Historic Houston Shopping Places

[citykid09]

Past Shopping Places in Houston That Are No Longer Here.

Name places you can remember.

[citykid09]

Service Merchandice

Soon to be Foley's

Woolworth's

[HoustonianInColorado]

Sakowitz

Weingartens

U-Tote-'M

Joske's

Best

Federated Electronics

Woolco

[Heights2Bastrop]

Battelstein

[UrbaNerd]

Town&Country, of course.

Also, Montgomery Wards (I THINK this one is gone...)

[citykid09]

did Houston ever have Food Lion?

[Heights2Bastrop]

There was a Food Lion at Antoine and Pinemont. It was HEB until a few months ago, and now it is closed down.

[citykid09]

What about Archons or how do you spell it?

[sevfiv]

oooh auchan's - there was one on 610 south going east past the astrodome...

[lowspark]

oooh auchan's - there was one on 610 south going east past the astrodome...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There was also one on the West Belt & Beechnut.

I also remember

Meyer Brothers in Meyerland

W Bell

What was the name of that store that was on the corner of Fondren & 59 or maybe it was Fondren & Beechnut where you had to belong to their club before you could shop there. Along the lines of Sam's club but it wasn't groceries, just clothes & stuff like that I think. It lasted a few years before going out.

There was a Food Lion in Sugar Land on the corner of Eldridge & Jess Pirtle. I think it's Gerlands now but could be wrong about that.

There was also one on W. Airport west of Kirkwood that turned into a school or something like that.

[HoustonianInColorado]

There was also one on the West Belt & Beechnut.

I also remember

Meyer Brothers in Meyerland

W Bell

What was the name of that store that was on the corner of Fondren & 59 or maybe it was Fondren & Beechnut where you had to belong to their club before you could shop there. Along the lines of Sam's club but it wasn't groceries, just clothes & stuff like that I think. It lasted a few years before going out.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You are probably thinking of Gemco, which I believe was an acronym for Government Employees something something something.

[HoustonianInColorado]

Remember Handy Dan home improvement centers?

[MidtownCoog]

Handy Dan Home Improvement is a now-defunct home improvement retailer. The retailer is probably best-known today for its April 1978 firing of executives Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank. The day after their firing, Marcus and Blank began a series of actions that led to their founding of The Home Depot.

[lowspark]

You are probably thinking of Gemco, which I believe was an acronym for Government Employees something something something.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

GEMCO! Yup! That's it!

I also remember in Sharpstown Mall:

Chandler's Shoes

Margolis Shoes

Adrien's Fashions

And old Grocery Stores:

Food Giant

There was either a Food Giant or Weingarten's in Sharpstown Mall.

Food Giant was also somewhere on W. Belfort west of Post Oak, and I think there was one on the corner of N. Braeswood & Chimney Rock which is Belden's now.

[Heights2Bastrop]

Pol Parrott Shoes

[ssullivan]

did Houston ever have Food Lion?

Yeah they didn't last too long in Houston or Texas for that matter. No loss there IMO -- I've been in a number of their stores in the southeast while traveling for work and have never been impressed. Most Super Wal-Marts have a nicer grocery department than the Food Lions I've been in, and I think Wal-Mart is pretty darn bad.

[ssullivan]

Battelstein

[citykid09]

Which spot was Marshall Field's in in the Galleria?

[UrbaNerd]

How about those oddly designed stores, particularly, the one that looked like a bunch of bricks were missing from the side? I think they were called "BEST's" or something like that.

EDIT: Ahh, I did not see it earlier in the list

[Gary]

Sakowitz

Weingartens

U-Tote-'M

Joske's

Best

Federated Electronics

Woolco

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's funny you mentioned Federated, I didn't know they were in Houston. I used to live off of Sunset and Lebrea (LA) and there was a huge Vegas like Federated there. They had this crazy blond haired guy who did all the commercials.

[gnu]

It's funny you mentioned Federated, I didn't know they were in Houston. I used to live off of Sunset and Lebrea (LA) and there was a huge Vegas like Federated there. They had this crazy blond haired guy who did all the commercials.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

the blond haired guy for Federated was Fred Rated. brilliant ad agency, huh?

How about Kroger FAMILY CENTERS??? I know kroger's is here but I don't think they have these anymore.

they had stuff other than groceries..like super target does now.

I remember on sunday's - When the Texas Blue Laws were still active - they would have parts of the store roped off. You couldnt buy tools on sunday cause then you might be tempted to work on the sabbath!

[rps324]

Did we mention Wilson's, that was bought up by Service merchandise? There was one in Champions Village 3, along with the now defunct Sakowitz chain.

Is Gerlands grocery store stilll around anywhere?

[gnu]

tg&Y

ben franklin's

gibson's

the fair

venture

the store that went into half of several of the woolco's...can't remember the name..

[tigereye]

I cant believe nobody's mentioned Weiner's, with a weird name like that.

Builder's Square also comes to mind.

[ssullivan]

Which spot was Marshall Field's in in the Galleria?

They were where Saks is now. The same situation existed with Town & Country. When Marshall Field's announced they were leaving Houston they sold the two stores to Saks. The Saks store at Town & Country only lasted a couple of years before it closed.

[Hunter]

Is Gerlands grocery store stilll around anywhere?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There is one on the corner of Spencer Hwy and Underwood in La Porte, Texas. It is a 24 hour store now.

How about Michaels Jewelry Store.

[KatieDidIt]

Children's Collection. Post Oak and San Felipe. It was a great place to shop if you didn't want you boy dressing like a skate boarder or a gangsta.

[Trophy Property]

Jumbo Grocercy Stores

Sage Stores

[Ashikaga]

Actually Battlestein's was acquired by Frost Department Stores, and the stores that weren't closed at that time were rebranded as Frost about 1983. A few years later (1987/88?) Frost went under and the remaining stores all closed. Beall's never was involved in the transactions except to go into some spaces that had been vacated by the Frost liquidation. Of course Beall's went on to have its own problems, and was acquired by Stage Stores, along with Palais Royal. And Stage doesn't exactly have a history free of financial difficulty itself.

While on department stores that are no longer here, don't forget Marshall Field's, which had locations at the Galleria and Town & Country. Lord & Taylor will soon join the list as well, after the planned closure of the Memorial City store. They were once in a variety of malls around the city, including Greenspoint of all places, back in the day when it was the only northside suburban mall.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

As probably most of you now know, I lived in Houston from 1962-64, which was over 40 years ago. Here's the stores that I remember from back then.

These were in the then Gulfgate Shopping City:

Weingarten's, Sakowitz, Joske's, Newberry's, and an underground bowling alley.

Next to Gulfgate on Woodridge I remember Globe Department Store.

Down where Telephone Road intersects Reveille there was a supermarket called Henke & Pillot (now called Kroger).

[Watchful]

OK it seems like there was a Globe store on 59 North (maybe near Little York) that also had the name Jubilee City at one time. I remember going there with my grandparents.

I think the building still stands.