[CRAPPY] Blalock Fiesta to close Outside of Central Market and the farmers market, this place has the best produce. My wife and I shop there at least once a month. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5266892.html Fiesta to shut store as road widening eats into parking State says it shouldn't have to relocate, but chain says taking too much of lot By BRAD HEM Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle News that the Fiesta Mart at the Katy Freeway and Blalock will close at year's end surprised and disappointed customers shopping there Thursday. The closing also figures in a dispute between the Houston-based grocery chain and the Texas Department of Transportation. Fiesta spokesman Bernie Murphy blamed the closure on the loss of 1.3 acres TxDOT condemned for the Katy Freeway widening project. "The state took 40 percent of our parking," Murphy said. Fiesta is looking for another location in the area but hasn't found one yet, Murphy said. "We're going to have to let it go," he said. "We hate it, because it's one of our better locations." Fiesta is owned by Houston-based Grocers Supply. The company has 50 Fiesta stores, 36 in the Houston area. By law, TxDOT must pay landowners fair market value for property it takes, and the agency budgeted $480 million for 442 parcels along the 23-mile stretch being widened, said Raquelle Lewis, a spokeswoman for the Katy project. "They just don't go out and take people's property," she said. "The entire process is designed to keep them whole." The matter is in litigation, and neither Lewis nor Murphy would discuss dollar amounts. Fiesta rejected the state's first offer as well as another amount recommended by a court-appointed commission. The dispute is now set for a jury trial next year in Harris County Civil Court-at-Law No. 3, Lewis said. As part of the valuation process, TxDOT determined that claiming part of the property under eminent domain would not force the store to relocate, Lewis said. The state pays more if a business has to move. "The evidence that TxDOT has does not support their claim that they are needing to move because of the condemnation that is taking place along the right of way," Lewis said. Murphy could not be reached later Thursday to respond to that assertion or to answer questions about what will happen to store employees. A Fiesta employee, who declined to give her name, said workers were told they would be given the option of transferring to another store. Fiesta hadn't posted signs Thursday afternoon telling shoppers the store will close Dec. 31, and customers were taken aback when informed of the plan by a Chronicle reporter. "I can't believe it's closing. I've shopped here for years," said Norma Johnson, who drives out of her way at least twice a month to go to the Blalock location. "I like this store. I know where everything is. I like the layout. I don't know where I'm going to do my shopping." Feroze Irani said he drives to the Blalock store from his Katy home a few times a month because the workers are friendly and he likes added services such as free fish-steaming. He was worried his favorite worker would not be able to find another job. "I hope they find something good for her," he said. Chronicle reporter David Kaplan contributed to this story.
Ughhh, what a tragedy!!! I put the blame on tomDelay! that fiesta was the cleanest one i've ever been to. where are we suppose to buy banana leaves for our central american tamales? la michoacana?
That's too bad. That Fiesta is the second-best grocery store in the city, behind the HEB on Fountainview. If they would lose 40% of their parking though, than I don't see how they could continue there (of course, they could possibly knock down the other stores that run along that parking lot -- assuming Fiesta owns them -- and harness some parking there. That might not make economic sense to destroy that revenue stream though.)
I have never been to that HEB but I always considered that Fiesta to be the greatest supermarket(great beer selection, tons of international foods, wide variety of produce, Dickies, a lot of vegetarian foods, etc.)
Yea nothing like being able to buy a 12 pack of MGD, a pair of blue Dickies and an aluminum belt buckle all in the same store.
Because it always smells like fish in there. They sell a bunch of useless crap and their prices are r****ded. Maybe you guys like Fiesta so much because you haven't been in a real Fiesta. Head on over to the Fiesta on Airline and 45 North.
dude i've been to alot of fiestas, i totally disagree with you on prices, especially prices for beef, chicken, and pork, and produce.
OK, I know we have beer snobs, music snobs, political snobs, and HD TV snobs on this bbs, but I never would have guessed we had Fiesta snobs too!
what he's trying to say is that he doesn't like mojados and the places they hang out in... I keed I keed
cleverly described racist post? or elitist. its either one, either you don't like shopping with a bunch of mexicans or poor people or both because i'm sure that's what you mean by not clean. if i'm wrong i apologize but I don't think i'm far off.
LOL! As a whole food shopper, I certainly understand the difference between Kirby vs. Woodway vs. downtown Austin whole foods, BUT, cleanliness is not one of them. It's a grocery store...I'll be buying food there, the all need to be clean! i doubt that's what he meant. i think he meant that some fiestas aren't clean.
I always liked that Fiesta. The other one I really like is the one on OST near Reliant. That's where I always do my early voting. I like to buy produce, cheap beer & packaged goods at Fiesta. Sometimes seafood, especially when I'm making gumbo. Their selection of international foodstuffs can't be beat. I never buy meat there.
Have you been to the HEB on Scott and OST? It smells funny, the produce isn't that great, the cuts of meat are cheap, their wine and beer selection sucks, and they have gang shootings. It's a bad store (I've also heard, btw, it is the most profitable HEB in Houston). HEB actually runs quite a few crappy stores. But they also run Central Market and what I consider the best store in town, the HEB on Fountainview. Which is the real HEB? The truth is, each store is different. The Fiesta on I-10 is great. The Fiesta on S. Main is pretty good. The Fiesta on Wheeler is bad.
Considering I am 100% Mexican, it has nothing to do with who shops there. The place itself is dirty from the parking lot to the meat area. Just go there at around 10pm and you will see what I mean.
