Fiesta Mart #20 Willowchase 2020 and 2022 visits with guest commentary

Readers, we have a very special guest post today from Anonymous in Houston. Mike from HHR also provided photos of the store from the source in the comments. I really appreciate the history and insight about this Fiesta. Being one of the most unique Fiesta stores throughout its history and all the way into 2023 deserves a proper blog post. Despite the changes that have taken place at this store, you can still visit the Fiesta on Main and Kirby near NRG Stadium to see a vintage 1980's Fiesta that is in the early stages of renovation. Work started in early 2023 to remodel this store and remove the neon, but only a small portion of the neon and some fixtures were removed. For some reason the remodel has not progressed. The 1980's look is not going to last much longer so now is the time to check it out before it is gone.

I have several Fiesta stores documented on this blog in recent years before the remodels. In the future more Fiesta stores will be posted from my archives.

I appreciate everyone's contributions to this blog post, this Fiesta was truly special. 

Here is a link to one of Anonymous' posts at Houston Historic Retail documenting another vintage grocery store, the old Baytown Kroger. 

In addition to this post, there are a ton of great posts on Houston Historic Retail from all across the area Retail, Grocery Stores, Restaurants, Malls, and so much more. Click here to check out one of his recent articles about Venture that I really enjoyed. 

"Comments from Anonymous in Houston:

 

After almost 35 years, Fiesta Mart #20, the Willowchase Fiesta located at 8320 FM 1960, Houston, TX 77064, is currently undergoing a significant remodel by Fiesta Mart’s current owners, the Mexican retailer Chedraui.  I’ll have more to say about the remodel later in this comment, but I’d like to reflect upon the magnificent design that the Willowchase Fiesta opened with when the store was built in 1989 and carried until the 2023 remodeling.  At the time the Willowchase Fiesta opened, Fiesta Mart was in the middle of expanding into the Houston suburbs with a number of large, fancy stores that were pieces of art.  These stores had a large variety of Hispanic products, just like Fiesta Mart is known for today, but they also had a large selection of international products from the rest of the world that appealed to the international nature of the Houston population.  In addition to all of that, Fiesta Mart had, and still has, a full selection of traditional American groceries.

 

Just mere months before the Willowchase Fiesta was built, Fiesta made their introduction to the FM 1960 W area by opening a large, fancy store at FM 1960 W & Kuykendahl in the former Woolco building.  For my family, this was great news as we had been traveling to the Spring Branch Fiesta on Wirt to buy certain products which, at least in those days, were only available at Fiesta Mart.  I remember being blown away by the Kuykendahl Fiesta Mart and the fancy neon and wood paneling décor which was similar to the Astrodome and Mission Bend Fiesta Marts which opened around the same time.

 

It was around this time we discovered that Fiesta was building a store even closer to us near Willowbrook Mall in the Willowchase shopping center.  Willowchase initially opened as an outdoor discount/outlet shopping center, anchored by the likes of Kmart’s Designer Depot, and was similar to the indoor Buyers Market and Deauville Fashion Malls that Je has covered on this blog.  These early 1980s outlet/discount malls, whether indoor or outdoor, were failing by the end of the mid-1980s and Willowchase was repurposed as a traditional powercenter.  In addition to the likes of Mervyn’s, Weiners, and PetsMart, the shopping center was able to secure their crown jewel, the Fiesta Mart.

 

Fiesta Mart co-founder Donald Bonham had an eye for art and was an art collector.  According to an anonymous inside source who was a longtime Fiesta Mart employee, Mr. Bonham styled the Willowchase Fiesta after a casino in Reno.  The store used tile imported from Europe and had features which were rather unheard of for a supermarket like stained glass windows.  While there were several unique aspects to the Willowchase Fiesta, even by Fiesta’s high standards of the time, one thing Willowchase had in common with other Fiestas of the era was the copious use of neon/neon-like signage.

 

When the Willowchase Fiesta first opened, I was even more blown away by the design of it than I was with the Kuykendahl Fiesta.  That’s saying something!  Every side of the Willowchase store had something very unique in it.  The carpeted produce department, which required frequent sweeping, had neon and stained glass in it.  Just beyond the produce department was a Thirsty’s refreshment stand.  Thirsty’s didn’t last long and eventually that space was turned into a culinary school.  Some of Fiesta’s TV commercials featuring cooking scenes were filmed at the cooking school.  Just beyond this area was an enclosed seafood room.  The entrance of the seafood room had a neon-covered boat and there were speakers playing ocean sounds.

 

The most prominent feature of the back wall of the store was the deli area.  The deli counter itself was unusually large for a 1980s supermarket, but above the deli area was a performance stage.  A variety of bands performed on this stage in the early years of the store.  I have some fuzzy memories of seeing musical performances which were performed on the stage.  Surrounding the stage, and also in other parts of the store, were various backlit fake windows.  Although the Willowchase Fiesta continued to have weekend live music until the mid-2010s or so, the use of the stage was, as far as I know, discontinued before the 2000s.  In more recent times, the musicians would operate near the entrance of the store.

 

The stage theme continued on the bakery side of the store as a small stage existed above the bakery for solo musical performers.  Also on the bakery side was a floral department and coffee bar featuring a seating area and an animated neon sign of a coffee cup.

This truly unique store remained operational in almost untouched form until just this year.  Aside from a few aisle resets and the aforementioned refreshment stand/culinary school alterations, the only change of even minor significance that I can remember was that the produce department carpet was replaced with vinyl tile when the store was around a decade old.

 

The Willowchase Fiesta started putting signs up indicating they were going to perform a store renovation in around the spring of 2022.  This was around the time that many other area Fiesta Marts were being remodeled and had their neon removed in favor of Chedraui’s colorful décor package which they also use at Chedraui’s El Super stores which are in the western US.  Although I feared that the neon would be removed from Willowchase in 2022, the changes that were made were relatively minor.  The aisles were reset, new aisle markers were installed, and the front-end leased space area was remodeled to have less of a Spanish theme.  I was hoping then that the neon would survive for years to come, but that was not the case.  I visited the store during the summer of 2023 and noticed that all the fascia/soffits surrounding the store interior were re-drywalled to remove all the neon, fake windows, and stages that the store had.  The stained glass windows were drywalled over as well.  The enclosed seafood room was sealed off and replaced with a new seafood service department on the main sales floor.  In fact, all the service departments were updated.  The floral/coffee bar area was converted into an expanded frozen food area, but there is still a seating area in that part of the store.  Renovation work is still going on as of the writing of this comment so it is possible more changes are coming in the near future.

 

I wasn’t shocked to see the changes given what has been happening at other Fiesta Marts, but it was disappointing to see the very unique look of the store, which I had gotten quite used to since 1989, is now gone.  I will say that the colorful new décor package does look quite good by modern supermarket décor standards, but it is nothing like the artistic design that Mr. Bonham put in this store when it was built.  If nothing else, thanks to Je’s photos and Mike’s scans from Martin M. Pegler’s ‘Market, Supermarket and Hypermarket Design 2’ book, we can re-live the unique experience that the Willowchase Fiesta offered between 1989 and 2023."

Here are the photos provided by Mike at Houston Historic Retail. As you can see, the store had not been significantly renovated since opening. Well, that was the case until 2023.

If you want to see some of the neon here and in other Fiesta locations in action, check out my Youtube video click here.

Now for the more recent views of the store prior to the 2023 renovation. Photos taken in 2020 and 2022 by JE. 

Produce department

Seafood neon was out on during the 2020 visit, you will see it fully lit up in 2022.

Modern day seafood departments just can't match the feel of this setup. 

A wide view of the produce section with the stained-glass windows above.

The attention to detail at this store with the blue light behind the window.

The neon signs were a staple at most Fiesta stores prior to 2022. Sadly, these signs have been removed everywhere they remained including here.

The back wall of the store. 

The stage that anonymous mentioned where live bands used to play in the earlier days of the store. It must have been a bit distracting to the people working below in the deli, lol.

The dairy department had the lower ceilings and historic photos from around the area.

The front of the store has several small businesses like you will find at many Fiesta stores. The biggest difference here is that the businesses are inside. Many of the older Fiesta Marts had exterior storefronts for small businesses.

The checkout counters.

This store had so much to take in. The designs of the ceiling, the neon, the two-story mock balcony.

The flower department.

The corner view of the back of the store near the dairy aisle.

The international food selection has been significantly downsized. In 2020, it was this large section of the store. By 2022, the selection was halved. Each Fiesta store seems to have the same mix of products now, when in the past, the stores had different products at each location. With the Chedraui company updating the stores one by one, a lot of changes have happened.

Coming up next, Bakery, Coffee Bar, and Frozen Foods.

I certainly don't miss the Covid era. 

This is the grand light fixture that greeted you when you entered the main entrance of the store.

You can see one of the stained glass panels to the right of the Fiesta sign.

Cart corral.

This was the last time I saw the road sign illuminated.

When you saw this sign, you knew you were in for a retro treat.

May 2022 Visit. One of the biggest differences you will notice is the lighting repairs. My photo quality will also be better since I have a better phone as well.

The entryway.

Some up-close pics of the neon to start this tour. 

This sign looks so much better with the letters fixed.

A wide view of the produce department across from the international foods.

A wide-view from the international foods to the meat freezers.

That iconic sign!

In 2020 parts of this meat department sign were also out.

Pepe the Parrot. He is still the mascot of Fiesta even with the changes to the stores.

A few more members joined the mannequin band above the deli. 

Now for more photos of the dairy department.

Just as I was beginning to get better photos of the historic pictures here, an employee came out of the back and started stocking the coolers. So this was as far as I got.

The next photos were test runs with my then brand-new phone to check out different settings and angles.

Finally, I was able to get all three of the stained-glass windows into the same image.

An interesting police encounter going on as we were leaving.

A wide-view of the entire store front.

For some odd reason the road signs were both turned off. Even several months later they were still off.

August 2023 photos of the store as the renovation continues. When I stepped foot inside of the store, it was shocking. With the exception of the ceiling, all of the fancy touches that made this store special have been removed. I didn't get a lot of photos because the store was really busy, but as you can tell things have changed. 

The seafood department has been completely revamped.

The 2nd level stage above the deli is gone!

The dairy department.

The floral department balconies are erased.

The bakery has been moved around and the coffee bar has been removed.

The 2 level balcony has been taken down from this part of the store as well.

The produce department and covered up stained glass windows.

For now, the large light fixture at the entrance remains. 

It is difficult to see but the stained-glass windows have been painted over on the right side of the store. The Fiesta sign has also been replaced.

More to come, stay tuned.

There are still some remaining neon Fiesta stores in the area, but they are disappearing fast. Fiesta stores #9 (Inside only), #18 (Beginning stages of renovation), #23, and #12 are still known to have some neon and old school lighting as of the publishing of the post. If there are any more stores worth checking out that we have missed, please comment below.