Here is the short lived Fiesta Marketplace market in Sugar Land Texas. I visited the store in the day (Late March) and again at night (Final Week) to see what may have caused the quick demise of this store.
Opened July 17, 2013
Closed April 20, 2014
This sign was on the entrance doors in the final week of business. I wonder if this sign was approved or if nobody noticed it had been placed on the door.
Now for the inside of the market. The market looked much better in person than it did in the promotional photos.
The Caribou Coffee was at the front of the store, this was the only location in the Houston area of this popular coffee chain.
A Red Mango kiosk inside of the store near the prepared foods counter.
Here are my opinions as to why this store failed so quickly. Many of the departments that Fiesta is known for are downsized to make space for other departments such as the wine section which was probably too big for a store of this size. Many of the departments that were downsized did not have enough products to find what you needed or find a sale item. The basics of what Fiesta has succeeded at along with the extras would have been a better fit, instead of the other way around. The store should have been larger that it was (about 50,000 sq ft) to have been able to compete with the more established higher end grocers. Finally the whole shopping center is mostly hidden behind a freeway ramp you will not see this store unless you are on the service road.
The store had many positives as well, with the variety and kiosks inside of the store with coffee, yogurt, and prepared foods. The employees were very nice and have all been transferred to other area Fiesta stores.
Thanks for sharing these great photos of this short-lived Fiesta store. I remember us discussing the opening of the store and then discussing the closing of the store not too long later. I’m not sure if Fiesta opened any other Marketplace stores or if they used the “new” logo on any other stores, but I don’t think that they have. In fact, Fiesta continues to use their classic logo on their website, ads, bags, and on the other stores so perhaps that new logo and concept is a thing of the past.
ReplyDeleteThe store had an interesting mix of modern and retro designs. The department signage and things looked pretty modern, but the things like the strip lighting give the store a bit of a vintage flair (those were probably inherited from the previous tenant). I also like that the store has a traditional looking floor and ceiling.
The FoodTown sign was probably intentional. Fiesta is owned by Grocers Supply and Grocers Supply recently brought out Gerland’s (who used to operate a Grand Market concept store in the same spot) and the FoodTown locations that Gerland's owned. Of course, prior to that, Grocers Supply supplied products to Gerland’s/FoodTown so there was a relationship even then too. Anyway, I’m guessing that Grocers Supply owns the FoodTown store that is being advertised.
Fiesta is famous for their international foods selection. I’m sure that many shoppers were disappointed that this Fiesta did not have a large selection of international foods (though clearly they had some based on your pictures) and other traditional products as you say. This is especially true given that Sugar Land has a very diverse international population. Perhaps it would have made more sense for Fiesta to open a store that had all the typical products of a large Fiesta store, but then had the special features as well. Perhaps they just did not have the space to do that though.
Although this store looked nice, I kind of like the flair of other Fiesta stores like the Willowchase Fiesta near Willowbrook Mall on FM 1960 and 249. That store opened in the late 1980s and hasn’t seen a major renovation since. Still, the store still looks modern and fancy. The store is well-maintained so one would not guess that it is as old as it is. Of course, that Fiesta seemingly does well.
I have not seen that design on anything else Fiesta related, but I picked up one of the Fiesta Marketplace reusable bags as a souvenir. I agree with you that a larger store with the extras added would have been a better fit for this concept, but I am sure that Fiesta will consider that for the test concept. I just hope they continue to keep the normal stores as they are and not make them plain like this store was.
DeleteAwesome! I never knew anyone had managed to snap any pictures of Fiesta Marketplace. It was a great concept, and well executed to me. It felt on par with places like the Buffalo Speedway Kroger, but not as nice as Central Market of course.
ReplyDeleteIt would be the prefect Middle Class outlet for Fiesta.
I was tipped off by one of my blog readers to check this store out. It was very surprising that they did not give this store more time to see if they could make it work. Maybe the new owners of Fiesta will open a similar concept in the future.
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