Montrose is about to trade its shuttered Starbucks pickup window for a full-on neighborhood hangout. Wah Coffee, a Richmond-born cafe that launched last year, is taking over the closed Starbucks space and expects to open by mid‑March, turning the once grab-and-go spot into a sit-down shop geared for night‑owl caffeine runs.
According to Chron, the Montrose buildout will add seating where the pickup window used to be. Planned hours run roughly 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. most days, stretching to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and the owners say feedback from locals played a big role in how the new space came together.
Owner says community shaped the shop
"When people speak about community in Houston, Montrose is one of the first places that comes up," co‑owner Meeran Ahmad told Chron. Ahmad said the team tapped online surveys and social media to dial in the menu and layout so the cafe would mirror neighborhood tastes instead of dropping in a one-size-fits-all concept.
Where the space came from
The Montrose Starbucks closed in 2025 as part of a corporate review of underperforming pickup‑only and other locations, a shift Starbucks tied to its "Back to Starbucks" plan. That restructuring cut about 1% of North American company‑operated stores and included reductions in some non‑retail roles, a move examined by AP News when the closures were first detailed. Starbucks outlined the strategy and its reasoning in an internal memo to employees earlier in 2025.
From Richmond to Montrose
Wah Coffee debuted its first location in March 2025 at 8818 Harlem Rd in Richmond, where it promotes a lineup of lattes, matcha drinks and Korean‑inspired food on its official site. The owners say the Montrose shop will bring that same mix of beverages and bites into a larger, more relaxed setting than the pickup window it replaces, according to Wah Coffee.
The opening follows a familiar pattern of local operators stepping into storefronts vacated by national chains, and Montrose regulars are set to gain a new late‑night spot to meet up over coffee. If final permits and build‑out stay on track, the cafe is expected to start pouring drinks by mid‑March.
