Target recently finished a large number of renovations on their Houston area stores. This was done to help bring their image up in line with their more up to date locations. It’s actually part of a nationwide effort to cutback and aid underselling locations.
Edit: I have received word from a reader that this same conversion took place at the Baybrook Target.
The general Southwest area received an expansion of Super Targets in the late 90s. With locations in Houston, Pear Land, Sugar Land, and Missouri City to name a few of the numerous upgrades. However a recent trip to the Missouri City store revealed a surprise, the store has been downgraded! It seems that grocery was not preforming well and the store was downsized to help remedy this.
One of the first clues was the new central sign which nearby Sugar Land did not receive during their upgrade
Despite the blurry image you might be able to make out that the separate Grocery entrance was kept.
The grocery section has been reduced to the size of a typical P-Fresh Target. With an expanded beer and wine selection taking the place of the bakery and deli.
At first glance you can tell something is off. This wall is not as deep as the the bakery and deli were. That is because about half of the grocery floor space has been closed off and is being used as storage.
You might notice that for a Target this is a better than average P-Fresh department, that’s because most of the P-Fresh locations in Houston are actually undersized compared to normal. The fixtures were replaced for this conversion and scales along with weighted produce sales were discontinued. The conversion also meant reducing dairy cases down to one shared one, and freezers were consolidated and moved forward.
As mentioned earlier the selection is larger than a normal P-Fresh but compares closer to average sized selection when looking at newly built stores.
A new freezer bank was installed as the original freezers were demolished in the back. Notice the use of drop-in conduits for their new freezers. The original layout did not have these, as conduits were run underground.
This back portion of the grocery section was the original frozen section. The Dairy cases
This is looking straight to where the dairy case once stood. The curved wall is a first generation left over.The next few photos are from various stages during the conversions completion. I was actually in a situation where I had to visit this specific Target a few weeks in a row and watched this all happen. There was no news or publication about the downgrade, and outside of the grocery section you really wouldn’t be able to tell this was no longer a Super Target.
I took this photo prior to the conversion being completed. When I saw this I mistakenly thought they had temporarily modified this area to be storage during the renovation.
Another photo from the renovation in progress. The floors were cut concrete, covered by laminate tile. Sugar Land did this as well, but did not first grind their flooring. Which means the lines show through.
One advantage of the downsized grocery was the fact that the Food Avenue or Cafe a it is now called was allowed to stay. Many other stores have had their Cafes removed during this last round of renovations.Outside of the grocery downgrade this is still a very nice store. Honestly it’s much quieter than the Sugar Land store and easier to shop. The downgrade is a bit of a shame and means I can’t reliably grocery shop there anymore. I do think that with the way Missouri City and the Western area is expanding there is a small chance grocery could one day make a comeback, but it’s a slim chance. Till next time!
Forgot to mention, love seeing the P01 relics as well 🙂
It’s a shame to see Target getting rid of its full grocery departments – it seems this is more common than not these days, as Devin Blackwood has posted some photos to flickr of the same situation occurring at a one-time Super Target near him. (Alternatively, Target could just close the store outright like they did with my local Super Target, haha!)
That said, I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later, as it must be logistically hard to keep the service departments running and the full grocery selection stocked when the stores are getting to be few and far apart (kinda like what wound up happening with the Super Kmarts, except Target obviously is in a better position).
At least they kept the store looking nice, and unless you know what to look for it’s nearly impossible to tell where they walled off part of the department. Devin said he thinks Target intends to eventually lease out those walled off areas in these stores, so that might be something to watch out for.
Very cool pictures of the conversion and result, particularly the one peeking behind the wall as it was being built!
I understand why the downgrades are occurring, but Target has been selling groceries in Houston since at least the 60s. They had a partnership with local Kroger nameplate Henke & Pilot which provided the groceries in their stores. One location was reported to be almost like a Hypermarket. Thanks for the compliments on the photos. I was shocked to see any curved line left after they ripped out all the neon.
Wow, I wasn’t aware of the grocery partnership – that’s pretty neat history there! Also makes it sadder for Super Targets in the area to lose that designation too, of course, but at least there’s still PFresh, I suppose. And you’re welcome!