Houston Galleria: Google Store to Open

In Houston, Google is expanding its retail presence in Texas with a store in Houston’s Galleria mall.

The company will build out a 4,500-SF store in The Galleria, as stated by a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The project, which has an estimated cost of $2 million, is slated to start in March and finish in July.

The Mountainview, California-based tech giant made its brick-and-mortar retail debut in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood five years ago. It expanded to Texas last year with a store in the Domain Northside multi-use development in Austin and now has nine locations.

Google retail stores showcase Google products such as Pixel smartphones and watches, Chromebooks, Nest doorbells, cameras, thermostats, and other home devices, plus chargers, cases, and other accessories. The stores also offer free events and customer support services.

Google designed the store with the customer experience in mind to enable hands-on interaction with devices and services.

“We considered every immersive way people could learn about all the features of our Pixel phones and Nest products, and see how the best of Google’s software and services come to life when using them: products like Google Search, Google Assistant, Google Maps, YouTube, Stadia and many more,” the company wrote in a blog post on the store’s debut in June 2021.

In addition to Austin, Google has expanded with new stores in Santa Monica, Calif., Aventura, Fla., and Washington, D.C. recently. Additional stores are in Brooklyn, Mountain View, Calif., Boston, and Oak Brook. Ill.

Google has a major presence in Austin and opened a Houston office at One Buffalo Heights several years ago. In Austin, Google leased a high-profile waterfront office tower, which was purchased last year by Cousins Properties for $522 million.

Google is a wholly-owned subsidiary of its parent company, Alphabet Inc.

The Galleria, a premier mall with 2.4 million SF of retail space owned by Simon Property Group, is home to 400 retailers including an Apple store. Microsoft had a Galleria store that closed along with most of the tech company’s other brick-and-mortar locations in 2020. The mall is on Westheimer at Post Oak Boulevard, just outside Loop 610.