The biggest storefront at 6700 Woodlands Parkway keeps its lights on all night now. Crunch Fitness lists its Sterling Ridge club at Unit 600 as open 24/7, and its class schedule starts with a 5 a.m. HIIT session. That's the same building where Kroger shoppers used to grab milk on the way home. The Kroger has been closed since spring 2025, and Crunch Fitness now fills the space.
The swap changes what the village center is for. Sterling Ridge's shopping center used to be built around a quick grocery stop. Now it's built around places where people spend an hour or more, like a gym, a sauna studio, a wine bar and a hot pot restaurant. The weekly grocery list has moved to a handful of stores along Kuykendahl Road, Research Forest Drive and Panther Creek.
Why the Box Didn't Go to Another Grocer
Community Impact reported that Kroger announced the closing on Feb. 28, 2025, and gave May 6 as the final operating day. The Woodlands Online found the shelves being sold down on April 28, a week earlier than that.
The bigger question was what would come next. In an October 2025 piece on village centers, Community Impact reported that Township leaders and Regency Centers, the center's leasing company, were looking past the single-big-grocer model for empty anchor spaces. Rip Reynolds, a senior leasing agent at Regency, told the outlet, "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."
The same article quoted Township board vice chair Craig Eissler, who said the pandemic "really changed the habits of consumers and residents," and that delivery services let people shop at any grocery store from home.
At the time, Reynolds said lease talks were underway with a tenant for about 36,000 square feet at Sterling Ridge. He didn't name it. Regency's tenant roster now lists Crunch Fitness in a 35,802-square-foot unit.
A Lot That Runs From Before Dawn to After Dinner
Community Impact reported in March 2026 that Crunch was headed to Suite 600 with group classes, strength and cardio equipment, and yoga and spin studios. Construction was set to begin March 15. A May 2026 announcement from the brand described a 35,000-square-foot club operated by franchisee The Undefeated Tribe, with an opening planned for fall. The club's location page now shows round-the-clock hours, a daily class schedule and membership sign-up.
Crunch joins a center where the other newer tenants were already set up for longer visits.
Morning and midday
- Beem Light Sauna, Suite 130, opened June 6, 2025. It offers infrared and red-light therapy, with single sessions or memberships. Its studio page lists Monday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- CAVA, Suite 170, has served Mediterranean bowls, salads and pitas here since January 2022. CAVA's location page lists daily hours of 10:45 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Evening
- Prime Beef Shabu, Suite 250, opened March 28, 2025. It serves Japanese all-you-can-eat hot pot, with meats and vegetables cooked in individual broths.
- Cellar 24, Suite 210, has been the center's wine bar since 2014, pouring boutique wines and craft beer alongside small bites. Its own site lists noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and noon to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. It's closed Sunday and Monday.
- Perry's Grille and Marble Slab round out the dinner-and-dessert stretch on the tenant roster.
The quick errands that don't involve groceries are still here. CVS, The UPS Store, Village Vet, Natural Pawz, Hallmark and Great Clips are all on the current roster. You can still mail a package, pick up a prescription and buy dog food in one stop. The grocery list now goes somewhere else.
Where the Grocery List Goes Now
No single store replaced the Kroger. The weekly shop now goes to one of several stores outside the village, and the right one depends on the time of day and what's on the list. Store hours, from each grocer's own locator page:
| Store | Address | Listed hours |
|---|---|---|
| Kroger Alden Bridge | 8000 Research Forest Dr., The Woodlands | 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily |
| Indian Springs H-E-B | 10777 Kuykendahl Rd., The Woodlands | 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily |
| Trader Joe's | 10868 Kuykendahl Rd., The Woodlands | 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. |
| Sprouts Farmers Market | 4775 W. Panther Creek Dr. | 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. |
| Creekside Park H-E-B | 26500 Kuykendahl Rd., Tomball | 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily |
| Whole Foods Market | 1925 Hughes Landing Blvd., Suite 100, The Woodlands | 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily |
The table breaks into two groups by hours. The Kroger and both H-E-Bs open at 6 a.m. and close at 11 p.m. That window starts earlier and ends later than the specialty stores, so they're the ones still open after a late dinner at the village center. Trader Joe's has the shortest day, closing at 9 p.m.
Sprouts is the newest store on the list. It opened in September 2026. Hello Woodlands announced a Saturday, Sept. 12 opening for what it called the chain's 500th store, and a later Community Impact roundup gives the opening date as Sept. 10. It opened well ahead of schedule. In March 2025, Community Impact had forecast a 2027 opening. Sprouts took over a Panther Creek village center space that had been empty since Randalls left in 2020. That means a Sterling Ridge resident's grocery run can now end at another village's center, the one that did get a grocer back.
The Space Still Waiting on a Tenant
The old Kroger box was bigger than one gym. Regency's current listing for Sterling Ridge Village Center shows one space available, at 30,729 square feet. In March 2026, Community Impact reported that leasing for the rest of the former Kroger space hadn't been finalized. Regency's stated interest in "fitness, medical and service-driven uses" is the best public signal of what kind of tenant could fill it. No tenant has been announced.
Any news about that space will come up in the usual local places. The Sterling Ridge Village Association has its next meeting on Thursday, Nov. 5, 6 to 7 p.m., at 6620 Woodlands Parkway, right on the center's frontage.
November 1 at the Park and Ride
The next big gathering nearby isn't at the shopping center. On Sunday, Nov. 1, The Woodlands Township holds its fifth annual Pumpkin Smash from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Sterling Ridge Park and Ride, 8001 McBeth Way. The event is free. Bring your Halloween pumpkins, smash them, and the remains get turned into compost. The Sunday after Halloween is a good time to clear the front porch.
Kathy Sexton and The Brownstone Group watch changes like this one at the village level, from which shops sign leases at Sterling Ridge Village Center to what goes into the space that's still empty. If you own in Sterling Ridge and wonder how the new lineup on Woodlands Parkway fits into what your home is worth, ask us for a home value estimate built on what's actually happening in your village.