Brooks Running is planting its flag in Houston, with plans to build a new retail location inside the MKT shopping center at 600 N. Shepherd Drive in the Heights. The project involves renovating an existing 4,466-square-foot space, carries an estimated cost of $1.3 million, and is slated to break ground in late 2026 with completion expected by spring 2027.
The plans were documented in a project filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, as reported by Community Impact. The Seattle-based brand will join a roster of tenants at MKT that already includes Lululemon, Ray-Ban and J. Aimer Jewelry, per the same filing details. Founded in Philadelphia in 1914, Brooks Running originally made ballet slippers before switching to running gear, and the company now bills itself as an American sports brand specializing in high-performance running shoes, apparel and gear for men and women, offering shoe models including the Ghost, Adrenaline GTS, Glycerin, Hyperion and Cascadia alongside apparel like waterproof jackets, joggers, sports bras, t-shirts and shorts.
A Company Riding a Growth Wave
The Houston store lands amid a broader surge for Brooks. The company, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, surpassed $1 billion in sales during the first nine months of 2024 while holding the top market share in adult performance running footwear, according to Front Office Sports. In February 2026, Brooks reported 16% year-over-year global revenue growth for 2025, fueled by a 13% increase in North America sales and a doubling of its Brooks Run Club loyalty membership to more than 2 million runners, per Business Wire.
That momentum has reshaped how the company does business. Brooks established a dedicated Americas leadership structure in March 2026, appointing a Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Americas to oversee retail, direct-to-consumer, wholesale, and marketing under one executive, Business Wire also reported. Brooks began a targeted brick-and-mortar push in October 2026 with a 3,980-square-foot store on Newbury Street in Boston, according to Wisevoter. Houston is shaping up as the next stop in that retail expansion.
Why MKT Heights Made the Cut
The choice of location is no accident. MKT, completed in 2020, converted five 1970s industrial warehouse buildings into a 218,000-square-foot development with 100,000 square feet of creative office space and over 100,000 square feet of retail and dining, according to Triten Real Estate Partners. The property features a 2,000-linear-foot urban boardwalk connecting directly to the Heights Hike and Bike Trail, giving the site a Bike Score of 80 and a Walk Score of 69, both well above Houston's city averages of 49 and 48, per Realty News Report.
Ownership of the complex changed hands earlier this year, with Houston real estate investment firm MetroNational acquiring MKT Heights in March 2026 through a joint venture with original developers Radom Capital and Triten Real Estate Partners, Realty News Report reported. Just next door, developers broke ground in June 2025 on a $10 million adaptive-reuse conversion of the historic 1909 Swift & Company meatpacking building, adding another 60,000 square feet of retail, restaurant, and office space along the same trail corridor, according to the Houston Chronicle. Together, those moves are turning the Shepherd Drive corridor into a dense hub for outdoor-oriented shopping and dining.
A City Built for Running Gear
Houston's appetite for performance running shoes isn't hard to explain. The Chevron Houston Marathon weekend each January is the city's largest single-day sporting event, drawing more than 250,000 runners, spectators, and volunteers, according to RaceRaves. Brooks' core Ghost and Adrenaline models alone hold a combined market share of more than 10% in U.S. footwear retail, Hoodline reported in a prior report on the brand's expansion. For a company doubling down on physical retail in trail-adjacent, high-foot-traffic corridors, a spot along one of Houston's most active pedestrian arteries fits the pattern established in Boston and now coming to the Heights.
