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Merchants Park: Retail Center At 1303-1421 W. 11th St.


samiamj

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Response from Planning Commission:

Kroger is expanding its existing Kroger store. Centro Properties (the owner of the shopping center) is also demolishing a portion of the existing shopping center adjacent to the new Kroger expansion for a new tenant . The reason for platting is because Centro Properties is purchasing the existing gas station at the corner of 11th Street and N. Shepard Drive and will demolish the gas station so Krogers can construct a new gas station that encompass a portion of the two tracts. Therefore platting both unplatted tracts into one unrestricted reserve.

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I hope that once they expand the store they will expand the pathetic produce department. Last week they had no shallots and today they had no leeks. I know they are not potatoes and carrots but for heaven's sake, a lot of people use these items - found easily at Fiesta down the street.

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I lived just down the street at 11th and Bay Oaks, and I would only go to that Kroger as a last resort. The Fiesta was old, but they had great produce, and even better than what they had a Farmer's Market sometimes.

I go back to the beginnings with Merchants Park. That store was originally a Henke and Pilot. Grant

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  • 3 months later...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the Kroger on 11th supposed to be expanded into the empty space next door, completely remodeled, and made to be more like the Kroger on west grey?

Seems they are moving toward the dirty, smelly, sticky floor, grocery garage store model that they have successfully established at the 20th St. Kroger.

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Seems they are moving toward the dirty, smelly, sticky floor, grocery garage store model that they have successfully established at the 20th St. Kroger.

On the exterior you can see that they've also made some key changes by bringing in brand new homeless guys to sit on the benches at the side of the store and look creepy as you walk back to the car at night.

You can also see that they're saving up for the big expansion by cutting out all training for the baggers and adopting the tried and true "cram it into a paper bag just like you do plastic bags" method. Eventually they'll save money on buying paper bags because customers won't ask for them anymore. BRILLIANT!

If Kroger invests in that store anymore I might start going to the new HEB on I-10 now for EVERYTHING and not just for big weekly trips.

EDIT: how did I manage to quote myself? Fixed now.

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On the exterior you can see that they've also made some key changes by bringing in brand new homeless guys to sit on the benches at the side of the store and look creepy as you walk back to the car at night.

You can also see that they're saving up for the big expansion by cutting out all training for the baggers and adopting the tried and true "cram it into a paper bag just like you do plastic bags" method. Eventually they'll save money on buying paper bags because customers won't ask for them anymore. BRILLIANT!

If Kroger invests in that store anymore I might start going to the new HEB on I-10 now for EVERYTHING and not just for big weekly trips.

I really only go to this Kroger now if I need something after the kids go to bed.. And then there's always someone in the parking lot asking for money because his car ran out of gas and he's trying to get back to San Antonio.. or wherever.. or else the typical vagrant who wants to tell me a long story that I don't give a sheet about..

If I need to pack my car longer than 2 minutes, I head to the Kroger on W. Grey.. The 11th st. Kroger hasn't cleaned up enough for me to go there often enough..

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And then there's always someone in the parking lot asking for money because his car ran out of gas and he's trying to get back to San Antonio

HAHA-Ive gotten that guy! I may be cruel, but I can't stand having all of the day laborers hanging around that whole area either, just looks so trashy!

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I think the short drive to the new HEB on I-10/bunker hill is better than driving to the W. Gray Kroger's. The HEB is very nice, has everything that I need and takes me less than 10 minutes from my home in the Heights. For quick pick-ups, I go to the Kroger on 11th, of course.

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After a night of shopping at ROSS across the street, I enjoy getting my groceries at that fine establishment.

Had a good laugh watching homeless man trying to get shopping cart out of Krogers parking lot, he was stalled by the magnets and couldnt understand it. I just about lost it when he tried for minutes to pick it up and carry it over.....

On the subject of the homeless I was in the Mcdonals drive thru on Yale, and Mr. Worthless asked me for a buck at my window. After I said no, he asked if he could siphon gas out of my car, I agreed, and he looked puzzled and walked off....

But back to Krogers, I enjoy 11th street over West Gray. The shoppers on West Gray act like a bunch of $30,000 millionaires looking at the wine for 45 minutes. Just pick out your 6 dollar bottle of Yellow Tail, and move on....

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But back to Krogers, I enjoy 11th street over West Gray. The shoppers on West Gray act like a bunch of $30,000 millionaires looking at the wine for 45 minutes. Just pick out your 6 dollar bottle of Yellow Tail, and move on....

The $30,000 millionaires are almost as annoying as the withered, too-tan, aging OC housewife set in their Juicy warm-ups. I'm the person actually trying to get to the Yellow Tail (large size!) and those browsers aren't fooling anyone.

11th St Kroger is bad? Bwahahaha! That place is like Central Freakin Market compared to my neighborhood Kroger (east side).

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Man, some of you people must be wearing AXE for homeless. I am in that store at all hours of the day and night, and I never see the things you claim. Once a few weeks ago, when the temp got down to 36 degrees, one homeless woman was in the foyer keeping warm, but she did not say a word to me. Too bad for her, as I was ready to give her a few bucks.

Maybe commenting on the homeless and the newness of one's grocery store is the online forum way of projecting one's social status (or aspirations of social status). Or perhaps grocery shopping is more of a Zen-like experience for others than it is for me. As long as it is nearby, has most of what I am looking for, and has somewhat reasonable prices...all of which the 11th Street Kroger has...I'm good to go.

I will give this warning, though. Be careful what you wish for. I work near a new Kroger and new HEB. They are all nice and clean...and expensive! Several of the items that I buy regularly at 11th Street cost about 10% more at the new places. Don't know why...maybe they are paying for that cleaning crew and fancy brick exterior. So, even though the fancy new ones are on my route to work, I have gone back to my dingy 11th Street Kroger. Like I said, the Zen shopping thing ain't my bag.

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It's odd. I barely have go to Kroger anymore. We mostly shop at Fiesta. It's not well organized. There's a funky smell that sometimes hits you when you come in the door. However, they have better produce and better prices. We also have discovered that we can get pretty much anything we want there. Granted, they're in the dry zone, so there's no beer or wine. I guess I'll just have to keep swinging by the Specs at the WOW Circle. Darn! ^_^

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There's a Specs at the WOW circle? Damn! All this time, I was looking for Big Ben and Parliament, and I shoulda been looking for Specs! :o

Even better - it's two Specs. One >15%. One <15% (open on Sunday!) which also has good cheese and other food items.

It's really easy for me to hit on the way home, too. And a trip through the WOW Circle is a good way for me to test my aggressive driving habits.

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Even better - it's two Specs. One >15%. One <15% (open on Sunday!) which also has good cheese and other food items.

It's really easy for me to hit on the way home, too. And a trip through the WOW Circle is a good way for me to test my aggressive driving habits.

Yeah it's glorious. I don't have to truck my drinkin arse down to midtown any more. They greet you outside and ask you what you plan to buy so they can direct you which one to go in. They asked if I wanted wine/beer or liquor, of course my answer was "yes". The liquor one has some wine too so I won. And no cheap $6 Yellow Tail for me...I am a wine snob and only drink $9 wine that has a label I find interesting.

As for the Kroger, I have seen that guy asking for gas too. And he was DRIVING around in his car saying he was short on gas. Even funnier, I was approached the exact same way 7 years ago in a Randall's parking lot when I first moved here. It may have been the same guy, but I can't claim to have that good a memory of what he looked like.

The one thing I hate about the Kroger on 11th is the freaking pet food aisle. I never shop on this aisle, but I have been down it in other others and it doesn't make me want to vomit. But even being a row over from it at this Kroger (baby food aisle of course) and I start to gag. Dry pet food doesn't stink, so either they're watering it like the produce or someone is opening cans of dog ass wet food and leaving them there. Disgusting. I hate pets.

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The one thing I hate about the Kroger on 11th is the freaking pet food aisle. I never shop on this aisle, but I have been down it in other others and it doesn't make me want to vomit. But even being a row over from it at this Kroger (baby food aisle of course) and I start to gag. Dry pet food doesn't stink, so either they're watering it like the produce or someone is opening cans of dog ass wet food and leaving them there. Disgusting. I hate pets.

I may have to agree on the pet food aisle. It stinks bad. I think it is the kitty litter, not the food.

Oh, and my dogs hate you, too. :angry2:

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It's not that I want to look down my nose at the homeless people, but late at night the north side of that store can feel really isolated and damgerous when there is a dude just sitting there watching people come and go. That was my only point in saying that.

Nonetheless that store is really going downhill on the inside, too. Maybe I sound like an old crank, but the bagging situation is what's about to put me over the edge.

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I've never had a problem with the beggars around Kroger. Maybe I look too mean or something and they just avoid me. Since the new Bunker Hill HEB opened though, thats my primary source of food right now. The quickie trips are to the Studewood Fiesta, which DOES contain beer and wine.

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Apparently people go to the W. Gray Krogers to pick-up dates. Or at least stare at people. I've heard a few people who say they prefer to go to the one on W. Gray (even though it's out of the way) because they have "hotter guys" or "hotter women".

lol...when I first moved to Houston 3 years ago, one of my first dates was with somebody I met at the W. Gray Kroger.

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It's not that I want to look down my nose at the homeless people, but late at night the north side of that store can feel really isolated and damgerous when there is a dude just sitting there watching people come and go. That was my only point in saying that.

some of the guards look homeless themselves.

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