"In The Woodlands, we see opportunities beyond traditional grocers, including fitness, medical and service-driven uses that still draw consistent traffic and support neighboring retailers." Rip Reynolds, a senior leasing agent with Regency Centers, told Community Impact this in October 2025. At the time, the Kroger at Sterling Ridge Village Center had been closed for about six months. Regency's comment read like a forecast. Nearly a year later it describes the center.
The Woodlands built its village centers around a grocery anchor, as Community Impact's reporting on that master-planned model describes. If you live in Carlton Woods, Sterling Ridge has long been the village center nearest your gate. The club's directions route visitors west on Woodlands Parkway and then right onto Carlton Woods Drive, so the parkway is the daily path in and out. Community Impact counts Carlton Woods as part of Sterling Ridge. The Houston Chronicle calls Sterling Ridge the community's unofficial home and notes that Carlton Woods is technically a village of its own. Either way, 6700 Woodlands Parkway is where the errands used to happen. What the center is turning into decides which of them still do.
How the anchor came out
Kroger announced the closure in February 2025 and gave May 6 as the planned last day. It pointed shoppers to three remaining stores serving the area: Alden Bridge at 8000 Research Forest Drive, Cochran's Crossing at 4747 Research Forest Drive, and 24350 Kuykendahl Road in Tomball. The actual ending came earlier. Woodlands Online reported that April 28 was the last day to buy the remaining inventory, and an employee said the store would close the next day. Kroger told KHOU that its Houston-area closures were part of a companywide push to run more efficiently. It did not give a reason specific to Sterling Ridge.
Regency didn't try to find one tenant for the whole box. It split it.
Half of the old box is now a 24/7 gym
Crunch Fitness now has Suite 600, and its location page lists 24/7 access and a full class schedule. In March 2026, Reynolds told Community Impact the gym would open in September or October. A Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing put the build-out at $1.5 million, with work starting March 15.
Here is what the August preview from Woodlands Mommy listed for the space:
- A dedicated Crunch Reform Pilates studio, the chain's new instructor-led reformer program
- A hot yoga studio, HIIT and group fitness classes
- Personal training, sauna, HydroMassage and tanning
- Kids Crunch babysitting for ages 1 to 12
That list matters for the center. A grocery stop takes twenty minutes and then the car leaves. A Pilates class or a sauna session brings people back several times a week, often at off-peak hours, and someone who has just finished a class is a likely customer for the businesses a few doors down. That is the "consistent traffic" Reynolds described.
Regency's property listing puts Crunch at 35,802 square feet. In October 2025, Reynolds said lease talks were underway with an unnamed tenant for about 36,000 square feet at Sterling Ridge, a use "in line with other uses previously found in the community." That figure is very close to Crunch's footprint.
The other half is still open
The same Regency listing shows one available space in the 128,643-square-foot center. It is Suite 16A, at 30,729 square feet. Its number sits next to Crunch's 16B, so 16A is the remaining former Kroger space. In March, Reynolds said no tenant had been finalized for it and that Regency was talking with several prospects. No tenant has been announced publicly since then.
Regency's stated direction is fitness, medical and service uses. Look at the rest of the roster and that direction is already well established.
What the roster says the center is for
Regency's current tenant list for Sterling Ridge Village Center sorts into a few groups:
Body and wellness: Crunch Fitness, Beem Light Sauna, Boss Chiropractic & Rehabilitation, Topcoat Nail Boutique, L'Avantage Salon, Great Clips and Sport Clips.
Appointments: Sterling Ridge Dental, Child and Family Eye Care and Village Vet.
Dining and treats: Perry's Grille, CAVA, Beef Shabu, Brothers Pizza Express, Cellar Twenty Four, Marble Slab and Sweet Cups.
Errands: CVS, The UPS Store, Hallmark, Natural Pawz, Linda Morgan's Unique Interior and State Farm Insurance.
Wellness and appointment-based businesses make up the largest group, and with Crunch in place they also hold the largest square footage. Most of these trips can't be replaced by delivery, which is the point Craig Eissler, vice chair of The Woodlands Township board, made in 2025. He said delivery services now let people "shop from any grocery store they desire from the comfort of their own home." A haircut, a dental cleaning or a reformer class can't arrive on the porch.
Some tenants felt the gap the grocer left. In that same 2025 report, Shelli Moran, owner of Cellar 24, said leasing costs had worried her as foot traffic slowed. A busy gym in the anchor space is the clearest fix for that problem the center has had since spring 2025. If you live nearby and want Perry's Grille, CAVA and the wine bar to stay, your post-workout dinner or Saturday stop matters more now than it did when Kroger brought in the traffic.
Where the grocery run went
With Sterling Ridge out of the grocery business for now, the shopping list spreads across several centers. Each one fits a different kind of trip:
- Indian Springs H-E-B, 10777 Kuykendahl Road. The full-service H-E-B on the west side.
- Trader Joe's, 10868 Kuykendahl Road, in The Woodlands Crossing Shopping Center, on the same road as that H-E-B.
- Kroger Alden Bridge, 8000 Research Forest Drive. The store Kroger listed first when it closed Sterling Ridge, with Cochran's Crossing at 4747 Research Forest Drive as the other remaining location in The Woodlands.
- Sprouts Farmers Market, 4775 W. Panther Creek Drive, in the former Randalls space. Community Impact reported the store opened Sept. 10, 2026, and Woodlands Online announced a grand-opening weekend for Sept. 11 to 13.
- Whole Foods Market, 1925 Hughes Landing Boulevard, and H-E-B Woodlands Market, 9595 Six Pines, for trips that also take you toward the Waterway or Market Street.
Sprouts is the most useful comparison for Sterling Ridge. Panther Creek lost its Randalls in 2020. In March 2025, Community Impact reported Sprouts would arrive in 2027. It opened about a year ahead of that forecast, but only after the village center had gone six years without a grocer. So a grocery anchor can come back to a Woodlands village center. At Sterling Ridge, Regency has publicly pointed toward other uses, and half of the old box has already gone to one of them.
A few fall stops on the same loop
The changes along the west side's retail corridors also reach Alden Bridge. La Madeleine French Bakery & Cafe opened Aug. 19 at The Plazas at Alden Bridge, 7901 Research Forest Drive, Suite 1700, on the same road as the Alden Bridge Kroger. It's an easy stop on a Research Forest grocery run.
Back at Sterling Ridge, the Township's free Pumpkin Smash is Sunday, Nov. 1, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Sterling Ridge Park and Ride, 8001 McBeth Way. The smashed pumpkins are composted.
The open space at Sterling Ridge is still Suite 16A, at 30,729 square feet. Whoever leases it will decide whether the village center adds a second traffic anchor alongside Crunch or keeps relying on its smaller tenants.
Changes at a village center like the Sterling Ridge Kroger closing or a new anchor moving in can shift how buyers judge everyday convenience for nearby homes. That includes Carlton Woods. If you'd like to know how those shifts read in today's market for your property, Janet Chavez can walk you through it. Request your confidential home valuation.
