2 grocery stores + 1 intersection / (.40 snoody&wealthy crowd + .40 tragically hipster crowd + .20 ethnic fusion crowd) = Montrose Grocery Store Showdown
Here are the contenders:
Fiesta Mart
Description: Comely, run-down, dirt-cheap, wide ethnic selection (whole cow-tongue anyone?)
Crowd: Students, poor, elderly, the edgy, pretentious world travelers (like me)
H-E-B
Description: Grocery-store-hip, clean, decent prices, standard food selection nicely in pretty package
Crowd: Students (Rice that is), ricos, moms, Texas patriots
So Hannah and I were walking to our favorite park near the Menil Collection last spring when we spotted some friends we hadn't seen in a while walking amidst a crowd. We joined them and walked with them. We quickly realized this crowd was organized to which we raised the question, "what is this." "Oh, we're protesting the new HEB they're planning to build across the street from Fiesta." "They're building an HEB here? That's so great!"
Clearly, I was not the ideal protester for the cause. But here we are, over a year later, the new HEB is under construction, and I've been doing some thinking.
New HEB's are like crack for Texans - we love 'em. They're clean. Their prices are way better than Crappy Kroger. They make us feel superior somehow while shopping for our food in their clean, spacious food sanctuaries. They make us feel proud to be Texans thanks to their effective marketing schemes.
Now that Hannah and I have moved south of 59, our closest grocery store is the Fiesta that will be directly across the street from the new HEB. Common sense tells us that this new competition will leave Fiesta on the Scottish side of this Braveheart showdown (I'm not alone in this thought). After frequenting the Fiesta in the past few months, I have had a change of heart. I have fallen in love with its food selection, its straight-forward grocery-store-ness, the old grandma-like asian manager (who can gladly tell you exactly where to find the tahini), and the incredible diversity of the place.
Last night at 9:30 while standing in line buying Hannah two boxes of cream cheese (for the amazing cupcakes she made). I was in line with a Mexican day laborer, a Brazilian student, and was checked out by a Caribbean cashier. I daily made avocado and turkey sandwiches on Fiesta's Mexican-style Pan de Tortas with one of their many selections of queso fresco.
I have gone from jeering the anti-HEB crowd, to having a sad spot in my heart/stomach for poor, vulnerable Fiesta knowing that my Texas grocery queen will be edging out my newfound hole-in-the-wall.
At the end of the day, at least it's not WalMart - right?
Brilliant post.
ReplyDeleteGreat thoughts, sir Key! I must begin grocery shopping at that Fiesta south of the great Westheimer divide. Thanks for the extra uhmmf
ReplyDeleteheb is from san antonio. fiesta is from houston, but they are all over the big cities in texas.
ReplyDeleteif you want to go to a local (h town) grocery store, hit up foodarama. i used to go to the one on t.c. jester all the time. super super cheap and good food/meat.
it's basically like san antonio moving into your territory.. they dont even have fiesta here in san antone. they have 'la fiesta' which is different but pretty much the same.. kind of the foodarama equivalent of san antone.
if anything here's the plan: push kroger out, keep fiesta for the 'ethnic people', foodarama for the houstonians and heb/central market (on westheimer/river oaks) for the 'non-ethnic' people..
damn i miss h town.
I agree with getting rid of Kroger. I hope it goes the way of Albertsons.
ReplyDelete