Category: Grocery

Posts Relating to Grocery Stores

Two Westside Kroger Stores With Unique Safeway and AppleTree Designs

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos taken by Mike This month’s The Year of Kroger post will be a bit unique for a couple of reasons. For one, this post will be about two different, but similar Houston-area Krogers. Also, a unique aspect of this post is that we will be looking at stores which both started out as Safeway stores, then became AppleTree stores, and then ended up as Kroger stores. Here at Houston Historic Retail, we refer to such stores as Krogways. Long-time readers of Houston …

Keep reading

Kroger Goes Upscale With The KTRKroger in West U

Here’s how the store looks at night. The black signs turn white when they are lit. It is interesting to see curtains on some of the mezzanine windows! It makes the mezzanine look like a fancy hotel!

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos taken by Mike, who has recently published a new page covering the history of Henke & Pillot. In Houston at least, Kroger has long had a reputation as being a ‘middle of the road’ type of grocer. This has helped Kroger in many ways as the combination of good prices and a traditional supermarket experience appeals to many shoppers and, thus, it has kept Kroger at or near the top of the Houston grocery market share list for decades. That said, as …

Keep reading

Pearland’s Kroger Has an Unexpected History of Innovation

Here is a closer look at the Kroger logo in the vestibule. It may or may not be obvious from this sign, but the natural wood looking sign is a ‘sign’ that this store is carrying a décor package which contains elements initially designed for an organic grocery concept.

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos taken by Mike Now that we’re well into The Year of Kroger series here at Houston Historic Retail, there are two categories which describe most of the stores we’ve featured so far in The Year of Kroger. One category of stores are those which had new or rare features such as the Kroger Signature stores we featured in February and March’s The Year of Kroger posts. Another category are stores which featured some kind of expansion at some point over the years. …

Keep reading

Randalbertsons: It’s Your Boomerang Albertsons Store Because The Locals Rejected Food Lion

As far as Houston Albertsons stores go, this location had a slightly more unique front façade than most. This might help hide the Albertsons origins of this store at first glance, but many of the classic Albertsons features such as the glass bricks and the cart alleyway exist here to give away the origins of this building.

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos taken by Mike It has been 21 years since Albertsons left Houston in 2002, but longtime Houston Historic Retail readers know that Albertsons’ legacy is still strongly felt at various retailers around town. Perhaps this is most strongly felt at various Food Town stores where, as Albertsons Florida Blog has pointed out, ‘It’s Your Town’ looks a lot like ‘It’s Your Store’. Mike has done various recent posts about Food Towns operating in former well-preserved Albertsons such as the North Belt Food …

Keep reading

Krogertsons – It’s My Store!

A closer look at the facade over the entryway. The banner promoting pickup showed up within the last 6 months... as has the availability of grocery pickup itself.

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend BillyTheSkink Unassumingly Stands a neighborhood pillar The first Krogertsons I did not think much of this store when I first moved to West Houston in the early 2010s.  Kroger HO-735, perhaps better known as the Dairy Ashford and Briar Forest Kroger, sits about as quietly as a grocery store can in busy West Houston.  While situated at a high traffic intersection, the store at 12555 Briar Forest Dr. is mostly surrounded by housing and some small, low traffic retail.  It is located less than two miles away from …

Keep reading

Randalls’ Very Successful 1980s Store Format Is Still A Success In Galveston

It is a busy day at the Galveston Randalls!

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos taken by Mike Loyal readers of Houston Historic Retail might remember the Galveston Randall’s being mentioned in July’s The Year of Kroger post about the Galveston Kroger. This HHR post is an extension of that post as we’ll be taking a closer look at the Galveston Randall’s, Randall’s Food Market #31 (Randalls Food & Drug #1031 using the current Randalls numbering system) located at 2931 Central City Blvd, Galveston, TX 77551. Randall’s #31 opened in the second half of 1984 at a …

Keep reading

Krogering is a Vacation in Galveston

The Galveston Kroger sits right along the beach. It is easy to see why beach tourists head to the Kroger.

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos taken by Mike Welcome to the summer vacation edition of The Year of Kroger! There is no better place in the Houston area to make a vacation-themed post to start the second half of The Year of Kroger series than on Galveston Island. With that in mind, grab some sunscreen because we will be touring the Kroger Signature store, HO-302, located at 5730 Seawall Blvd, Galveston, TX 77551. Galveston County is no stranger to Houston Historic Retail. In fact, this month’s The …

Keep reading

Here Everything Was Remarkable: Remembering The Jones & West Randall’s

The windows of the grand entryway looked quite grand at night!

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos taken by Mike Richardson I must say that it has been a while since I’ve had a guest post here at Houston Historic Retail which has not been about a Kroger store! That said, today’s post is related to March’s The Year of Kroger post about the Kroger Signature store at the corner Jones Rd. and West Rd. in the northwest Houston suburbs. As I mentioned in that post, Kroger built that Signature store to compete against the established Randall’s store, Randall’s …

Keep reading

Over 50 Years Later, Baytown’s Kroger Family Center Is Still One Of The Houston Area’s Most Unique Kroger Stores

Kroger Family Center stores in the 1960s and early 1970s had unique designs from their regular Kroger counterparts. The arches here are an example of that while the 1960s stores, like the one in Orange, have more of a zig-zag pattern. Also, check out that ‘Welcome’ sign which is part of the Banner décor package! These are normally inside the store, or in the vestibule, but here it is on the outside of the store.

Editor’s Note: Today’s post is a guest submission from HHR’s good friend Anonymous in Houston with the photos taken by Mike In April’s The Year of Kroger post here at Houston Historic Retail, we took a look at the Texas City Kroger, the second oldest still-operating Kroger building in the Houston area. If you think that store is unique, we have a special treat for you today. As promised in February’s The Year of Kroger post about the Cypress Station Kroger Signature store, we will take a look at a Houston-area Kroger Family Center store here in The Year of …

Keep reading

Food Town vs. Albertsons: a Pearland grocery decor showdown

Howdy folks, and welcome back to Houston Hisotirc Retail. Today we’re looking at an independent conversion of a former major-owned grocery store. A concept that is not unfamiliar to any longtime HHR reader. Houston still has a decent number of independents in operation. Mostly split up between Food Town, Foodarama, and El Ahorro/La Michoacana/Sellers Bros, each chain taking a unique approach to decor. Foodarama has mastered a very standardized look of replacing department signage with custom-made pieces, the store will be painted, and new graphics applied to the walls. El Ahorro, La Michoacana, Sellers Bros (and a few other brands) …

Keep reading