Vergs

Seems like if you guys were given a $100 bill you would complain that it had wrinkles in it. We are talking about what many people used to call the " ghetto Kroger". It's not even done yet, and it's already 10 times better than it was

Let's get this out of the way. THE NEW KROGER IS FAR SUPERIOR TO THE OLD KROGER. There.

I guess I feel a little misled since I spoke with the brass that had been loitering around the store in the weeks and months leading up to the opening of the new part on 10/23/09. I was told it would be the largest Kroger in Houston and was intended to be a flagship of sorts.

While I like clean (seems to be the principal basis for praise thus far), that's kind of a minimum requirements type thing, along with: ice cream without freezer burn, meat that is not a composite of old meat that did not sell and new meat, vegetables without mold, and raw whole chickens that do not smell like sulfur when you open them at home 20 minutes later. I've experienced the opposite of all of the foregoing from the Kroger on 11th. I'm excited that a new clean Kroger may lead to the erradication of those issues.

I went by again Monday and decided I would withhold final judgment until the entire store is finished and integrated. I think it is hard to judge the entire experience when you're thinking of the stores as two (2) separate entities, e.g., "the old store" and the new store." I went by the prepared food island again and it had a better selection than I remembered. The sandwiches looked especially good.

It wasn't as big an improvement as I would have hoped.

The produce section is prettier, but the selection's about the same. Fish and meat look slightly improved, but not much, and the space dedicated to fresh proteins is pretty modest given the overall square footage of the store.

The seem to have focused most on prepared foods. That's probably where their market research tells them the money is, but it's a disappointment to those of us who cook their own food. That, and it's still staffed by the same idiots as before.

Amen. Here's my summary from my first go around in the place on Sunday. I can't leave Central Market without buying a bunch of stuff I didn't come for. I left here with less than 10 items in my basket:

1. (4/10) Precooked/ Quick Meal Section. While they have those cool little food islands like Central Market, most of the food available is the same crap they had before, just displayed differently. No one wants “K”rab salad made with artificially formed whitefish, mayo, sugar, and julienned carrots. Off to the side, they had several skillet dishes, but they looked to be same old dried ass chicken breasts sitting on dirty rice. I did enjoy the grilled asparagus and the grilled salmon I picked up, while a tad fishy, wasn’t dry.

2. (4/10) Salad/ Soup Bar. Did I miss something or did the old salad bar just get cut in half? I opted for the premixed “spinach salad with sliced eggs and bacon.” The tongs they give you are too small and sharp – they tore up the leaves and ½ of every tiny scoop I retrieved with them got stuck on the ends. Also, when I dug into the platter it was in, it was about 2 inches deep – getting a decent sized dinner salad together in their awkward boxes left the platter looking ravaged – I actually felt guilty. The soups looked good, however.

3. (8/10) Aisles and aisles of whole foods stuff. Okay, so they do now have the aisles and aisles of natural colonics, vitamins, bulk buckwheat, antlion toenails, etc. If I ever date a hippie and need to keep her happy, I won’t have to go to the other side of town to do it. I found the milk alternative section (I’m an almond milk whore) and was excited to see an entire row of my favorite product. I usually have to come in here and buy all the almond milk they have because they only keep 4-5 containers of the stuff. Imagine my dismay when I grabbed 2 of the front 5 displays to realize that they had no back up behind them. That’s right – 5 containers spread across the row, and I bought all 5 of them – now there’s nothing.

4. (8/10) Vegetable section. Love the new organic veggie section if not solely for the fact that the selection has doubled. I hope they plan to do more over there because the center area was just fluff – 8 different displays of lemons, limes, oranges, and apples. Oh, and a ridiculously large display of broccoli.

5. (8/10) Sushi. Sushi area looked good – glad to know it is being made fresh in house every day.

6. (7/10) International foods. Much better than before. I think I can actually make a curry or Thai dish without having to head outside the loop.

7. (4/10) Seafood Counter. This sucks. It was non-existent before, sharing about 5 feet of counter space with the old butcher. Now it’s about 15 feet of the same crap. Kroger needs to learn how to display food to make it appear delicious.

8. (6/10) Butcher. No complaints here, but no kudos either – still no flank steak on display. They must really hate me.

9. (4/10) Deli. Same stuff, different location. Same idiots working the counter. It takes 30 minutes to get sliced meat here.

10. (8/10) Cheeses. Huge selection of cheeses now.

11. (3/10) Employees. Groan. No new employees. Same old people running the same sections. No one is knowledgeable about anything. They had a sacker out by the cheese section pairing a bunch of random cheeses with a crummy white wine. He didn’t know jack about the cheeses other than the 2 lines someone had typed out for him about each of them. He was stumbling over them as he was reading the lines aloud to inquiring customers. All the displays/demos felt gimmicky and superficial. I don’t need a 17 year old waxing pseudo philosophic about the benefits of 1,000 day aged cheese. Perhaps the most irritating illustration was the gal at the Starbuck’s counter who served me my tall “coffee of the day.” As I was off to the side adding my sweetner to it, she inquire entirely too enthusiastically, “How is it? It’s good isn’t it?” as if to suggest that this was the first time I had ever had Starbuck’s coffee or that the coffee was somehow mind blowing because it was from the newly expanded Kroger. I told her flatly: “it’s coffee.”

I hope they get it together. I so wanted a seafood section I feel comfortable buying from – I’m not sure I’m there yet with this place.

This thread is hilarious. First, people were excited about a new Target. Then they got discouraged because there's an Arby's next to the Target.

It's all just shopping.

Despite the insane realty prices, the Heights lacks the concomitant infrastructure, i.e., all around shopping needs. A nice Target is a plus. Another mattress store, cell phone store, and Subway is a disappointment. The Kroger's on Sheperd and 11th is a joke. As it stands, the only real grocery store in our area is the Kroger's Signature on West Grey...and guess what, that's not exactly in our area. I used to live in West University where you had all the staples plus stand out alternatives. It just feels like we keep getting more of the same. Regarding Arby's - hey, I'll take it!