Business

Bass Pro Shops to open 72,000-square-foot store as anchor of $80 million Abilene retail project

Bass Pro Shops will open a 72,000-square-foot store as the anchor tenant of Rainy Creek, an $80 million, 35-acre retail development along Interstate 20 in Abilene. Developer Wallace Ventures plans more than 200,000 additional square feet of shops, restaurants and a gym, as the fast-growing West Texas city adds major projects and population around its expanding I‑20 corrid

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Texas employers logged 27,188 major layoffs in 2025, led by a few large corporate cuts

Texas companies reported 27,188 layoffs in 2025 through WARN filings, a slight drop from 2024 but still driven by major cuts at Tyson Foods, FedEx, Chewy, TTEC and Southwest Airlines, along with smaller reductions across logistics, manufacturing and services. The data show how a handful of large events and dozens of moderate layoffs reshaped workforces statewide even as the broader Texas economy continued to add jobs.

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Houston oil and gas industry expected to cut 3,200 jobs in 2026 as prices pressure drilling

A Greater Houston Partnership forecast says upstream oil and gas companies are likely to cut about 3,200 jobs in 2026 as lower crude prices slow drilling, with manufacturing and administrative support sectors also losing thousands of positions. Even so, the region is projected to add nearly 31,000 net jobs overall, led by health care, construction, education and professional services.

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CyrusOne proposes $430 million data center in Whitney as Texas buildout accelerates

CyrusOne has filed plans with Texas regulators to construct a 93,319‑square‑foot, single‑story data center in Whitney, about 35 miles north of Waco, with construction targeted from February 2026 to April 2027. The $430 million project would be the company’s smallest Texas facility and comes amid a broader surge in data center and AI infrastructure investments across the state, including Google’s recently announced $40 billion expansion.

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