Stowers Building At 820 Fannin St.

[ilovehouston]

That seems very plausible. I did the same thing out in Westchase where I work. I would often try to find something to do out here to get me onto the beltway to pearland at a more optimal time. Shopping, eating, working out, all that kind of stuff.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

wasnt there a grocery store in downtown called "urban foods" or something of that sort a few years back, but closed down?

[dbigtex56]

wasnt there a grocery store in downtown called "urban foods" or something of that sort a few years back, but closed down?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There was a small grocery store in the Rice Lofts (Main St side) which closed - can't swear to its name.

[MidtownCoog]

Hey, we already have Main St. Food Store. What more can you ask for?

The home of the fried-fried special.

[houstonfella]

The store in the Rice was really nice, but too small and did not offer what a regular small grocery can. I think this will work.

[editor]

exactly.  here is the tagret super center in downtown minneapolis.  this was destined to happen in their city though since target's headqurters are located there.  i always wanted a target, not wal mart, in downtown houston, because they attract people to neighborhoods just as the booming built from scratch suburban neighborhoods.  in some suburbs, wal mart and target are almost like downtowns and serve as a meeting place. lol.

I've been to that Target. One thing that company understands is how to build an urban store. They have these cool escalators for your shopping cart that parallel the escalator for people, but go slightly slower so that you get to the top first. It's really cool. I've also been to a two-story Target in Chicago that has a similar set-up, but it's in a pretty marginal neighborhood, so it doesn't look so good. The interesting part, though is that the marginal Target isn't in downtown -- it's on the fringes; the Houston equivalent of that area just north of UH/D. Plenty of cheap former industrial land around, but they chose to build a two-story building and reduce the footprint. Good for them.

[SpaceCity]

Grocery stores are exactly what downtown needs. It will fuel more residential development which in turn will fuel more restaurants and more nightlife. It will be great!

[sevfiv]

snip...short trips to a neighborhood market, like in the old days, are more in line with urban, no car living whereas major full-cart grocery shopping requires a car, so the major stores would be better off in the areas surrounding Downtown...snip

i agree, and i have gathered that most of the "urban" folks i know and have seen don't leave home (loft/condo, rather) without the Benz...not to mention wouldn't like to shop near main and walker st.

[zaphod]

I think if a grocery store moved downtown it would need to really be sort of like a Glorified Walgreens with Fresh Produce and More Selection of Cans and Cereal, and Have a nice Yuppie Restaruant/lunch counter and have both a nice street level entrance for residents and and a convienient tunnel system entrance for office workers who commute to the suburbs. although i doubt the milk would still be drinkable by the time you got to the woodlands during rush hour, i would think commuters who live no farther than just outside the loop could do their shopping after work in DT and this could get the store through the 2-3 years waiting for DT to grow around it.

Of course realistacally, most people would rather not have to shop right after a hard day's work often enough to make up for the fact they can only buy as much as they can carry without a cart. Its so much easier and less stressfull to go to wally world every two weeks and buy a cart worth of food instead of shopping daily if you live in the suburbs.

[Flamingyak]

What if they did a Grocery delivery service, but to your office? Would that be feasible?

They'd deliver some essentials (In a styrofoam cooler, or something similar) to your office between 4 and 5:30. On the next trip, you'd simply return the previously used Styrofoam cooler. Maybe have a 10 dollar deposit for the cooler, upon using the service.

The only real question, is whether or not bosses would allow the employees to keep this stuff @ their desks.

Good or bad idea?

Steven.

[editor]

What if they did a Grocery delivery service, but to your office?  Would that be feasible?

They'd deliver some essentials (In a styrofoam cooler, or something similar) to your office between 4 and 5:30.  On the next trip, you'd simply return the previously used Styrofoam cooler.  Maybe have a 10 dollar deposit for the cooler, upon using the service.

The only real question, is whether or not bosses would allow the employees to keep this stuff @ their desks.

Good or bad idea?

Steven.

Peapod offered this when I first moved to Houston. It was fantastic. But not enough people wanted it, and they stopped offering the service. I guess Houston wasn't ready for it at the time (1999/2000) When Peapod started in Houston it was teamed up with Albertson's. Very quickly Randall's and Rice Epicurean jumped on the bandwagon, but when Peapod went away so did the other delivery services.

I don't entirely blame Houston, though. Peapod entered Houston at the same time it entered markets like Atlanta, Dallas, and elsewhere. It's closed up shop in every market except its home market of Chicago, where I understand it is thriving. Maybe when Houston gets forests of residential high rises like Chicago, Peapod will return.

[Flamingyak]

Peapod offered this when I first moved to Houston.

[Pumapayam]

Here is a photo I found showing some ground retail, a grocery store actually, very urban and well needed in downtown

[kjb434]

This has been posted in a previous thread

[(Otto Mation)]

capturedaesthetic has added a photo to the pool:

www.petermolick.com

Click here to view this photo at the HAIF Photo Pool on Flickr