Several new businesses have opened in early 2026 or are planning to open this year in The Woodlands area. Here is a look at a few of them, including a new restaurant in Spring as well as upcoming businesses in Hughes Landing and on Kuykendahl Road.

Williams Sonoma opening this fall at Hughes Landing in The Woodlands
Williams Sonoma will open a 5,000-square-foot store at Hughes Landing Retail Row, Howard Hughes announced on March 25.

The store has a signature assortment of high-quality kitchenware, cookware, small appliances, home furnishings and gourmet food products, according to the news release.

• Opening this fall

• 1925 Hughes Landing Blvd., The Woodlands

Mimi Garden expands with new Spring location
Mimi Garden officials confirmed the eatery expanded with a new location in Spring on March 31. Per previous Community Impact reporting, Mimi Garden was founded in The Woodlands in December 2024.

• Opened March 31

• 202 Sawdust Road, Ste 110, Spring

Artisan and Vine is opening a location in The Woodlands, according to a company official. Work is slated to complete May 5, according to a Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation listing.

The market is a speciality grocery store offering a cafe, a bakery, boutique, wine and coffee shop.

What's on the menu: Menu items will include items such as breakfast tacos, croissants and smoked ham and Swiss cheese on a pretzel roll.

• Opening in July
• 2455 Research Forest Drive, The Woodlands

The American Heart Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to heart and brain health, in March announced two leadership appointments for the Greater Houston and Gulf Coast markets.

Key players: Kellie Armstrong was named senior executive director for the Greater Houston market, and Lisa Fenley was appointed executive director for the Gulf Coast, according to a news release.

More details: With more than 20 years of nonprofit leadership experience, Fenley will oversee initiatives to expand heart health education, CPR awareness, women’s health programming and community partnerships focused on improving cardiovascular outcomes, according to the release.

Student homelessness increased across many Greater Houston-area school districts over the last five school years, while foster care numbers showed a more uneven pattern from district to district, according to Texas Education Agency data released March 6.

The overview: Community Impact reviewed TEA data for 28 Greater Houston-area school districts to compare the number of enrolled students identified as experiencing homelessness or living in foster care in 2025-26 versus 2021-22. In the foster care data, Fort Bend ISD and Aldine ISD had the highest counts in 2025-26. 

In the homelessness data, Houston ISD stood above the rest of the districts shown, nearing 6,000 students in 2025-26. Other districts, including Alief ISD, Clear Creek ISD, Conroe ISD and Fort Bend ISD, all showed higher homeless student counts in 2025-26 than in 2021-22, while several others were flat or down.

Three medical cannabis businesses have been conditionally approved to participate in the Texas Compassionate Use Program, state officials announced April 1.

The big picture: The companies received conditional licenses from the Texas Department of Public Safety in an effort to expand access to medical cannabis products. Under the compassionate use program, physicians can prescribe medical-grade, low-THC products to eligible patients in partnership with licensed dispensaries.

Zooming in: Two of the three businesses given conditional licenses April 1 are affiliated with existing medical cannabis dispensaries that work in several other states. The new licensees are:

• GTI Texas, LLC (doing business as RISE Dispensaries) in West Texas
• Cresco Labs Texas, LLC in East Texas
• Texas Medica Collective, LLC in Northeast Texas