First Quarter: Retail Rough Spots Emerge

In Houston, The holiday shopping season is over. The rough spots in the economy have been identified and retailers are making adjustments and implementing new strategies and tactics.

A number of retail outlets have shuttered stores in 2026 for a variety of reasons. Many of the closures create opportunities for other retailers and restaurants to move in.

“We still have more store openings happening across the country than store closings, which is a great sign obviously from a retail standpoint,” said Danny Rice, president of Colliers Houston, speaking at the company’s Trends outlook event in February. He noted that H-E-B has been a leader in expanding, along with Sprouts, Trader Joe’s, Chick-fil-A, and Chipotle.

Tens of thousands of sq ft of retail space will soon be vacated across the Houston region, and more than 2 million SF nationally, as chains adjust their portfolios.

Francesca’s Fall

Francesca’s, a Houston-based specialty retailer founded in 1999, is in the process of shutting down all of its boutiques as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in February.