If You Love Montrose-Shop at Fiesta
Or is that just a bygone notion, a remnant from an earlier era when being “hip” entailed something more substantive than skinny jeans, ironic mustaches, or a a willingness to swill down crappy blue collar beer?
by M. Martin
I am, be it freely admitted, older than dirt.
When I first started hanging out in Montrose, Sid Vicious was still alive, Ronald Reagan was merely an embarrassment to the state of California…and Montrose had neighborhood grocery stores. Oh, there were encroachments by large corporate chains-but there was also Butera’s on Bissonnet, The old Alabama Grocery at Jack Street, Richwood Market (AKA “Freaky Foods”) on Richmond, and numerous small examples of what used to be called “Drive-ins”, like Lankford Grocery (still there, but now just a mom and pop burger stand).
One of the biggest “chain stores” in the neighborhood was the Weingarten’s at the corner of W. Alabama and Dunlavy, across from Wilshire Village… my, how things have changed.
The Weingarten family has moved on to the far more lucrative and soulless business of developing real estate, their former operation on West Alabama is now a Fiesta Mart, and the eight acres former occupied by Wilshire Village is now home to “HEB Montrose Market”-a faux Whole Foods the size of a Walmart.
It can be endlessly argued whether this is a good thing or bad thing, but it is certainly a different thing…and probably the end of Montrose as those of us who have called it home for more than a couple of years have known and loved it.
That fucking store is huge, pointless, and directly contrary to anything I have ever thought of as “Montrose Community Values”-hell, the damned thing opened without a beer and wine department. Granted, this is because they are still negotiating an onsite consumption permit from the TABC, but still-a grocery store? In Montrose? That doesn’t sell booze??? Where do you bitches think you are? KINGWOOD?!!
I further question the extent to which anyone particularly needs a store with a frozen food section the size of a squash court. Are a hundred different versions of the same bland and uninspiring frozen dinner essential to anyone’s well being? Isn’t the whole point of living in a community like Montrose that you don’t necessarily buy into the suburban mythos of McMansions, Hummers, and consumer wretched excess?
Or is that just a bygone notion, a remnant from an earlier era when being “hip” entailed something more substantive than skinny jeans, ironic mustaches, or a a willingness to swill down crappy blue collar beer?
I have nothing but admiration for those who attempted to head this tacky behemoth off in favor of a public park, but I knew their efforts were foredoomed. If this really was “The City of Montrose”, it’s entirely possible that Wilshire Village apartments might’ve given way to public green space and a farmer’s market. It’s even possible that Wilshire Village might’ve even been saved from decades of neglect at the hands of a property owner with obvious symptoms of Hoarder’s Syndrome. But alas, Montrose is firmly placed within the municipal limits and business culture of Houston, Texas-which is to say, no culture at all worth mentioning.
Which is to say that “HEB Montrose Market” was probably inevitable and probably the most favorable outcome that could be expected-let’s not forget that the slimeball that demolished Wilshire Village originally planned a couple of high rise towers even more obnoxious than the “Ashby Highrise” that still threatens to appear a few blocks further down Dunlavy at Bissonnet.
Whether or not the ongoing suburbification/gentrification of Montrose is likewise inevitable remains to be seen-and has everything to do with the choices we make as a community.
I doubt that HEB’s corporate management actively conspires to put their across-the-street competitors at Fiesta Mart out of business. But I am certain that they intend to take as much market share as they possibly can from the half dozen or so direct competitors within a two mile radius of their new store-and if the hardest hit competitor happens to be one directly across the street, well, that’s just how the free market works (what are you-some sort of socialist?).
I rather suspect HEB’s management did consider the possibility of putting the River Oaks Rice Epicurean Market out of business when they opened Central Market (again, across the street). But a decade and some change later, Rice Epicurean is still there. It’s there because its loyal customers kept it there.
Even if you don’t particularly like the Dunlavy Fiesta (I know some don’t, for reasons that escape me), do you really like the idea of what is likely to take its place? Just because one developer scumbag didn’t get to put up a hideous high-rise tower on the ruins of Wilshire Village doesn’t mean some other scumbag isn’t going to get to build one on what use to be Fiesta.
So, yeah. If you love Montrose- truly love Montrose as an alternative to the tacky, plastic, tastelessness and bourgeois complacency that makes up 90% of Houston- then you will spend every penny you possibly can at that beautiful old Fiesta Mart. You will not complain about the tiny aisles, and you will not be swayed by the corporate behemoth across the street selling your shitty hipster beer and your extra-firm tofu at loss leader pricing. What you will do is show some loyalty to a merchant that was doing business in your community decades before HEB would’ve even considered it. Because otherwise, this isn’t really a community…and condo-owning douchebags deserve to take what’s left of it.
I’m glad I’m not allergic to pretension, because I would have choked to death reading this article.
You can thank the Lancaster Place Civic Association and the Neartown Super Neighborhood Association for supporting HEB Montrose. In fact, you can call x-city-council candidate David Robinson, president of the Neartown association for all his work to support HEB. These evil associations will ultimately destroy the area and empower HEB to rule lower Montrose. Our very own neighbors sold us out, and for what?
I love Montrose because it is constantly changing and growing ever since I moved in two blocks from the corner of Fiesta and HEB, at the age of 4 months old in 1977. Yes, I was really pissed when my old 7-eleven at W. Alabama and Yoakum that we used to skate to to play arcade games all afternoon went away and became a soccer field, but I still love Montrose, and the Annunciation Orthodox School’s soccer field seems to fit right in.
Montrose has always been about acceptance and weirdness and diversity and change and come on down and party. I don’t think we should stop that tradition now. I’m really frightened by the ongoing talk by people I really love worried about “douchebags” and “outerloopers.” It feels very un-Montrose to me.
And anyway, if we’re gonna do the “it was better back in my day game,” everybody knows that the real Montrose died the day Chicago Pizza died (the building by Menil that became Cafe Artiste and then whatever it is now).
Waugh drive Half Price Books 4 Life!
I love Montrose because it is constantly changing and growing ever since I moved in two blocks from the corner of Fiesta and HEB, at the age of 4 months old in 1977. Yes, I was really pissed when my old 7-eleven at W. Alabama and Yoakum that we used to skate to to play arcade games all afternoon went away and became a soccer field, but I still love Montrose, and the Annunciation Orthodox School’s soccer field seems to fit right in.
Montrose has always been about acceptance and weirdness and diversity and change and come on down and party. I don’t think we should stop that tradition now. I’m really frightened by the ongoing talk by people I really love worried about “douchebags” and “outerloopers.” It feels very un-Montrose to me.
And anyway, if we’re gonna do the “it was better back in my day game,” everybody knows that the real Montrose died the day Chicago Pizza died (the building by Menil that became Cafe Artiste and then whatever it is now).
Waugh drive Half Price Books 4 Life!
1. HEB and Fiesta go after completely different demographics. HEB is clearly attempting to pinch the inner Montrose upmarket crowd away from Randalls in Shepherd Square-which store, when it opened in 1990, did not have a beer and wine section. 2. To me, Fiesta is the interloper; I’ve never forgiven them for occupying the space that used to belong to my beloved Apple Tree. 3. The author praises the diversity of Montrose and then bitches about a store coming in that is . . . different. Self-Awareness on Aisle Four. 4. Somewhere, on Hawthorne or West Main or Hazard, there is an older resident than he, who remembers what a great neighborhood it used to be before that asshole M. Martin moved in and ruined everything.
Joe McDade the English teacher? If so, you were the best teacher I’ve ever had.
I\’m with Jay on this - the spirit of Montrose is such that even if you come down clad head-to-toe in Ed Hardy, if you\’re a nice person and you treat the residents with respect, you should be just as welcome as the hippies and the hipsters and the transvestites and the punk-rock kids. That being said, I think the one losing business will be Disco Kroger, not Fiesta… and frankly, Disco Kroger could use a kick in the ass since their prices are just comparatively stupid. Fiesta has a loyal customer base, cheaper produce and the primo wine section, and it\’s still easier to get in and out of there for a quick stop. I was already going to HEB on Buffalo Speedway for the kind of things that can\’t really be found anywhere else (unusual specialty items, the same quality of fresh seafood for which Central Market charges far more, etc.), and it\’s nice to not have to leave the \’hood for that now. HEB is just another option for us, just as the new Whole Foods is. I just checked the place out, and liked the setting and the staff quite a lot - it will improve once they get the kinks worked out, like the beer and wine section (I agree with the author that opening in Montrose without that is a big faux pas).
In addition, they\’ve supplied decent jobs to a bunch of Montrosians that really needed them… so there\’s something to be said for that, too.
Note: I am in no way affiliated with HEB, I\’ve just lived in too many cities where the only grocery options are Crappy Kroger, Crappy Kroger down the street, Overpriced Niche Store, Dirty Neglected Publix, and Crappy Kroger a block down from Dirty Neglected Publix. Choices are nice.
Brad: Yes, and thank you.
I totally agree with this article. I think you’re an idiot not to see what this HEB obviously at the very least represents for our community.
I’ll give my business to that Fiesta until I move out of Third Ward and out of Houston, and for one simple reason: For a long time, they were the closest supermarket to my damn-near-atop-TSU home that sold six-packs of Ace Pear.
It’s enough.
LATFH
This is a great debate. I didn’t really know it was ongoing, as I’ve just come back from out of town. Funny thing is, I had a wine tasting canceled there due to lack of TABC permits. Uh, yeah, not too cool in Montrose!
I don’t really have anything to add to this stimulating conversation except ~ I think you are very cool Mr. McDade. You obviously made an impact on Brad’s life! This is what teachers do. I find this idea (education) a much more relevent topic to discuss. I’m just sayin… xoxo
Dear FPH,
It seems to me that you could use some better writers or that your writers could stand to try a bit harder on producing something of quality. The argument that Mr. Martin presents in his article is not a bad one; it is simply written in a manner that makes the author sound foolish, a bit childish, and intentionally inflammatory which only helps to discredit the message that he is trying to spread (corporate chains are crushing the spirit of community, etc. etc.)
As a person who is very much concerned with the ways in which the inner loop is developing, I can relate to and wholeheartedly empathize with the author. Mega-stores are not what this city needs more of; they\’re not what any place needs more of.
Lines like \"That fucking store is huge, pointless, and directly contrary to anything I have ever thought of as “Montrose Community Values…\" do not help the author make his point and should have been edited out. (By the way, do you guys even edit the things that you print? Really.)
\"That fucking store is huge…\" Nice to know. Thanks for pointing this out. I probably would have never noticed without this apt descriptor.
\"…pointless…\" This is just childish. I am imagining a teen wearing a Blood on the Dance Floor T-shirt saying, \"Mom! I don\’t like grocery stores! There\’s fucking pointless!!!\" Actually, I think that you can call this HEB all sorts of nasty things, but not pointless. The point of the store is to sell food because people must eat. So, that\’s the point of it.
\"…contrary to anything I have ever thought of as Montrose Community Values…\" I\’m a little confused by Mr. Martin’s use of capitalization here. Also, being that Montrose is comprised of many different types of people, I don\’t think that it is fair for the author to imply that there is a strict set of Montrosian values that must be abided by. Mr. Martin may have his own set of values, but many other Montrose residents (even ones with more Montrose street cred than he) might have other values.
One point that was never mentioned in this article which is really at the heart of this issue is the qualitative cost of this HEB. Do residents of Montrose want a mega-store that will create traffic congestion, bring in people from other parts of town (again, creating more congestion)? Do they want a store that does not fit with the pre-existing fabric of the neighborhood?
Irony: HEB has better tortillas than Fiesta
FPH has become a joke of a paper with ever more jokes writing for it. This M. Martin needs to pull his head out of his arse and wake the hell up.
‘You will not complain about the tiny aisles, and you will not be swayed by the corporate behemoth across the street selling your shitty hipster beer and your extra-firm tofu at loss leader pricing. What you will do is show some loyalty to a merchant that was doing business in your community decades before HEB would’ve even considered it.”
Seriously?!? With you claiming to be such a montrose master yuo seem to forget that HEB was in the montrose area years before Fiesta (half price / specs location). Then again, I dont expect much from FPH.
I love the new HEB! I think the people who designed it absolutley took the neighborhood into account when planning! Outside of Austin, how often do you see existing trees incorporated into the design of the parking lot? This is not your typical “plastic” grocery store! It is fun and hip like the neighbor hood! I have been here for 30 plus years and am thrilled that there is a nice place i can walk to to shop at! If you are wondering why people don’t like fiesta you may want to consider that it is always filthy, the produce and fresh foods suck, you can always count on seeing lots of bugs, and do not even get me started on the horrid smell that slaps you as soon as you near the “fresh fish” area! Im all for keeping the character of the neighborhood- but change is not always bad! There are several farmers markets within a two mile raduis of the new HEB (and there is a park with a community garden a few blocks away). I am thrilled that a new store was placed there instead of a highrise!
I love the new HEB! I think the people who designed it absolutley took the neighborhood into account when planning! Outside of Austin, how often do you see existing trees incorporated into the design of the parking lot? This is not your typical \"plastic\" grocery store! It is fun and hip like the neighbor hood! I have been here for 30 plus years and am thrilled that there is a nice place i can walk to to shop at! If you are wondering why people don\’t like fiesta you may want to consider that it is always filthy, the produce and fresh foods suck, you can always count on seeing lots of bugs, and do not even get me started on the horrid smell that slaps you as soon as you near the \"fresh fish\" area! Im all for keeping the character of the neighborhood- but change is not always bad! There are several farmers markets within a two mile raduis of the new HEB (and there is a park with a community garden a few blocks away). I am thrilled that a new store was placed there instead of a highrise!
M. Martin, Im guessing you are going to go postal after reading todays swamplot article on Fiesta.
The Fiesta in Montrose is a wonderful jewel of a neighborhood grocery that caters to foodies and chefs alike. The store’s manager (of decades since Weingarten’s) is often found in the aisles chatting up patrons and the store is sized perfectly for Montrose residents. This Fiesta is a study in customer service. There would be no comparisons if the stores weren’t on opposite sides of the same street. Thankfully some of the glorious Wilshire Village trees were spared.
It seems as though fph is becoming a pretentious one sided paper. It would be nice if you guys got rid of the ubber snobbish tone in every article.
I’m not looking forward to the Fiesta going out-of-business but if it does at least look at the bright side, Montrose residents will have a perfect pre-existing building for that roller rink we’ve all been craving.
Houston Roller Derby would become the powerhouse we all know it has the potetial to be.
I feel like the HEB kind of overshadows Fiesta in a big way, but the hype will die down eventually. My loyalty is to Fiesta between the two, because I like smaller, friendly grocery stores with cheap produce and quirky music. More parking space for me
If there was anything I would change, it would be the strip center at Fiesta’s. I would put in a fun coffee place or something like a cafe, so I could eat before I shop and buy out the whole store.
Wow, what a whiny article. HEB is certainly not a “faux whole foods.”. It’s a Texas company originally from kerrville and now based in San Antonio. Their prices are great, they treat their employees well, they source from local farmers and ranchers when possible, and I think they built an absolutely gorgeous store on west Alabama. The fiesta will likely benefit from being the alternative across the street - Wendy’s has positioned itself next to and across from McDonald’s for decades for this very reason. The new HEB is an improvement for the neighborhood, and as for Wilshire village not being turned into a park, there’s a new and lovely public park less than a mile south on dunlavy at 59, so that argument never really held water in my opinion. Stop whining.
I agree with Joe McDade: HEB, for better or worse, is a totally different enterprise from Fiesta. But I don’t share the nostalgia for Appletree, although I certainly enjoyed shopping there. Here are some things that Fiesta brings to the Montrose:
- The best collection of Mexican seasonings this side of Airline;
- The best seafood section in the city (except for Chinatown), when affordability is taken into account;
- A terrific international section: the Indian section alone is better than the Carrefour where I used to shop in Doha - and its clientele had a lot more Indians and Pakistanis than Fiesta does;
- A varied and interesting produce section;
- The best place to buy _magdalenas_, _ojos_, and other _pan dulces_ of any of the major supermarkets. Yes, not so big on the artisanal breads, but their baguettes are fresh and cheap!
- Absolutely the best collection of ports and sherries this side of Specs.
This Fiesta is a neighborhood treasure, and I harbor nothing but ill-will for those who would destroy it.
Hey……it\’s me again.
Remember when people used to have less opinions and suck less lethargic and idealistic penises? Because i don\’t.
I know HEB sucks Omar, but hey…if you can\’t beat em\’, then you probably don\’t have hands. You follow? Nothing that is said ever changes anything but a persons point of view. And in this case, well…..you\’re just too late.
So you can eat can after can of dog food, until your tears smell like dog food, and your dog comes running home…or you can go out there AND GET YOUR DOG!
-Mez-
YES! This store is a complete eyesore; it towers over everything in the neighborhood. It also has its back entrance facing out onto W. Alabama, which is pretty much the same as it showing its huge ass to what is otherwise a pretty solidly unbroken stretch of street-facing businesses. Pretty friendly.
Also, for being so desirous of making an impact in the Montrose, they didn’t do a whole lot to enhance the concepts of sustainable urban development people are talking about here and at HoustonTomorrow etc.; that space could have been used ten times more efficiently than a huge, pointless, DRY box in the middle of a dense neighborhood.
It’s about making Montrose - and all of Houston - a model for the future. Why, why, why is a suburban-style store development with an ocean of parking (relative to every other kind of business in the area) plopped on totally usable land?
1) HEB is a chain store, but not in the same regard that Walmart or McDonald’s. There are a few reasons.
a) It is a local company insofar as it is owned by a Texas family.
b) It is a privately held company.
Beyond that, news flash: Fiesta is a chain store, too. Your argument lacks any uniqueness in that regard.
2) Montrose community values . . .
a) That kind of insular thinking mirrors that of the dreaded suburbs you decry. Isn’t the most ‘meaningful’ part of living in Montrose its politico-cultural openness? If that’s the case, the ‘everyone except you’ logic you forward in this piece is both contradictory and shameful. If anything, Montrose’s worth should come from its valueless culture. Read a little Nietzsche and maybe you’ll get it.
b) Who are you (who is anyone, really) to arbitrate what goes where in this neighborhood? And where is the threshold in which arbitration can be stopped? Do we get to start deciding who lives in Montrose, what they’re allowed to wear, and how many babies they’re allowed to have?
c) food for thought on the ‘Kingwood’ comment* - at least in Kingwood you can smoke in restaurants and bars, in addition to buy booze at most of your average grocery stores. Ironically, it’s a place like Montrose where neither of those things are allowed. Community values in action, eh . . .
d) the store is not only applying for a liquor license, but a consumption license so you can drink AT the store. Doesn’t get any more Montrose than that, right?
*I am not from Kingwood
3) Consumer excess . . .
a) is having 5 or so used clothing stores all within a block of one another also a point of consumer excess? I’d like to think so, especially taking in to consideration the extremely high markup some of those stores offer to their consumers (one of which is Buffalo Exchange, one of the dreaded chain stores that is in no way local! eep!)
b) do you cry a little every time a Wendy’s is built? Or when you find out Brasil orders product from Ben E. Keith, one of the largest food product distributors in the country? Or when Sound Exchange sells LPs released on semi-major ‘corporate’ labels? Your consumer excess argument either,
i) is shallow and only made important when it fits your agenda, just like modern politics. Or,
ii) it’s something you do stand by (not likely, you’re using a computer, produced by the wonders of corporate excess, considering you could’ve published this at the library), which necessitates you living the hermit lifestyle without subscribing these life and times in any way. But, I doubt that.
4) If you really want a Fiesta, there’s ANOTHER ONE FIVE MINUTES AWAY on San Jacinto @ Wheeler. And it’s a much better store. But maybe Montrose residents just like to hang at the Dunlavy store because once you cross the freeway you have to take a look at real impoverishment, and not just a simulation of it acted out by kids who desperately want to feel poor.
So yeah - if you love Montrose (and I surely do), then you’ll stop telling people how to live their lives, and where to shop, considering your argument is a bad one, contradicts itself and, if you really love Fiesta that much, there’s one not too far away.
PS I look forward to your upcoming piece on the opening of a trader Joe’s in dear old Montrose.
Small Thoughts…
1.A wol? Is that you Amanda wolfe?
2.@ MAR so you think that the HEB is an eyesore, what does that make Fiesta then, the place looks terrible on the outside and is what would be more correctly defined as an eyesore.
3.@Smitty that is a fantastic idea!
4. As a lower Montrose resident who lives 2 blocks away from the new HEB there hasn’t been any more traffic congestion than before. The store is fantastic inside and the people working there are quite friendly. So this anti-chain attitude and behaving like they just plowed half of the neighborhood out for a Wal-Mart is ridiculous.
5. I’m pretty sure Fiesta is a “chain” if HEB is a “chain” considering their 49 locations spread out among Dallas/ FTworth, Austin, and Houston.
6. I guess all the Montrose residents should be satisfied with Kroger and Whole Foods dominating the fresh, better quality, better selection food sales, because they represent themselves in a “unorthodox” manner as Montrose should only respect for higher prices! That’s totally what ever resident in Montrose wants… to shop at a prestigious store and spend double the money.. why? because its just what montrosians do! (seriously?) HEB is straight up cheaper for fantastic selection and quality…a large number of Montrose residents are industry and don’t enjoy spending carelessly.
7. I don’t know where the Montrose “residents” like the author of this hilarious article hang out but I have to say everyone I know loves the new HEB, maybe we should build a gate around Montrose and only allow the truly worthy people to have keys, is that accurate Mr.Martin?
At the end of the day… I think all the commentary comes down to we want to read about something a little more interesting and invigorating than your childish opinions of the big bad wolf grocery store that is only joining multiple other chains in the neighborhood…
At least I don’t have to worry about running into the likes of you while I grocery shop for my cheap and fresh food in a beautiful happy CLEAN environment!
Someone please tell the FPH editors that no apostrophe is needed for “its” when used as an adjective. The error appears on the main page in the introduction of the article as well as in the article by Mr. Martin.
But then again, maybe FPH editors published such glaring grammatical errors to prove its point that the publication is not to be taken seriously.
Ugh!
Thank You Craig,
I have gone back and fixed the two instances of this typographical error.
Also, thank you for your grammar lesson but we are quite aware of the difference between its and it’s. It’s a pretty common typographical error but, because it involves simply an apostrophe, it’s often missed. I myself manually check my articles for this error, but sometimes these slip by.
The thing is that the item you rightfully point out is a typographical error. Those types of errors are usually caused by bad typists and often involve subconscious habitual ticks. I for example have a habit of typing “ing” as “ign” and, in the sentence before this one, I just typed “my bad typists” instead of “by bad typists” on the first pass. The point being that one error is caused by carelessness which is a different fault than being ignorant of English grammar.
I for one am thankful when someone corrects my articles for errors (grammatical or otherwise) I also welcome disagreement with my articles but when someone goes around debating the substance of the article to try to discredit it based on a common typo, it speaks volumes to just how vacuous that person is. Many of the responses to this piece are biting and intelligent challenges to M. Martin’s view. Sadly, yours is not up to that level. Next time, I suggest that if you are going to point out a grammatical error you keep it at that and we will happily fix the error as I have done here. On the other hand, if you consider using this as a pretext to dismiss the substance of the article, I suggest you may want to educate yourself on the logical fallacy “Ignoratio elenchi.”
[...] it was just a matter of time before market forces came in and Montrose Fiesta went out. We tried to prevent it from happening, but it was all for naught. And when we heard that current owner Suzanne Levin [...]
Did you know that the neighborhoods surrounding that heb picked the layout for that store? Their wants and needs were,have and still are being met. I think montrose heb fits the demographics of the surrounding neighborhoods very much so. It really is a beautiful and unique store, just like Montrose! Try writing your articles without being so biased and look what its really giving to the community, not just who’s been there longer.
HFP really needs new fresh writers. Really?
What Jessica! said.
GC, if FPH is such a joke, then why are you here on this comment trail?