Top Small Venue

Legendary Houston dance club named one of America's top small music venues

The legendary Houston club Numbers has just earned another top honor: It has been named to the list of the 50 Best Small Music Venues in America.

The website ClickItTicket.com compiled the list to highlight the iconic performance spots for live music around the nation where "you’ll be so close to the action that you’ll be able to read the brand name on the drummer’s sticks."

About Numbers, the compilers of the list wrote: "There are families in Houston where grandparents, parents, and offspring all saw their first concert at Numbers (not at the same time of course). Come Friday night for “Classic Numbers” (music, videos, the 1980s, and a DJ). It’s Houston’s longest running weekly event. One more thing you need to know: Numbers is home to a huge dance floor."

The lower Westheimer nightspot has been in business for more than 40 years. It opened as the Million Dollar City Dump, featuring Las Vegas style reviews. At the height of the disco craze, it changed directions and opened as Numbers, a Disco Theater, in 1978. The opening act was the Village People.

Over the years, such performers as Grace Jones, REM, Alanis Morissette, Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails, Melissa Etheridge and Maroon Five have performed at the venue, which holds around 800 people in a standing format and 350 in a table setting.

While the exterior of the building, featuring larger-than-life drawings of famous singers, looks much the same, the interior has recently been updated with LED lighting and lasers over the stage and dance floor, high resolution video projectors and flat screens, an upgraded sound system and newly furnished dressing rooms.

In addition to live musical acts in such genres as underground hip-hop, electronic and indie music (Robert DeLong recently drew a large crowd), a burlesque show on the last Friday of every month and special events, such as a charity performance by the national touring cast of Book of Mormon and recent tributes to David Bowie, draw large crowds.

And the "Classic Numbers" gathering on Friday night continues to be a staple for partiers of all ages who want to dance to a wide array of '80s and '90s hits.

In addition, filmmakers Marcus Pontello Jeromy Barber and James Templeton are putting together a documentary on Numbers, called Friday I'm In Love, funded by a $50,000 Kickstarter campaign.

Other small Texas venues on the list are the Mohawk in Austin and The Prophet Bar in Dallas.

Numbers is a fixture on lower Westheimer.

dance

RETAIL WATCH

Bed Bath & Beyond returns to Houston via Container Store merger

The Container Store/Facebook

The Container Store is merging with Bed Bath & Beyond.

Bed Bath & Beyond is making a comeback — well, sort of. The Container Store is merging 98 of its nationwide stores with the once-mighty home goods chain, including the its Houston-area locations location in Uptown, Champions, and Friendswood.

On April 6, Bed Bath & Beyond entered into a merger agreement to purchase The Container Store for $150 million. A release says combining the two concepts’ goods will “better serve how customers live today.”

In recent years, both brands have been struggling as part of the “retail apocalypse” of big box stores. In December 2024, Coppell-based Container Store filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy without shedding any stores.

Bed Bath & Beyond, meanwhile, collapsed in summer 2023. After filing for Chapter 11, it liquidated all of its U.S. stores. It shuttered three Houston-area stores in 2020, followed by all of its remaining locations in 2023.

As part of the merger, The Container Store will be streamlining its offerings, cutting around 30 percent of its stock. Stores will be offering clearance prices on the items starting Friday, April 24. The Container Store will also be opening an hour early on April 25-26, giving early birds an extra 5 percent discount.

“This is a reset with purpose,” said Jen Pape, Senior Vice President of Stores at The Container Store, in a release. “We are actively reshaping our stores to make room for what’s next. By streamlining select categories today, we’re creating the space and flexibility needed to introduce Bed Bath & Beyond products and deliver a more complete home experience for our customers.”

The merger affects 12 Texas stores, including:

Arlington — 4000 Arlington Highlands Blvd #101
Austin — 9629 Research Blvd
Dallas — 13710 Dallas Pkwy
Dallas — 7700 W NW Hwy #500
Fairview — 151 East Stacy Rd
Fort Worth — 4601 West Fwy #500
Friendswood — 18760 Gulf Fwy
Houston — 5466 FM 1960 W
Houston — 2511 Post Oak Blvd
Plano — 8460 Parkwood Blvd
San Antonio — 333 NW Loop 410
Southlake — 1200 Main St

shopping mergers organization home goods retail