Fiesta Market Grocery Stores

[Riomar]

Got curious and wanted to know if any one knows the history on FIESTA Market? I was talking to my mother earlier and she was grumbling about HEB parking across the street from the one near her. She doesn't shop there much, but she thought it was rude. Anyway it made me wonder about Fiesta's history. Also I hear they might die out. Though I am not a big fan, I would still hate to see it die. The chain is such a big part of Houston. At least in my opinion I feel it is. My guess is it came out of the 50's or 60's (I could see 70's, but somehow that seems to young. Maybe that is just me). So let the stories, pics, article links and all the other fun things flow!!!

[blue92]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiesta_Mart

I maybe wrong but I think their 1st. store was on the corner of Bellaire Blvd. and Hillcroft in an old vacant Globe store.

[plumber2]

Wow, I never new that Grocer's Supply acquired Fiesta Mart. I thought those types of arrangements were not allowed by the Department of Commerce.

[Fringe]

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Fiesta_Mart

I maybe wrong but I think their 1st. store was on the corner of Bellaire Blvd. and Hillcroft in an old vacant Globe store.

It was the first one I was aware of. When it first opened we thought if was the greatest store ever. Fresh made tortillas, great produce section, and lot's of international stuff you couldn't find any where else.

[RedScare]

Wow, I never new that Grocer's Supply acquired Fiesta Mart. I thought those types of arrangements were not allowed by the Department of Commerce.

Vertical integration is not illegal. Exxon Mobil is the world's largest vertically integrated corporation.

[brucesw]

The first store was on either Fulton or Irvington on the north side in 1972. I think it was right across from Moody Park or very close. There is a Fiesta now at Fulton and Patton but that's not what I remember the first store looking like. The first store looked a lot like a typical Weingarten's of the time from the front. The Wikioracle says it catered exclusively to the Hispanic community at first - the Bellaire area was not a Hispanic area at that time.

Fiesta's emergence coincided roughly with the openings and new popularity of both Ninfa's (1973) and Merida's (1972) on Navigation and the publication of Diana Kennedy's first book on the Cuisines of Mexico (1973??). Up until that time, if you talked at all about Mexican food in the US, you were talking about Tex-Mex - that's all there was. All of a sudden, people were enamored with 'authentic' Mexican tastes from the interior of the country, not the hybrid cuisine of the border region which came to be viewed by many as a bastardized, inferior version. People flocked to the store from all over town to get molcajetes, pinatas, tortilla presses, and chiles, which were not available in mainstream supermarkets as they are today and many people had never even heard of those things. By the last part of the decade there was Hacienda de los Morales on the West Side and the Original Cadillac Bar on N. Shepherd, both recreations of Mexico City restaurants. There has been a whole sea-change in our perception of Mexican food and Fiesta, Ninfa's and Merida's were big parts of launching it here.

I don't know for sure but I would guess there would have been a store in the East End long before the Hillcroft location.

P.S. Yes, yes, I know Ninfa's is really Tex-Mex, not interior Mexican, but it offered a radically different take on Tex-Mex than what was known at the time. Merida is/was Yucatecan Mexican.

[Riomar]

Thank you for all the info. As far as restaurants go I tend to find Spanish Flower good. Also, while Ruchie's is more of a taquiria(sp), and there for more Tex-Mex, they also serve some pretty good Mexican.

[acamarillo]

I grew up in the Near Northside on Robertson Street close to Cavalcade. The center at Hays and Fulton, across from the Moody Park pool, had an old Henke-Pillot (I believe) when I was young. Weingarten's was at Fulton and Quitman, with the old store right on the corner with head in parking on Quitman and Fulton. Fiesta went into the old H-P store and catered to the surrounding (by then) heavily Hispanic community. Weingarten's built a new store on the back of their lot and destroyed the old one, about 1970. We used to go to Weingarten's after school from Davis HS. When Weingarten's went out of business as a grocery Fiesta took over the "new" store and left the original site - the new store was of course much more modern. By that time the Bellaire store and maybe a few others were going.

[sinister1]

The first store was on either Fulton or Irvington on the north side in 1972. I think it was right across from Moody Park or very close. There is a Fiesta now at Fulton and Patton but that's not what I remember the first store looking like. The first store looked a lot like a typical Weingarten's of the time from the front. The Wikioracle says it catered exclusively to the Hispanic community at first - the Bellaire area was not a Hispanic area at that time.

Fiesta's emergence coincided roughly with the openings and new popularity of both Ninfa's (1973) and Merida's (1972) on Navigation and the publication of Diana Kennedy's first book on the Cuisines of Mexico (1973??). Up until that time, if you talked at all about Mexican food in the US, you were talking about Tex-Mex - that's all there was. All of a sudden, people were enamored with 'authentic' Mexican tastes from the interior of the country, not the hybrid cuisine of the border region which came to be viewed by many as a bastardized, inferior version. People flocked to the store from all over town to get molcajetes, pinatas, tortilla presses, and chiles, which were not available in mainstream supermarkets as they are today and many people had never even heard of those things. By the last part of the decade there was Hacienda de los Morales on the West Side and the Original Cadillac Bar on N. Shepherd, both recreations of Mexico City restaurants. There has been a whole sea-change in our perception of Mexican food and Fiesta, Ninfa's and Merida's were big parts of launching it here.

I don't know for sure but I would guess there would have been a store in the East End long before the Hillcroft location.

P.S. Yes, yes, I know Ninfa's is really Tex-Mex, not interior Mexican, but it offered a radically different take on Tex-Mex than what was known at the time. Merida is/was Yucatecan Mexican.

Yeap Fiesta opened up it's first store in 1972 right across the street from Irvington Village (In the Irvington Addition near Ryon Addition)but it was burned down a few years later after the Moody Park Riots in 1978. Fiesta bought the old Weingarten's on Quitman a few years later where it sits now. Some time after that Fiesta also bought the Rice further down Fulton @ Patton. ;-)

[Ross]

Fiesta buying that Rice was a good thing. My mother n law used to talk about how nice it was to have a great store like the Rice in the neighborhood. The one time I went in there, I was shocked. The produce was horrible, and priced higher than stores in nicer parts of town, the meat just looked bad, and lots of the other goods were within days of expiration. It was like Rice sent all the old stuff there.

[acamarillo]

Fiesta buying that Rice was a good thing. My mother n law used to talk about how nice it was to have a great store like the Rice in the neighborhood. The one time I went in there, I was shocked. The produce was horrible, and priced higher than stores in nicer parts of town, the meat just looked bad, and lots of the other goods were within days of expiration. It was like Rice sent all the old stuff there.

The original Rice in the neighborhood was at Fulton and Weiss across from the Presbyterian church, and it was a pretty nice, if older, store. In the neverending quest for new and modern they built the one at Fulton and Patton. IIRC this was kind of at the beginning of the Rice decline and it was never as good as the older store. THe old building was still there last time I looked and had been a thrift store for a while. Haven't been through that intersection in years, though, as I just go visit my folks and hit the freeway back home.

[sinister1]

The original Rice in the neighborhood was at Fulton and Weiss across from the Presbyterian church, and it was a pretty nice, if older, store. In the neverending quest for new and modern they built the one at Fulton and Patton. IIRC this was kind of at the beginning of the Rice decline and it was never as good as the older store. THe old building was still there last time I looked and had been a thrift store for a while. Haven't been through that intersection in years, though, as I just go visit my folks and hit the freeway back home.

Yes the thrift Store is a Family Thrift, I remember when I was a kid that it was abandoned, there use to be a washetiria across from it before they built the Church that is there now on the corner. I had no clue that it had been a rice before that, nice post. So what was there on the corner of Patton and Fulton before they built the newer Rice?

[chicocasanova]

I'm surprised that Wal-Mart Supercenter hasn't put all other supermarkets out of business. Maybe they will someday. I'm surprised that Randall's is still surviving.

[Earlydays]

I'm surprised that Wal-Mart Supercenter hasn't put all other supermarkets out of business. Maybe they will someday. I'm surprised that Randall's is still surviving.

People still like to grocery shop close to where they live......

[acamarillo]

Yes the thrift Store is a Family Thrift, I remember when I was a kid that it was abandoned, there use to be a washetiria across from it before they built the Church that is there now on the corner. I had no clue that it had been a rice before that, nice post. So what was there on the corner of Patton and Fulton before they built the newer Rice?

I can't remember for sure what was directly on the corner. I think maybe it was a gas station. I do know that where the Patton side entrance is there were some rent houses. You can still see one there - a little brownish brick kind of thing right by the entrance. There was one or two more, my aunt used to live in one which would have been right in the middle of the driveway! Also, directly across Fulton there was a large house where the son was apparently mentally challenged - he used to dress in a Batman costume and stand on the corner waving at cars almost every day. He always seemed happy. He did this until he was full grown, but I don't know what became of him. I learned about accepting special needs people from him and the lectures my mom gave me about respecting others no matter what their situation was.......

[DJboutit]

I live only 4 blks from that Randalls is it the most ripoff grocery store chain I like HEB a lot more

Everything they sell is about 30% more than any other grocery store

[sinister1]

I can't remember for sure what was directly on the corner. I think maybe it was a gas station. I do know that where the Patton side entrance is there were some rent houses. You can still see one there - a little brownish brick kind of thing right by the entrance. There was one or two more, my aunt used to live in one which would have been right in the middle of the driveway! Also, directly across Fulton there was a large house where the son was apparently mentally challenged - he used to dress in a Batman costume and stand on the corner waving at cars almost every day. He always seemed happy. He did this until he was full grown, but I don't know what became of him. I learned about accepting special needs people from him and the lectures my mom gave me about respecting others no matter what their situation was.......

Oh my God, I remember Batman. We always use to ask my dad to drive by there just to see him. One day we didn't see him any more and have been wondering what happened to him.