Artis Montrose: Multifamily At 3300 Montrose Blvd.

[Utinga]

I enjoyed the self checkouts because of the deep discounts that are given for using them.

[samagon]

The West Gray location was tarted up with a new deli section as well not so long ago. All hands on Deck for Kroger.

doubt it, unless you mean all hands on deck except for kombat kroger.

to the self check vs the human interaction, what human interaction? the most discussion i have with the person running the register is to tell me to swipe my own card when i offer it to them during checkout.

[trymahjong]

soooooooooooooooooo

I do get a lot of chatter from the people at register and perhaps because I am old and slow I get quite a few "finding everything. . . . " from stockers on aisles. The Kroger on Gray , not so much chatter.

My last observation of odd difference between the 2 stores: The orchids at disco were $9.99 the same size orchid on Gray, $16.00. I've seen that exact price different several times over the last several months.

[rsb320]

What is up with the bell at the registers at Disco? Somebody will ring it and everybody claps. Has the checker just received a tip?

[sevfiv]

They had bells set up at the Kroger on Sabo (but have since removed them maybe) - they were to acknowledge good service or something like that..

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

which one is the Kombat Kroger?

[LTAWACS]

which one is the Kombat Kroger?

It's on Polk street. 4000 Polk Street to be exact.

[crunchtastic]

It's on Polk street. 4000 Polk Street to be exact.

Ahhh, Kombat Kroger. Was just in there last week picking up cheap wine and totinos pizza rolls. (Don't judge. Nothing says love like giving your partner a break from veggies and quinoa) Yet, I refuse to go into the brand new Dollar General next door. Yikes, I'm becoming a retail snob. Or maybe I just haven't yet had a hankering for off-name vienna sausages.

...going back to Kombat Kroger, they have perfectly serviceable, staple produce there like onions, greens, peppers, etc. It beats driving to Fiesta or Gulfgate if I forgot something on my list.

[samagon]

I had to stop going to the Fiesta. Every time I go, I buy enough Jarritos to feed a family of 8 and finish all of it on my own in less than a week.

On a side note, Jarrito + tequila = cheap margaritas.

I need to start supporting Fiesta again though, I enjoy shopping there.

to get kind of back on subject, I really don't know what it is about the Kombat Kroger, I really do everything I can to avoid shopping there, maybe there isn't enough lighting to make it inviting, the isles are too small, the chalk outlines on the floor? I don't know, something about that place just makes me not want to shop there.

[houstonartstudent]

The new Dollar General is actually quite nice, at least a lot nicer than that Kroger. They've actually come a long way in their food offerings, and it's a lot more convenient running in there for chips and soda (or off-brand vienna sausages ) than any grocery store.

[Jax]

What is up with the bell at the registers at Disco? Somebody will ring it and everybody claps. Has the checker just received a tip?

I was there and there was a sign that said "ring the bell if you had good service", so I rang the bell... twice... and nothing happened.

[west20th]

I was there and there was a sign that said "ring the bell if you had good service", so I rang the bell... twice... and nothing happened.

I was hoping they would play some Anita Ward over the PA but noooooooo.....Some Disco Kroger.

[TxDave]

Do they ever play real disco music?

Always liked that store - it's 'fabulous' regardless of what music is playing!

[trymahjong]

Do they ever play real disco music?

Always liked that store - it's 'fabulous' regardless of what music is playing!

I agree!

This is my most favorite store-- when asked nicely. . . . . they will put back and save a six pack of the St. Arnold's special issue (that flies off the shelves in the first hour it appears) till I can stop by and pick it up after work.

[blue92]

So from the many posts in this thread I am gathering that Kroger's have decided to remove the self serves, I say yea to that. Wish they would take them out in the DFW area. I've always hated them, seems that the store always has to have someone there to fix something that won't ring up. Albertson's have taken all of them out up here. Talked to one of the managers and she said she was happy they were gone too, they were always a pain in butt, something always going wrong. I hate the idea of checking myself out for 2 reasons. 1) it puts checkers out of a job, 2) if I'm going to check myself out I want a discount for doing the work myself. These checkers today have it easy when I was a teenager and worked for 7-11 the cash registers had a handle on the side like a slot machine you had to pull to open it and you had to actually ring up the idem, no bar codes.

Edited September 12, 2011 by blue92

[IronTiger]

I've noticed that prior to this renovation, the Montrose Kroger was branded as a Kroger "Signature", which is puzzling, as the Kroger seemed to never be very large or upscale, quite the opposite in fact (note: "Signature" is different from the "Marketplace" stores in Richmond and Rosenberg)

[rsb320]

Now it's called "Fresh Fare" or something goofy like that. They slapped the "Signature" on there after the last remodel in the late 80's or 90's. Back then, stores weren't as giant as they are today.

[IronTiger]

I think "Fresh Fare" isn't actually part of the store, it's just some of the junk they put on the side, sort of like how H-E-B has "H-E-B Fresh Foods" but it isn't the actual name of the store, you know?

I heard that the Montrose Kroger had its third renovation. Obviously the second renovation added on the "Signature", and I'm betting on late 1990s. Before the Signature rebranding, did the Kroger somewhat resemble this[/a]? (except for the script "Kroger", and not the block lettering)? I'm betting yes.

[IronTiger]

I visited the Montrose "Disco" Kroger at 9 pm on a Friday night, and despite getting a renovation in the last few years, I was...profoundly disappointed. I mean, on the inside, it didn't look too different from most Krogers I've seen (the mezzanine and the tile scars on the floor aside), but the clientele just wasn't the outrageous collection I've always read about. Apart from a suspicious guy in a hoodie who looked nervously around before darting out the door with an unpaid item and a few other somewhat slightly-less-than-mainstream-but-nothing-really-eye-raising characters, there wasn't any transvestites, crackheads, or drunks (or any combination thereof, at least what I could tell). There wasn't any frozen fruit (something I read about but did confirm) and a very slim selection of non-Greek and/or organic yogurt, but that was okay because I wasn't looking for that sort of thing anyway, but all in all, a disappointment.

 

Did I just visit the store at the wrong time or has the store's craziness gone away for good?

 

[mollusk]

A little of both.  9 pm is after the early shift has gone home, and before the late shift gets going. 

[txn4art]

I shop there weekly, usually during the day. The clientele varies -- sometimes ordinary in appearance and behavior, sometimes not. These are incidents I observed during recent months:

 

• A middle-aged woman stopped in the cookie aisle, opened a package and stuffed her mouth full of sandwich cookies until her cheeks bulged out. She then carefully rolled up the package with the remaining cookies and hid it behind other items on the shelf. She looked at me and continued her shopping.

 

• A couple of 20-something men felt compelled to stop their cart and kiss lovingly in the middle of every aisle. They happened to be ahead of me at checkout and entered the debit card pin number with their hands clasped It took three tries with all those fingers getting in the way.

 

• While waiting in line at checkout, the guy ahead of me complained to the cashier (also male) that his feet still hurt from the heels he wore for a performance two days prior. The cashier agreed that heels were torture but necessary. I chimed in and suggested several things to make their shoes more comfortable. The guys hadn't thought of them and appreciated the information.

 

Yogurt is in two places at Disco Kroger. Premium Greek and organic yogurt is on the wall in the produce department; all other yogurt is in the dairy case between fruit juice and eggs..

 

 

[IronTiger]

I shop there weekly, usually during the day. The clientele varies -- sometimes ordinary in appearance and behavior, sometimes not. These are incidents I observed during recent months:

• A middle-aged woman stopped in the cookie aisle, opened a package and stuffed her mouth full of sandwich cookies until her cheeks bulged out. She then carefully rolled up the package with the remaining cookies and hid it behind other items on the shelf. She looked at me and continued her shopping.

• A couple of 20-something men felt compelled to stop their cart and kiss lovingly in the middle of every aisle. They happened to be ahead of me at checkout and entered the debit card pin number with their hands clasped It took three tries with all those fingers getting in the way.

• While waiting in line at checkout, the guy ahead of me complained to the cashier (also male) that his feet still hurt from the heels he wore for a performance two days prior. The cashier agreed that heels were torture but necessary. I chimed in and suggested several things to make their shoes more comfortable. The guys hadn't thought of them and appreciated the information.

Yogurt is in two places at Disco Kroger. Premium Greek and organic yogurt is on the wall in the produce department; all other yogurt is in the dairy case between fruit juice and eggs..

I think the "other yogurt" was with the fruit juice and eggs, north side opposite from the deli an aisle away from the frozen fruit-less frozen foods section. That was the one I was talking about, there was some Yoplait but not much. No kid yogurts from what I could tell. Edited May 17, 2015 by IronTiger

[Ross]

• A couple of 20-something men felt compelled to stop their cart and kiss lovingly in the middle of every aisle. They happened to be ahead of me at checkout and entered the debit card pin number with their hands clasped It took three tries with all those fingers getting in the way.

There's a time and a place for everything. Sadly, the time often occurs when you are in the wrong place...

[Naviguessor]

Good story about my history at Disco Kroger.

This is from 1996, I had been in a long distance relationship for sometime and the signs that the relationship just wasn't going to survive were obvious to us both. So, we were doing some shopping at Kroget on one of his trips here when things were coming to a head and just needed to be settled. He pressed for closure. I asked him if he wanted me to break-up with him right there and then in the juice aisle. He looked at me, thought for a moment and said, "No. Take me to cold cuts." We went to the deli and declared it over...then went to JR's for $1 drinks.

[IronTiger]

Good story about my history at Disco Kroger.

This is from 1996, I had been in a long distance relationship for sometime and the signs that the relationship just wasn't going to survive were obvious to us both. So, we were doing some shopping at Kroget on one of his trips here when things were coming to a head and just needed to be settled. He pressed for closure. I asked him if he wanted me to break-up with him right there and then in the juice aisle. He looked at me, thought for a moment and said, "No. Take me to cold cuts." We went to the deli and declared it over...then went to JR's for $1 drinks.

That was probably two renovations ago.

[Naviguessor]

True that. I seem to recall tile on the floors. And I paid with a check. :-)

[BigFootsSocks]

Hey man, I say do what you do if that makes you happy.

Who are we to judge? Never heard of this Kroger though lol

[IronTiger]

Who are we to judge? Never heard of this Kroger though lol

I've heard about "Disco Kroger" for years, thanks mostly to the HAIF. There's crazier people than described above. 

 

True that. I seem to recall tile on the floors. And I paid with a check. :-)

There was tile on the floor, which seems to be removed from the last renovation...this is going to sound incredibly nerdy, but based on what I know of this store and Kroger stores, this opened as a "Superstore" Kroger, looking a bit like this, with pebble-encrusted wall "tiles" (these still exist on the side of the building). Houston Press claims it opened in 1978 which is probably what HCAD says, but HCAD is often inaccurate, because by the time the late 1970s were in, Kroger was starting to build "Greenhouse" stores not unlike (nay, very much like initially) the "Kombat Kroger". (The wallpaper uncovered at the "Disco Kroger" as chronicled at Swamplot seems long out of fashion by 1978).

At some point in the 1980s, the facade was altered at this Kroger to resemble more of the "Greenhouse" facade (these types of things were very "in" at Kroger at this era), and then in the 2000s (that's the second renovation), the store became a "Signature" store but didn't get those amenities that Signature stores had (like a Starbucks coffee shop) and amounted to little more than another facade restructuring and an interior face-lift, which takes us to the more extensive third renovation.

[west20th]

really-eye-raising characters, there wasn't any transvestites, crackheads, or drunks (or any combination thereof, at least what I could tell). 

There is no reason to lump Transvestites (Transgender) in with crackheads and drunks. 

[Highway6]

I visited the Montrose "Disco" Kroger at 9 pm on a Friday night, and despite getting a renovation............ it didn't look too different from most Krogers I've seen.

 

"Despite getting a renovation...  It didnt look too different from most Krogers I've seen."

 

Really ?

 

Did you think Krogers Corporate Mother Ship would renovate to make it look more different ?

Did you think Krogers Corporate Mother Ship was like "Gee, this Krogers has a cute quirky nickname.. we should surely take this into consideration when we remodel it "

Did you think it got its name becasue of the renovations ?

 

I'm dumbfounded at your train of thought.

If you wanted to experience Disco Kroger for not just the people, but the architecture.. then it should have been fairly obvious to you that you were making your first visit over half a decade too late.

 

 

P.S.    You have "visit every grocery store brand in the US" on your bucket list don't you ?

 

Edited May 18, 2015 by Highway6