A source at Spec's corporate offices confirmed today that the Houston-based chain of stores will be expanding to the rest of the state by the end of this year. Family-owned and -operated since 1962, Specs has been a longtime presence in Houston, and it's now looking to bring its vast selection of wines, beers, spirits and gourmet foods to other markets across the state.

The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex will be the largest target for Spec's expansion, although our source noted that other cities are already in the works: "We're opening El Paso in the next couple of weeks," they said, and a Killeen location should be open shortly as well.

As to whether this was in the works for several years or simply a recent opportunity, the source replied: "We happened upon [the expansion opportunity], and we've gradually grown that way. We've been branching out already."

To wit, there are Spec's stores as far west as Live Oak (just outside San Antonio) and as far north as Waco. But the big city of Dallas represents an entirely new frontier for the chain.

"The faces and the people in Dallas -- or wherever we decide to go next -- is who we want to represent Spec's," said the source, who noted that they'd be hiring locally for all of their new stores. "We want to create jobs out there."

But Spec's isn't turning its back on its original market, where it intends to maintain as strong a presence as always with its nearly 50 Houston stores: "It's our hometown," the source said.

Meanwhile, we're just excited to know that we'll be able to find that friendly Spec's bunny sign just about anywhere in the Lone Star State -- Dallas included.