycleaner is not as good as the one youâ€™re used to and you end up driving there anyway, you get all the noise and the traffic to deal with without any real world benefit. It’s the true case of the ‘grass is greener on the other side.'” [commonsense, commenting on Studemont Grocers Supply Redevelopment To Feature Fast Food and Bank Drive-Thrus, Store Pods in Parking Lot Now, Apartments Later] Illustration: Lulu

Comments, Mixed Use, Retail

07/09/14 2:15pm

Studemont Grocers Supply Redevelopment To Feature Fast Food and Bank Drive-Thrus, Store Pods in Parking Lot Now, Apartments Later

First Ward, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail

49 Comments

Proposed Studemont Junction Development, Studemont St. at Hicks St., First Ward, Houston

Signs are up at the soon-to-be-former Grocers Supply distribution center across Studemont from Kroger just south of I-10 announcing Studemont Junction, the name meant to bring some . . . uh, conjunction to the odd-shaped 15-acre food-storage facility Capcor Partners bought late last year. To judge from the proposed site plan for the project, that’ll be quite a task.

Many Functions for Studemont Junction

77007, Apartments, First Ward, Industrial Areas, Katyville, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Retail

Downtown

07/07/14 4:00pm

Bombay Indian Grill Hoists Colors, Ready To Take on ‘Jinxed’ Spot at 706 Main St.

Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail

9 Comments

Sign for Bombay Indian Grill, 706 Main St., Downtown Houston

Where many have failed — say, 4 restaurants in 7 years — the Bombay Indian Grill now dares to tread. The ‘where’ would be the light-rail-side storefront at 706 Main St., where you might have visited Yatra Brasserie, Laidback Manor, Korma Sutra, or the Downtown outlet of the Burger Guys in previous years. Or maybe (more likely, considering the successive historiesÂ of those establishments in this location) you never visited any of them at all. Soon another set of light-rail lines will be running down Capitol, the nearest cross street, so maybe you’ll have fewer excuses? A reader sends in this pic showing the new banner for the Indian-food restaurant hung on the Burger Guys’ signage leftovers.

Previously on Swamplot: Downtown Burger Guys Closes Down

Photo: Swamplot inbox

Replacing the Burger Guys, and Others

77002, Openings and Closings, Restaurants, Retail

07/03/14 10:45am

Your Click-and-Owe Map to the Locations of Houston’s More Than 300 Payday Lender Outlets

Retail

7 Comments

New city of Houston rules restricting the size, refinancing, and payment terms of auto-title and so-called payday loans went into effect on Tuesday. A total of 309 payday lenders had registered with the city by that date, somewhat shy of the total 361 such institutions the city had previously identified. And the Houston Chronicle has scooped up all the collected data to build the interactive map shown above, which shows the locations of the newly registered cash outlets. Unfortunately, the map does not directly indicate which locations are in strip centers or adjacent to nail salons.

Mike Morris’s accompanying report on the new rules includes this nugget demonstrating the valiant efforts of the payday-loan industry to reduce traffic in the area, by removing the overfinanced vehicles of its customers from already taxed streets: “In the 10-county Houston region, home to a fourth of the state’s 3,240 such lenders,” Morris writes, “data show borrowers refinance more and pay on time less than state averages, and that more than 100 title borrowers have their cars repossessed each week.”

City awaits complaints as payday loan rules go into effect [Houston Chronicle ($)]

Map: Houston Chronicle

Highly Interesting

Maps, Retail

06/26/14 11:15am

Where To Pick Up New CrossFit Gear While Waiting for Your Pizza on Washington Ave

Openings and Closings, Retail, Strip Centers, Washington Ave, West End

2 Comments

Pinks Pizza and Below Parallel, 1009 Moy St., West End, Houston

Pinks Pizza and Below Parallel, 1009 Moy St., West End, Houston The reader who sent Swamplot a steaming hot tip late last summer — Pink’s Pizza is coming to Wash Ave! — brings us up-to-date on construction progress at the sidestreet-facing strip center at 1009 Moy St. (above) a full 10 months later: There’s been none. “Other than the signage on the building and on Washington at the front of the shopping center, there’s been no work done in months,” reads our report. One door over from the Pink’s spot in Suite B (pictured at right), however, a sign is up for Below Parallel, a new retail outlet where customers will be able to equip themselves to work off their pizza before even eating it. The banner promises shoes, supplements, and apparel —- and an opening date next month. “Strange location,” declares our tipster — the shuttered Blue Moose Lodge is around the corner — “but I guess the four Crossfit gyms in a mile radius can shop there.”

All the Gear You Need, Today [Below Parallel]
Previously on Swamplot: Pinkâ€™s Pizza Moving Into West End Strip Center

Photos: Swamplot inbox

West End Cycles

77007, Openings and Closings, Retail, Strip Centers, Washington Ave., West End

06/23/14 1:00pm

The Dream’s Is Gone from San Felipe

Highland Village, Openings and Closings, Retail

5 Comments

Former Dream's & Bros. Hand Car Wash, 4303 San Felipe St., Houston

The Dream’s & Bros. Hand Car Wash at the corner of San Felipe and Bancroft just east of the Target parking lot has shut down, a bunch of readers have reported to Swamplot. The car wash was founded byÂ Afis Olajwon, brother of former Rockets center Hakeem Olajuwon (and himself a former guard for the UTSA Roadrunners), in 1998.Â On Friday, a large piece of demo equipment was hanging around in the parking lot behind a new chain-link fence surrounding the property at 4303 San Felipe St. Earlier in the week, the basketball-themed signage was removed.

Photo: Ray Hankamer

To That Great Car Wash in the Sky

77027, Car Washes, Highland Village, Openings and Closings, Retail

06/18/14 12:00pm

Pretty Soon Houston Won’t Have Garden Ridge To Poke Fun of Anymore

Retail

30 Comments

At Home, Former Garden Ridge Superstore, Douglasville, Georgia

Garden Ridge Rebranding Sign Those 7 Garden Ridge stores around the Houston area that sell lots of mirrors and rugs and pots and silky fake flowers but no garden equipment or hills aren’t closing, but they will soon sport new names. The entire 21-state chain is rebranding itself, store by store, to a name that’s both more descriptive and more generic: At Home. And CEO Lee Bird, who earlier this year yanked the home-goods company’s headquarters away from Houston and moved it to Dallas, appears to have been inspired by his colleagues in the fashion industry: “We want to be known as the Forever 21 of home decor,” he tells the Dallas Morning News, “fast and affordable.” No announcement has been made explaining when the Willowbrook, Woodlands, Humble, Westheimer, Katy, Sugar Land, or Webster Garden Ridge locations will get their new blue-and-gray signage and the new “Home Decor Superstore” tagline, but the entire $20 million project is scheduled to be complete before the end of the year.

Garden Ridge is evolving into At Home [Dallas Morning News]
Garden Ridge CEO: Why we’re investing $20M to rename, rebrand stores [Houston Business Journal]
Previously on Swamplot: Please Bring Your Final Purchases To Conroe for Checkout

Photos: Jonathan Dockery/Carrollton Menu (At Home in Douglasville, Georgia); robincharmagne (sign)

Make Yourself at Home

Big Box Stores, Retail

Openings and Closings

06/12/14 3:45pm

Woodlands Mall Microsoft Store Upgrade Will Include Doors that Open and Close, Newer Surfaces