Panther Creek's Old Randalls Space Now Belongs to Sprouts and an Indoor Playground

Panther Creek Village Center has a grocery store again. Sprouts Farmers Market opened at 4775 W. Panther Creek Drive on Saturday, September 12, according to the company's announcement. It is the chain's 500th store across 25 states. But Sprouts did not take the whole Randalls building. Regency Centers, which leases the center, lists Sprouts at 30,478 square feet and Lava Island, an indoor playground, at 37,202 square feet right next to it. The larger half of the old anchor is going to a children's attraction. Add The Woodlands Children's Museum a few doors down, and this village center will soon have more floor space for kids than for groceries.

Six and a Half Years Without a Grocer

People who have lived in Panther Creek since before 2020 remember the Randalls. Newer neighbors have only known an empty storefront. Here is how the space got from one to the other.

1. January 13, 2020. Woodlands Online reported that Randalls planned to close its Panther Creek store. The chain called the closing stores underperforming and said it would reinvest in its remaining Houston-area locations.
2. February 15, 2020. The store closed. Community Impact reported that Randalls blamed underperformance in a competitive market.
3. March 5, 2025. Community Impact found a Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing for a 30,478-square-foot Sprouts in the former Randalls. At that point the opening was forecast for 2027.
4. June 25, 2026. Community Impact reported that Lava Island would open next to Sprouts in early 2027.
5. September 12, 2026. Sprouts opened, well ahead of the 2027 forecast. There was a 6:45 a.m. ribbon-cutting before the doors opened at 7 a.m.

From closing day to the Sprouts ribbon-cutting was about six years and seven months. Even the 2025 filing sized Sprouts at well under half of what Randalls had left behind. Nobody ever planned for one store to take the whole box.

Why the Box Didn't Come Back Whole

In October 2025, nearly a year before Sprouts opened, Community Impact looked at the problem facing all of The Woodlands' village centers. Each one was planned around an anchor grocery store. Since 2020, Randalls and Kroger have closed several stores in the area. Panther Creek and Sterling Ridge both lost their grocery anchors in that time, and the Sterling Ridge Kroger closed in April 2025.

Two explanations from that reporting account for the split.

First, the grocer most in demand in the Houston retail market is H-E-B. Colliers' Wade Greene told Community Impact that the empty village-center spaces sit too close to existing H-E-B stores. So the chain with the biggest appetite for new stores was unlikely to fill a box of this size.

Second, shopping habits changed. Craig Eissler, vice chair of The Woodlands Township board, said the pandemic, gig work and delivery services had changed how residents shop, since anyone can now order from any grocery store from home.

Regency's senior leasing agent, Rip Reynolds, described a plan that matches what is now being built:

"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."

In that same interview, Reynolds said Regency was already talking with prospects for "the remaining anchor space in Panther Creek." Eight months later, that space had a name.

The Split, in Square Feet

Regency's current tenant schedule shows how the old anchor was divided and what sits around it.

The grocery store, the piece that brings the most regular weekly trips, takes 45% of the old Randalls footprint. Lava Island takes the other 55%. Lava Island and the Children's Museum together come to 48,371 square feet, about 18,000 more than Sprouts. For the first time since the center opened, its biggest single use will be play rather than shopping.

Lava Island's website lists the location as "Coming Soon" with a Spring 2027 target. The company describes the concept as a tropical-themed indoor playground with slides, trampolines and themed party rooms. No public construction update has been posted, so treat the opening date as a target.

Where the Kids' Side of the Center Already Lives

Lava Island will have an established neighbor. The Woodlands Children's Museum has been at Panther Creek for 15 years. Executive director Angela Colton told Community Impact in 2025 that the cost of the location has been reasonable. Its public hours are Tuesday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This fall's museum calendar falls during the first season the center has had a grocery store again:

• Fall workshops run August 31 through November 20. They include new ballet and movement classes with On Pointe Academy and a Pre-K readiness program for 3-year-olds.
• An after-dark family night with a bats-and-bugs theme is on Friday, October 16.
• The two-day Spooktacular is on Friday, October 30, and Saturday, October 31.

Until Lava Island opens, one parking lot already holds a museum visit, a grocery run and a sit-down lunch. The Republic Grille, at Suite 490, serves Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Regency's schedule also lists Los Cucos Mexican Cafe, Brooklyn Cafe, Sapporo Japanese Bistro Sushi, Crust Pizza Co., TCBY, Starbucks and Subway.

The everyday-errand tenants were here through the empty years: Village Cleaners, CVS, Panther Creek Pet Clinic, Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming, Village Cuts, TNT Nails and Woodlands Eye Associates. Sprouts adds the one stop that was missing. It's the reason a pharmacy pickup, a dry-cleaning drop-off and a week of groceries can now happen without leaving the village.

What Is Still in Motion

A few pieces of the center are unsettled, and it helps to know which ones.

The facelift. In October 2025, Reynolds said planned improvements included new beams, paint and light fixtures. Republic Grille owner Terry McBurney told Community Impact that updating the center would help it attract tenants. No 2026 report confirms that this exterior work has started. For now it is still a plan.

Planet Fitness. A Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing registered in April 2026 lists an interior fit-out for "Planet Fitness | The Woodlands." It is scheduled to start November 2 and finish December 31, 2026. The filing describes removing the previous tenant's interior and building out for a new tenant. Regency already lists Planet Fitness at the center, so the filing alone doesn't show whether this is a renovation or a change in operator.

Small vacancies. Regency lists three open spaces of 1,600, 975 and 3,736 square feet. The 3,512-square-foot pad is still labeled PNC Bank. In 2025, Community Impact described that former bank building as vacant and available for sublease.

Sterling Ridge, a few miles west, shows the other way this could have gone. In October 2025, Reynolds said Regency was negotiating with an unnamed tenant for 36,000 square feet at Sterling Ridge Village Center. Regency's current page for that center lists 30,729 square feet available and names no new anchor. Panther Creek got its anchor back by splitting it into two tenants. Sterling Ridge's former Kroger space, closed since April 2025, still has none.

Both halves of the old Randalls now have leases. One has been open since September 12, and the other is targeting spring 2027 next to the Children's Museum.

The Panther Creek Village Center lease sheet looks very different from the one in 2020. If you own nearby and are wondering whether a grocery store and a coming indoor playground change how buyers see your street, We Sell The Woodlands can walk you through it. Request a Free Home Valuation & Make-Ready Consultation, and we'll show you what's changed around your address since the last time you checked.