The Kolache Shoppe at Heights Central Station: A Family Bakery Story

On a weekday morning at 1031 Heights Blvd, inside the Heights Central Station building, the case at the Kolache Shoppe fills up fast with golden, glossy pastries and goes just as fast. This family-run Czech bakery is one of the neighborhood's most reliable breakfast stops, and its story runs deep: a recipe born in 1970, a second location opened in the Heights in 2018, and a family that still bakes from the original formula. Here is the story behind one of the Heights' most beloved morning rituals.

A Recipe That Started on Richmond Avenue in 1970

The Kolache Shoppe's story begins in 1970, when Erwin Ahrens opened a small bakery on Richmond Avenue in Houston. His Czech recipes, handed down through his family, became an institution: Texans have a soft spot for a properly made kolache, and a good Czech bakery keeps the faithful coming back for decades. Ahrens' shop grew into one of the city's most respected names in kolaches, and the recipe he developed more than half a century ago is still the one the bakery uses today.

A Second Chapter in the Heights

In 2014, Randy and Lucy Hines took over the business, keeping it in family hands and holding fast to the original recipe. Then, in December 2018, they opened the second location here in the Heights, at the corner of Heights Boulevard and 11th Street in the Heights Central Station building. It was a natural fit: the Heights is a neighborhood that loves a classic, and the bakery's mix of daily regulars and weekend visitors from the farmers market up the street made it an instant anchor for the block.

What to Order

A true kolache is a sweet, tender Czech pastry with a filling in the center, and the Kolache Shoppe keeps the classics going: fruit fillings, cream cheese, and the poppyseed version that Czech bakers take seriously. For the savory crowd, the shop also does the meat-stuffed rolls that Texas affectionately calls kolaches, wrapping sausage and other fillings in the same soft dough. Add coffee from the Heights Central Station cafes next door, and you have the classic Heights morning: pastry in one hand, cup in the other, sitting on a bench watching the neighborhood wake up.

The Heights' Czech Roots

The Kolache Shoppe lands in the Heights as a natural part of a bigger story. Houston has one of the country's most vibrant Czech and German heritages, and the region's immigrant bakers helped make the kolache a Texas breakfast staple. Around the Heights, German and Czech families shaped early neighborhoods north of downtown, and their influence still shows up in everything from church names to the comfort food on local menus. A family bakery carrying a 1970 Czech recipe into the 2020s is a small, delicious piece of that continuity.

Why It Matters to the Neighborhood

Independent, family-run businesses are what make a neighborhood feel like a neighborhood, and the Kolache Shoppe is a perfect example. It is a place with a recognizable face behind the counter, a recipe with a story, and a morning line of neighbors that feels like community. When you buy a kolache here, you are supporting a family business that chose the Heights on purpose, and you are keeping a Texas baking tradition alive one pastry at a time.

Next time you are on Heights Boulevard, make the stop. Grab a couple of kolaches to go, take them to the esplanade or the farmers market at Heights Mercantile, and breakfast in the Heights the way it was meant to be. For more of the neighborhood's best morning tables, see our breakfast guide, and for more family-business stories like this one, start with our look at Hughie's Tavern & Grill.