Houston's iconic Picos restaurant, a 41-year-old Mexican restaurant, will close at the end of August due to rising costs and fewer customers. The landlord of the restaurant, Arnaldo Richards, has sold the property to developers for a high-rise project and Richards is now searching for a new location to continue operating. Despite this, Richards remains hopeful about the future of Picos in Houston. The restaurant's former space remains vacant. Food and labor costs, high interest rates, immigration and tariff policies, and decreased consumer sentiment and spending reduction have led to mass closures and contraction in the industry. The number of independent restaurants across the United States declined by 2% during the netting year, equating to a netting rate of 0.3%.