As a side note to my readers, I have uploaded all of my Kmart photos here with the exception of my final visit to the McAllen Kmart. That post is coming soon. I have a wealth of links below to check out if anyone needs to do further research on Kmart sites or other retail establishments. Another great resource for Kmart photos is on the Discord app. Check out the Deadmalls of Discord and The Retail Union on Discord. There are tons of retail enthusiasts 24/7 that do a much better job of documenting retail than I do here. I certainly appreciate the comments, but I don't have any more info or photos regarding any of the Kmart stores besides what is already on here.
Here is another fascinating Houston area Fiesta Market location. As you can see here, the Fiesta sign had been replaced with the new logo, but the chasing light rectangle was still going. This location and the nearby Tidwell Road location still had the chasing light signage in early 2022. Not very many of the older chasing light signage like this still exist and they are being pulled down one by one.
As you can see this is a fairly small location, probably less than 30,000 square feet in space.
The older 1980's signage is still intact throughout the store. Not much has changed on the inside of this store since opening, enjoy it before it changes!
The main entrance.
This photo makes the store seem larger than it is. The aisles are very condensed in this small location.
Front of the store, very condensed in comparison to most modern era Fiesta Markets.
Another look at the produce department with the pinatas stacked on the produce coolers.
More old signage.
For some reason, this strangely branded flour caught my eye.
Old signage, when was the last time you said margarine instead of butter?
Now for the really cool stuff. This store still has two neon signs. Here is the dairy sign from multiple angles. This is the back left corner of the store.
A view of the main front aisle from the left corner of the store.
Views of the back aisle from the right side of the store.
Now for more cool neon signage. The Seafood department has this sign with chasing lights and flashing neon. I will post the motion video on my upcoming Fiesta signs video. This is the back right corner of the store.
From the back right corner to the front right corner of the store.
A view of the store from the front right corner down the main aisle to the left side of the store.
This is a pretty iconic location of Fiesta Mart so I'm glad you were able to capture it even if the chasing exterior lights have been renovated and removed. At least the interior is still vintage for now. It looks quite good on the inside as well. Hopefully Fiesta does not renovate this location anytime soon, but I figure they probably will just like they've done with other similar locations.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure this store was formerly a Weingarten's. It probably dates back several decades ago and it kind of looks like that on the outside. On the inside, Fiesta has maintained things well so it doesn't look too old even if the decor is obviously a relic. This store appears to be better maintained than some other Fiestas. I wonder if that fake bell tower at the corner of the outside of the store is a Fiesta thing or if maybe Weingarten's installed it.
I was recently looking up an El Super store in El Paso and I noticed how similar the decor and store fixtures look there compared to recently remodeled Fiestas here in Houston. El Super has the same corporate owner from Mexico, Chedraui, as Fiesta so this is not a coincidence.
I've heard of Peter Pan peanut butter, but not Peter Pan flour before! That's an odd one. It looks like a very old brand so I suppose I've just never noticed it before.
Anyway, stores like this Fiesta serve an important role in their communities as they don't have a ton of grocery competition. With that in mind, although this store is on the smaller side, it does look well-run so I'm sure they are appreciated in the community.
This is such a small location, hopefully if they remodel the store an expansion will be part of the deal. The main sign still had the chasing lights, but I am not sure if they are still there. This was my first and so far, only visit to this location. I was impressed by how much they are able to stock despite the small size of the store.
DeleteI hope they keep the Fiesta brand name for since the parent company is going for a similar look at all of their stores.
In other news, the Deerbrook anchor renovation to the second floor of Forever 21 is shaping up. The tenant is going to be Super Nova Furniture. The sign was installed yesterday. I have a few photos during the renovation to share here with the blog. They will probably have a mall entrance, so this is a good addition to the mall. Their PlazAmerica's location has some giant dinosaurs that kids like to check out so we will see what they do here. Something besides another clothing store is a good thing.
As you may know Macy's gave an update on their Toys R Us mini-stores. By October of this year, the stores will open. Toy sales have been good recently, so they are pushing ahead with Toys R Us locations in all of their stores now. Initially only a certain amount of stores were going to get the Toys R Us stores.
And Finally, the exterior of the San Jacinto Macy's has been stripped off. I am not sure if the building is being demolished or re-skinned for another use. The interior still has power and the sheetrock around the building is exposed to the elements now. No machinery was on-site and only the Macy's building had fencing. I parked and walked around the building to take some photos. It is such a weird scene because you can look right through holes in the sheetrock and see the inside of the store.
https://www.al.com/news/2022/07/toys-r-us-reopens-list-of-stores-locations.html
DeleteIt looks like we’re getting a flagship location right here in Houston at Memorial City mall
I am excited to see how that store will look once it is open. Memorial City is a great mall for them to showcase the new TRU format.
DeleteOh, here is a very quick update. I was at the Willowchase Fiesta here recently and the store looks like it is undergoing some kind of remodel. As of right now, the only thing that has changed is that they are shuffling around some of the middle aisles. I don't see any signs (yet) that the neon or anything is being dismantled, but who knows. That might be coming. I certainly hope they don't mess with the neon, but it wouldn't be a surprise at this point if the store does get a full remodel. Here's to hoping that isn't the case!
ReplyDeleteHopefully they are just doing some product movement. This store has so many cool elements such as the stained-glass windows, a remodel would make the store look strange. The store is really designed well and should not be messed with. Even if they do a piecemeal renovation like they have at other stores, it would not look right.
DeleteHere is a quick update about the Willowchase Fiesta Mart. As you might remember, this store received a small renovation last summer, but the neon survived that renovation. It might have been the only Fiesta where the neon survived. Well, I was in there recently and the neon is now gone. There has been a significant amount of work done to the store. The interior fascias have all been re-drywalled and so the seafood boat, the fake windows, the stages over the deli and floral area, and so forth have all been removed/drywalled over. Furthermore, the enclosed seafood room has been walled over and a new service department for seafood has been created on the main salesfloor. All of the service departments have been updated actually. The removal of neon might not be a huge surprise, given what has happened at other Fiestas, but they also walled over the stained glass in the produce area.
ReplyDeleteSo far, they have painted the new drywall fascias, but they have not yet put the new El Super decor up. I'm sure that will come soon. The new colors look nice and fresh. I think it does make the store look more modern while still being very colorful, but of course, this comes at the expense of the neon. Oh well, I suppose if they were going to renovate and remove the neon, at least they put up good colors. At least so far, the old flooring is still in place. I hope they keep it there or replace it with a new vinyl floor because the Fiestas which have been converted to a concrete floor look absolutely terrible.
The store now has some self-checkouts as well. Fiesta keeps pretty tight rules on the self-checkouts, like no alcohol sales, so I think most people are going to use the main checkouts unless they are just buying a few grocery items. Fortunately, at least while I was there, they had plenty of manned checkouts open, four or five.
Anyway, I'm glad you were able to document the Willowchase Fiesta Mart before the big changes. That was an iconic look that the store had before for decades, but now it'll look quite different.
I am not happy to hear that the Willowchase store neon was removed. While the store needed some small updates, this store was one of the best-looking retro Fiesta locations. I need to post the photos from that store in the near future. If you would like to, send me a short write up that I can add to the post with credits going to you. I am very glad that I went and got some extra video and photos of that store before things changed.
DeleteI have an update to the OST and Main Fiesta location, the neon there surprisingly is still intact after renovations started earlier this year. If fact, it looks like the job has completely stalled from where I saw it about 6 months ago. Some of the neon has burned out, but what remains is still turned on for now. I went there yesterday with the intention of doing a before and after post of the store, now I just have more before photos. I am a little hesitant to go to the 59 and Little York location after reading a Facebook post about car thefts happening there recently. That was one of the few locations that still had a good bit of neon inside.
I reposted the West Oaks Mall closing with some new information. The mall isn't exactly fully open for business, but a very, very small interior portion can be accessed for a couple of non-retail businesses still operating inside.
Sure, I would love to help you document the Willowchase Fiesta Mart. That store has been really important to this area for decades now. I'll try to type something up this week and I'll e-mail it to you when I'm finished. That'll be a fun project and I look forward to seeing how it'll go with your photos and videos of the place. You really did pick a good time to document the Fiestas in this area because they're almost all altered now.
DeleteI'm glad to hear there is some neon left at other Fiestas because otherwise the only grocery stores we have left with neon might well be some Sellers Bros. stores. That said, I wouldn't be surprised if those Fiestas with neon still remaining are updated soon. El Super seems to be spending a lot of money to update all the stores around here. Renovation work on Willowchase started over a year ago, and I really thought they were done when they did what they did last summer, but they have actually done a lot of work so far this summer.
I've heard about some of the problems at that Eastex Fiesta location. I'd be a bit wary about visiting that store as well. It is a shame that some of these locations have become so risky to visit.
I saw the updated West Oaks Mall post and I shared it with Mike and some of his most loyal readers. I know a lot of people are wondering what is going on down there and your updates and photos have been really helpful in trying to explain the situation. At this point, it is hard to call what is left a mall, but at least a tiny portion of the mall is open at least occasionally. At this point, there is probably even less left there, at least in a traditional retail sense, than what was left at North Oaks Mall during the time the theater and that little mall corridor leading to the theater were still open.
I received the email and I have started the post. Hopefully it will be complete this weekend. As a teaser for our readers, this will be a really special post with some great history about the store. I couldn't have done this store justice without your assistance. There are a few photos of the store on Google reviews, and I don't like what I see. This store should have been touched up, but not stripped of what made it special.
DeleteI will probably do an update on the 59 Eastex store soon. I am curious if they have modified the store since my last visit in the Spring. Since Willowchase is now under a full remodel, this would be one of the last stores to have a significant amount of neon inside.
The situation at West Oaks has probably really hurt the remaining businesses trying to stay alive down there. In one of the google comments about the Banquet Hall, they mentioned that the business was hard to find, and they didn't have signage outside. The former Edwards Cinema building and The Plaza area is mostly boarded up with extremely faded signage and faded mall directories. Not exactly inviting for potential customers trying to find your business.