A first and last look at Harvest Market Katy

Howdy, folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today, we’re tackling one of my favorite topics, Harvest Market. Unless you’re in a few key markets in Houston, you’ve likely never heard of Harvest Market, and in my opinion, that’s a shame. I first visited a couple of their locations at the end of 2022 and have been itching to return. The homegrown concept, sometimes called a “grocerant,” opened its first location in the summer of 2015; today, we’re looking at what remains. The initial idea behind the concept was to provide high-end grocery selections with an emphasis on natural items and high-quality restaurant offerings under one roof, hence the term “grocerant.” The concept was a flip of an older idea by the same operators, which was a small market within an organic restaurant, Harvest Farm to Market, in Westchase. The concept was backed by the Atlas Group, a company with construction roots, and from what I can tell, Harvest was their first venture into retail. The success of the restaurant, along with the first store, led to a lofty goal of five locations, mainly along Houston’s west side (Sugar Land, Pecan Grove, Richmond, and The Woodlands being specifically named.) At some point, the “natural foods” emphasis was played down, with Harvest Natural Foods Market shortening its name to Harvest Market. The product selection was also tailored to focus less on natural foods and more on imported and high-end items, creating a sort of “Epicurean” feel centered around an in-store food court. While Harvest Market never reached five locations, it would reach four before faltering.

Harvest Market had this Katy store at its peak, one in Sienna Plantation, one in Spring, and a final location in Montgomery. As of this article, only the Sienna and Montgomery locations are still operating. Harvest also operated a “grocery trolley,” a converted gas trolley, and later a small bus that stocked a limited assortment of groceries that would be dispatched to shopping centers and neighborhoods and could be boarded and shopped. However, by 2020, the innovative grocer’s fate would begin to change. The pandemic would cause traffic to drop off in a volume-based business. Encroaching competition at the Katy and Montomgery stores would necessitate a change. In 2022, the two locations would be severely downsized. During this process, I visited the Montgomery location and was informed that the concept would be flipped to a smaller “Harvest International” location. From what I can gather, this phase didn’t last long, and the stores were renamed “Istanbul Bazaar” to emphasize their operation as a Mediteraian-oriented grocery store. At some point, each location’s unused portions of the former Harvest Market were leased to Mi Querencia, a Hispanic market. The two remaining Harvest Market locations continue to operate as Grocerants utilizing their entire space. While it’s nice to see that Harvest Market hasn’t totally fallen off the radar, it’s also sad to see them in this state. Houston is no longer a city on the cutting edge of grocery innovation, and while Harvest Market wasn’t a new an unproven concept, it was still nice to see someone have enough faith in our market to try something new.