JJxvi Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 I'm willing to pay a premium for organically grown, local crunch berries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kylejack Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 I've often wondered that people simply get off to paying more for a commodity if a halfway decent argument is given to justify the markup.I don't think the mom and pops feel a shred of guilt for their high markup, yet the consumer is told to feel guilty for wanting to spend less at the "big box". Pretty sure it's more about better product. The bacon from Revival is delicious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksmu Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 What cracks me up is that "Big Grocery" is always quick to blame "Big Oil" for rising grocery prices. However, you never see the inverse when the price per barrel decreases. Damn you Cap'n Crunch.At a certain point it makes economical sense to grow your own crunch berries in the back yard. The price of groceries is intimately connected with the price of groceries, however, the response time is often lagging. When the price of oil rises, the immediate cost of goods goes up for no other reason other than shipping. However, the price of the actually groceries is usually 3-6 months delayed from the increase in oil. For example crops - they were planted when diesel was $3/gallon...but harvested at $4 gallon....its 25% more expensive than when the crop was planted. This "cost" will work its way into next years cost of business....most farmers buy what is similar to a futures contract for what they have planted, which basically means they sell their crop before harvest to lock in a price. Its very complex...actually far more complex than the ordinary layman would understand. Having done it, I wont try to fully explain it, but suffice it to say that the price of groceries is directly tied to the price of oil, but its increases are often delayed, if not by a planting season in many times, then by the farmer who rolled the dice to see what the market would bear without pre-selling his crop. Beef is also very interconnected. Ethanol sucks, its inefficient and it destroys motors, but the greenie weenies love it despite its many problems....Corn is the primary crop of ethanol, which also happens to be the primary feed of the feedlot industry. Beef is at historic highs, b/c the government has increased ethanol contracts without concern for the price of food. This is great if you happen to be a corn farmer, but its bad if you are a consumer. Corn feeds most live animals, and was historically cheap. Now its just an over-priced commodity b/c the government interjected and drove up the price of feed, the price of beef, and the price of fuel. Its bad policy. Thats a quick and dirty but suffice it to say that agriculture is really one of the most important industries this country has and its being destroyed by government regulations...its often joked that farmers/ranchers are the only industry out there where they buy everything retail and sell everything wholesale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barracuda Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Ethanol sucks, its inefficient and it destroys motors, but the greenie weenies love it despite its many problems....Corn is the primary crop of ethanol, which also happens to be the primary feed of the feedlot industry. Beef is at historic highs, b/c the government has increased ethanol contracts without concern for the price of food. This is great if you happen to be a corn farmer, but its bad if you are a consumer. Corn feeds most live animals, and was historically cheap. Now its just an over-priced commodity b/c the government interjected and drove up the price of feed, the price of beef, and the price of fuel. Its bad policy. I agree with you, but I don't think environmentalists are the ones pushing for more ethanol in our fuel. The environmental costs of using ethanol for fuel are pretty bad - including growing and harvesting the corn (requiring pesticides, heavy machinery, and lots of water), processing, shipping, and finally inefficient burning in our vehicles that reduces our gas mileage and potentially shortens the lifespan of engines. I believe it's largely the big agriculture companies that have been pushing this scheme on us, and they have a lot of sway in congress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Yeah, the greens started to figure out a while ago that ethanol sucked. They also figured out that corn as feedstock for cattle sucked, too. Almost everyone except for corn farmers and Iowa politicians has figured out that corn sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barracuda Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 There is perceived status in the ability to pay more for something than others can afford. Women will brag on how much they paid for a purse. Lexus automobiles are not that popular outside the US, but here buyers enjoy paying more for them, because others will know the owner has disposable income. I have even had clients tell me that they wondered how good I was because my fees "weren't high enough". And, of course, imagine my surprise at finding the exact brand of berries that I saw at Whole Foods sitting in the produce section of Kroger...for 30% less. I notice the same thing. However, there are some instances where something is of better quality that justifies the higher price. I view places like Whole Foods as selective shopping destinations...if I do go there, it's for a couple specific items I can't find at Kroger, or where the price is very similar. And Lexus automobiles are really just glorified Toyotas, so I do think most people buy them for the inflated status symbol. I enjoy the fact that I drive an inexpensive commoner's car that gets better mileage and handles better than many "premium" cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 Almost everyone except for corn farmers and Iowa politicians has figured out that corn sucks.Corn farmers and Iowa politicians are raking it in, so for them it doesn't suck at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marksmu Posted June 5, 2013 Share Posted June 5, 2013 I agree with you, but I don't think environmentalists are the ones pushing for more ethanol in our fuel. The environmental costs of using ethanol for fuel are pretty bad - including growing and harvesting the corn (requiring pesticides, heavy machinery, and lots of water), processing, shipping, and finally inefficient burning in our vehicles that reduces our gas mileage and potentially shortens the lifespan of engines. I believe it's largely the big agriculture companies that have been pushing this scheme on us, and they have a lot of sway in congress. I dont think big agriculture cares about ethanol anymore at least that is not what any of the agricultural literature, farm magazines, and lobbying ads I get say. Big Ag is basically focused rather intensely on GMO and marketing/lobbying the government to keep GMO from being required for labeling. Big Ag does not really care where the Corn goes - they never have surplus corn. What we dont eat or feed to animals here gets shipped around the world. What Ethanol has done is reduced food crop acreage and increased corn acreage with a focus on the biomass that is used for ethanol and an increase in the dry matter that is converted to cattle feed. I think America overall though is very much in love with the taste of corn feed beef. Pure grass fed may be more healthy (debatable) but I raise about 160 head of non-hormone grass fed beef, and many consumers do not care for the stronger taste of the meat or the yellow coloring of the fat. It is not what most are accustomed too. It is not bad, its just not what most people are accustomed to getting. Most organic beef is still fed a finsihing ration of corn - especially at the higher end resteraunts and grocery stores...I know that Revival market is grass fed (or they used to be) but it does take some getting used to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted June 5, 2013 Author Share Posted June 5, 2013 Yeah, the greens started to figure out a while ago that ethanol sucked. They also figured out that corn as feedstock for cattle sucked, too. Almost everyone except for corn farmers and Iowa politicians has figured out that corn sucks. If your end game is going faster, if you have a turbo, tuning it to run ethanol instead of gasoline is going to net more HP at the end of the day. Sure you also get way less economy, but if all you want is faster, who cares how many gallons you go through per mile? This is thanks to ethanol being less volatile, you can run higher compression and advance the timing much farther with ethanol than you can with gasoline, and it will not detonate. the net result is yes you have to run a much lower AFR, but you get more power per cycle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstontiger Posted July 5, 2013 Share Posted July 5, 2013 Not to get back on-topic or anything, but did anyone else happen to see the LA Fitness tent up at the Studemont Kroger a couple days ago? I didn't have a chance to stop but I would imagine it has something to do with this development. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3mh Posted July 9, 2013 Share Posted July 9, 2013 Not to get back on-topic or anything, but did anyone else happen to see the LA Fitness tent up at the Studemont Kroger a couple days ago? I didn't have a chance to stop but I would imagine it has something to do with this development. LA Fitness has a location under construction on N. Shep near Garden Oaks. They have been pre-selling that location at the Shep Kroger too. https://www.facebook.com/LAFitnessHoustonNorthSheperdDr?fref=ts Some people think that Lifetime fitness is going to have a location at the Yale St. market, but it is just talk at this point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3mh Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 The first confirmed lease is for Guitar Center. They will take up @12,000 sq ft. Kind of interesting to see Guitar Center expanding after internet sales have taken such a big chunk out of musical instrument retail (they killed off Mars Music and H&H with ease). I have also heard rumors that LA Fitness, not lifetime, is looking at another location at the Yale St. Market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverJK Posted August 5, 2013 Share Posted August 5, 2013 Awesome. I love guitar center. I wonder if this will put a hurt on Fullers? I've been needing a new guitar for a minute... maybe i'll actually buy one with the store being that close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melwood Posted August 12, 2013 Share Posted August 12, 2013 Well it certainly can't be good for Fuller's, but they do a lot of internet sales and ship guitars all over the world too. They have some acoustic guitars that Guitar Center doesn't sell either. GC has had plenty of Houston locations for a long time and Fuller's has done fine, so I expect that to continue. If anything, I question whether GC needs another location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mab Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 http://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/sarnoff/article/Retailers-sign-up-for-center-near-Heights-4757801.php Guitar Center, LA Fitness and Sprouts Farmer Markets are the first to sign leases at the yale shopping center!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunchtastic Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 Sprouts is pretty cool, my folks shop at the one in Cinco Ranch and I've been in a few times. It's TJs pricing and smaller footprint, but unlike TJs it's not mostly sodium and sugar-laden frozen and snack food. Very good doorbuster pricing on decent quality produce and lots of bulk bins with bigger variety and much cheaper than Whole Foods. More like the old Sun Harvest stores in San Antonio and Austin, if anyone remembers the pre-Whole Foods days. Sprouts has very little frozen but they do have a deli and fresh meat dept. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted August 25, 2013 Share Posted August 25, 2013 If that LA Fitness has a pool, I may actually join my first gym ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3mh Posted August 26, 2013 Share Posted August 26, 2013 http://ponderosaland.com/ Front page of the developer's website looks to have an updated rendering. Looks like additional parking on top of the non-LA Fitness side of the development. I would assume that World Market is also going to be a tenant. I doubt they would want their name used hypothetically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverJK Posted August 26, 2013 Share Posted August 26, 2013 Nice. I like World Market, they have pretty great sales on random decorating stuffs, but I never go because the only one near is over by the galleria. I will go to 3 out of the 4 businesses going end to this shopping center so far (I already have a gym). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Construction has begun. Bulldozers and construction workers everywhere moving dirt around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mab Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 Past by the construction site today and notice this sign which confirms that world market is coming to the shopping center. Also the sign is showing that mattress firm and sprint is also taking space in this shopping center P.S sorry about the quality of the photo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mab Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 http://www.hfflp.com/GetDocument.aspx?ID=62892&FN=Yale+Street+Flyer.pdf&DT=1 New Brochure including site plan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstonartstudent Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 I really don't get why there must be a Mattress Firm on every corner...I'm willing to drive a little for my "Once Every 8 Years" purchase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triton Posted February 6, 2014 Share Posted February 6, 2014 Isn't the other Mattress Firm just two exits away by Target? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 There's two MattressFirms at adjacent strip centers in Cypress... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skooljunkie Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 I'm curious about the deep hole dug on the bayou side of the property. I'm assuming this is some kind of underground drainage tank of some sort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3mh Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Could be underground detention. However, the City almost never requires detention on property with existing development. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bedmondson Posted March 4, 2014 Share Posted March 4, 2014 Detention is not required for this project but part of the construction is in the floodplain where no net fill is allowed. It looks like the hole being dug is part of future slope stabilization and to meet the net zero fill requirement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aggie92 Posted October 25, 2015 Share Posted October 25, 2015 Based on the current construction of the hole along the bayou with the concrete columns throughout, any ideas whether this is going to be somehow filled in or left to be a detention reservoir? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 I would assume detention, and then put a deck over it for parking, but man that is a deep hole Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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