The firm's broker, Mike Wheeler with Houston's Page Partners, tells GlobeSt.com that the plan is to open nine stores in the region within a year. The hard push starts six months after Northern Tool & Equipment opened its first store, striking a 10-year lease for a 28,714-sf former H-E-B Pantry Store at 7994 Belfort St. in the southeast sector in November 2003.

The chain secured its second store with a sublease through 2016, getting a 25,731-sf vacant PetsMart at the intersection of the Southwest Freeway and Murphy Road on the southwest side of the city. The store opens at the end of July. H. Dean Lane, Jr. of NewQuest Properties represented PetsMart in the sublease negotiations.

Wheeler says August will bring the opening of a 26,211-sf build-to-suit at the intersection of US Highway 290 and Hollister Road in the northwest corridor. The retailer signed a 10-year lease with options with Northwest Marketplace Ltd., a development partnership led by Dallas-based Granite Properties.

Wheeler says he's working on land deals along North Freeway in North Houston and Katy Freeway in West Houston for two more stores. He says the plan is to use out-of-state preferred developers for the construction.

Wheeler is scouting blue-collar communities with an abundance of small businesses such as auto shops, landscaping firms and contractors. The firm's preferred location is neighborhoods in which a majority of residents are homeowners. Northern Tool & Equipment, a favorite with the do-it-yourself crowd, has 44 stores in 10 states. Its other Texas locations are Garland and Richardson in the north and San Antonio in the central region.