Searching in vain for Hugslie Land in Sterling Ridge’s Kroger

A couple of years ago, I discovered something that caught my interest. I was working with frequent collaborator Anonymous in Houston on preparing a list of interesting Krogers. We decided that for no particular reason, 2023 would be “The Year of Kroger” on HHR. Every month, AIH would write a post on a Kroger he thought was interesting. While he was writing, I was taking photos, so I had to know why each Kroger was included. The idea was simple: Kroger is a major player in Houston’s grocery market and has been one since purchasing Henke & Pillot in 1955. Most of the Kroger stores AIH selected were historic in some form or fashion, like 4000 Polk, which has been an H&P/Kroger for over 90 years! More recent history centered on Kroger’s development of the Signature concept in Houston. The Signature banner was developed in Texas to help Kroger compete with Randalls Flagship stores. While not exclusive to our area, the general concept was adding services to stores to bring in more shoppers. The services started pretty basic, like enhanced cosmetics and video rentals. Still, each chain would try upping the ante, with dry cleaners and even fast food counters, ending up in Houston grocery stores to win customers. One of these enhancements was child care while you shopped. Multiple chains worked on this idea simultaneously, but locally, Kroger decided to partner with Huggies to roll out “Huggies Land,” a free daycare parents could utilize while in store. The idea was initially a hit and quickly expanded to new Kroger Signature Stores. I remember my local Kroger, which opened around 2001, having one of these Huggies Land locations, but it was my understanding the concept had died out only a few years after rollout. That is, until we found the Sterling Ridge Kroger.

While TYOK looks pretty sleek, there was a great discussion over what stores had to be included. Sterling Ridge was on that list for a while because reports online stated Huggies Land was still open. It had been nearly 20 years since the concept debuted, and AIH and I were flabbergasted to hear that one could still operate under our noses. In our initial recon, we learned that the Huggies had pulled out of the deal years ago, and as a result, that killed off most Huggies Land locations. Those who survived took on a new name from salvaged letters, “Hugslie Land,” but otherwise kept the same concept: free in-store daycare for shopping parents. While it wasn’t exactly the most important piece of retail history, I still wanted to document its existence. A blog named Woodlands Mommy made a post about Hugslie Land, which gave us hope that the concept was still in operation, and I began planning to make my way to The Woodlands to find out. Before making the drive, though, I wanted to ensure it was actually there and began digging into the Google listing. I found photos and reviews mentioning the free child care, but everything seemed to dry up when you got to 2020. It seemed a pretty safe bet that Hugies Land had closed around the time of the pandemic, and we decided to feature another store instead, and Hugiesland became a distant memory. Earlier this year, when Kroger announced it planned to close the Sterling Ridge store, I posted some feelers onto social media, and one commenter noted that Hugies Land had closed a few years back and had been replaced by a Starbucks. Still, with the store closing, I had a reason to go grab a photo anyway, and confirmed that yes, Hugiesland had indeed been replaced by a Starbucks.