Houston Retailers Close Due to Hurricane Harvey Flooding

Major grocers and retailers in the Houston area were forced to close most or all stores Sunday after Harvey slammed the city overnight.

Supermarket chain H-E-B operated some Houston-area stores until 3 p.m. Its store at Braeswood and Chimney Rock, however, remained closed as Brays Bayou overflowed, forcing residents to escape in boats and helicopters. It also closed its Central Market store on Westheimer.

Fiesta Mart, which has stores in several neighborhoods devastated by flooding, kept some locations open until 3 p.m. Sunday.

Randalls managed to open three Houston locations and one in Cypress until early Sunday evening. Its other local store remained closed.

Other retailers weren’t nearly as fortunate. Harvey inundated the city with record-setting intensity, destroying infrastructure, flooding homes and businesses, and forcing residents to flee by any means possible.

Walmart, which mobilized its emergency response center Friday, kept most of its Houston-area stores closed amid flooding, power outages and road closures. The company sent nearly 800 truckloads of water and emergency supplies to Texas as the storm rolled inland, and it expects to send another 1,700 truckloads of water within the next week.

Home Depot closed all of its Houston-area stores. So did Lowes and Target.

WIDESPREAD RESCUES: Emergency crews are busy all over the Texas coast

All Kroger stores in the Houston area remained closed Sunday. Some might reopen Monday if conditions allow, the company said.

Local malls shut down. The Galleria, in an area known to flood, posted an optimistic notice that it will open at 10 a.m. Monday.

Even storefronts in drier neighborhoods such as the Heights flooded as water seeped under doors and pooled on side streets. High water destroyed some gas stations, restaurants and businesses in the most flooded areas.

Grant Pinkerton, however, wouldn’t let the threat of a storm keep him from firing up the smokers. In true Texas fashion, he opened the doors to his namesake barbecue joint on Airline Drive in the dark hours of Sunday morning, and people stranded in their cars dried off inside as he cooked what he thought would be enough meat.

At 9:30 a.m., he started dishing up pork, brisket and sausage. A sign on the door read “Come hell or high water, we will have BBQ, liquor and AC.”

By evening Sunday, the line pushed past the door. He had nearly run out meat.

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Small Business