While we covered the pad site of this shopping center (currently Tim Hortons, but served as Bush's Chicken and Mr. Hamburger in the past), we haven't covered the actual NorthPark shopping center (not the one in Dallas) yet other than something I wrote on Carbon-izer (since removed). The plaza was built around 2007, and I've attached an out of date PDF (it's what I could find—archived from here. Around spring 2023 it was also repainted to white with the ends black. Keep in mind that this post has been sitting for a while in the "future posts" folder and it may be already out of date as of this writing. (In fact, there's a draft from 2014 for this one, but it never went anywhere).
The suite numbers go from north to south. First up is Little Tokyo (unrelated to the Post Oak Mall food court place that operated in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The Instagram page1 shows that it sells a small selection of Japanese goods (not much that you can't find at H-E-B for a better price) and a menu featuring the box art of Cooking Mama: Cookstar2. Previous tenants include Babylon Cafe (2014-2024)3, Habanero Mexican Grill & Bar (2010-2011, about six months), and Pyro (2008-2009), a "Mongolian fusion grill" restaurant. That first one closed not too long after the general manager stole thousands of dollars from the restaurant. Next up is suite 300 (no 200), La Riviera Restaurant & Bakery operated here from 2007 to 2017, an upscale New American cuisine restaurant. "Tap That Axe Bar & Grill"4, an axe-throwing facility/restaurant opened here in early 2020 but closed in 2021. Frida's Kitchen & Bar, a Mexican restaurant, has been here since early 2023. Suite 400 was originally ACE Cash Express and later Vapor Pursuit (as of 2018). Vapor Pursuit folded after a few years but in 2024 reopened as a second location of Tortilleria Mi Tierra. Suite 500 is Bryan's Red Wing Shoes has been here since 2007 (relocating from 3810 Texas Avenue).
Suite 550, however, has been more complicated. It was a franchise of Lenny's Sub Shop from 2008 to 2012 and closed after several changes of management. Around 2016 (if ther was anything in between, I missed it) it became Time for Thai, a spin-off of a fast food Thai restaurant in Houston, and that closed in 2020. In fall 2021, H&J's Tea House opened, the gimmick that they were the area's first and only cat café. A year in, however, the business was struggling financially and in early 2023 the restaurant closed and within a year or so was replaced with Koala Bakery & Cafe.
Suite 600 was Tejas Cuts was at suite 600 but only operated from 2007 to 2016 and as of this writing (1/2026) Starships and Dragons5, named after a similar establishment that operated in town years ago. Suite 650 is Heights Finance as of January 2026 and Covington Credit as of 2022. Sam Nails is at 700 as of 2022 (formerly Creative Nails), suite 750 is Direct Auto Insurance as of August 2025 (this was briefly Wild Side Smoke Shop in 2015, but I don't have any other information on former tenants), at suite 800 is Cindie's (link NSFW) out of Houston. This opened in March 2008 and nearly closed for violating an ordinance about sexually oriented business locating, but got away with it based on what percentage of the merchandise was sexually explicit or not. Finally, at suite 900 is Chubby's Public House. This opened in 2022, replacing Master Yakiniku (2016-2021?), Lanna Thai (2012-2015), and Teriyaki Park (2007-2011).
Additionally, there's a smaller building, 3600 Texas Avenue, at Dunn Street, has four smaller tenants. As of August 2022, these include Vape City (suite 100, All Phone Toys from 2006 to sometime in 2021), a vacancy at suite 200 (formerly Fred Loya Insurance, still here in April 2021 despite the reopening of the former RadioShack building at 614 East Villa Maria Road not far away), Easy Phone Repairs at suite 300, this was Jackson Hewitt from before 2007 to around 2015-2016, and Audible Hearing Centers in suite 400, opened in the mid-2010s.
1. Instagram won't work if you aren't logged in or (if you're like me) have a Tampermonkey script that will let you see everything.
2. You can't purchase this game anymore, as it was a digital game without a physical version. A dispute with Cooking Mama's IP holder meant that the game was pulled within two years of release. It didn't get good reviews, though. I don't think you're missing much.
3. Closed August 2024. In this post, I listed ten places that had gone under that year, and it mentions that there may have been more. Looks like I was right!
4. With a name like that, you'd think the waitresses would have something to show for it, but nope, just a bad pun.
5. It still lacks a sign...at least the last time I was in that area.
Editor's Note: Culpepper Plaza's article has gotten a major update with lots of former tenant information.
