Rice Food Markets

Chain History

Rice Food Markets’ story begins in May 1938. The first store to open replaced a grocer who failed after only a few months. Located at 2501 Rice Boulevard the new store was in the heart of Rice Village, taking on the name Rice Boulevard Food Market. This new store was the brainchild of William H. Levy, who had been working in his father’s stores, which had opened in 1901. In addition to his knowledge of the rapidly evolving grocery business, the store’s success was no doubt in thanks to the fact that Levy’s father-in-law happened to be the developer behind Rice Village. The store was tiny, and at the time in an area that would be considered rural by modern standards. Rice even served as the Post Office in the area for a few years. However, with the suburban boom starting the 40s, Rice would quickly find a customer base. The store started out as a 500 Square Foot self-service store, and by the 1950s had doubled in size By the late 50s, expansion was on the brain for Rice. Following the pattern of suburban development, this new store would be in Tanglewood.

In April 1958 a second location was opened in the Tanglewood area at 5016 San Felipe. The fact that this new location was so far from the Rice area necessitated a change in name to “Rice Food Markets”. The new store would be a modern Supermarket. At 17,000 Square Feet, it was massive compared to the first location. The store would even feature a counter for local candy maker Kegg’s. In a tradition that would continue over the next few years, the new shopping center would be built as a joint-venture between Levy and his son-in-law Alfred Friedland. Similar to the agreement with the original store, Levy would own the center, leasing the remaining space to other tenants. In 1958 the third and fourth locations would be confirmed. The third store would be slightly larger, modeled after California Supermarkets. The same year a fourth store was also planned as an anchor tenant for West Point Shopping Center a proposed mall in Spring Branch, although the plans would at some point fall through.  By 1960 Rice had 3 operating locations, and plans for at least two more. At this point, Rice would also start to open Grocery Departments, The same year a merger took place with another grocery chain owned by a local family known as “Jack’s”. This brought the total store count up to 6. The chain had a brief stint on the public market from 1968 through the late 70s. Which ended when the original founding family reclaimed control of the store.

In the 1980s Rice hit its peak number of stores at 55. To help fit the turbulent local grocery market of the time, the chain converted some of their stores into discount grocery retailers “Grocery World” and “PriceBuster”. In 1984 Rice took control of 5 Weingarten’s Grocery stores, after the Weingarten family decided to exit the grocery market and deal in real estate instead. In 1985 Rice purchased multiple Eagle Supermarket locations in Houston. The parent company of Eagle, Lucky Stores had closed their Houston stores approximately one month before Rice’s acquisition.

Rice Epicurean Emerges
In 1988 the first “Rice Epicurean Market” opened. It was converted from the regular “Rice Food Market” location at 5016 San Felipe. To fit the upscale Galleria area the Epicurean chain carried a more extensive and higher scale line of products. It was a bit of an oddity in the Houston market, while other gourmet stores existed they were generally much smaller and carried only specialty products. In addition, Rice contracted directly with specialty companies, such as Honey Baked Ham, and See’s Candies, providing the products directly in their stores through specialty departments. This delve into new territory helped to strengthen the Epicurean side of the business, while the stores carried new products they maintained their grocery store essentials. If so desired you could stop into Rice Epicurean for a 12 pack of Coke, some truffles, and light bulbs. This flexibility helped make the chain popular with not only the upper crust of River Oaks and similar areas, but also the upper middle class “yuppies” moving into condos and apartments in the area. Throughout  the 1990s Rice divested themselves of all but five locations, also dumping the discount grocery chains. The final locations were eventually all converted into Rice Epicurean stores. This would also be joined by the final Lewis and Coker in Memorial which Rice purchased upon their closure.

2012-Present
Rice Epicurean would hang on as a six store chain for over 20 years, and the stores were known for providing excellent service. They also experimented with new ideas such as ordering groceries online and having them delivered. They even helped to pilot what would eventually become to Automate Postal Machines used by the USPS. However, their reduced size and demographics meant they needed to raise prices to stay competitive. These factors helped to push the decision to shutter all but one location. In a fate similar to what the Weingarten family had decided to do with their stores nearly 30 years earlier, Rice would exit the grocery market and delve into real estate. They made this decision through leasing their stores and other locations in shopping centers which they owned. The decision to leave the grocery market was met with the almost immediate announcement that Rice would be leasing all the former Epicurean stores to a chain known as “The Fresh Market”, an organic and health food style grocery store based out of North Carolina. The Fresh Market ditched the higher end items that Rice Epicurean carried, but did keep a few of the essentials in addition to their otherwise organic and healthy fare. The Fresh Market would vacate one store in 2012, leaving it vacant until the chain pulled out of Texas in 2016, and the other stores were closed. One location was converted into a Walgreens, while the remaining locations are being leased out to Total Wine Superstores which opened in 2017.

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