The number of grocery-store-type places open Downtown is down by one: Georgia’s Market, the cafe-and-bar-with-staples at the corner of Rusk and Main St., shut down at the end of last month. A note on the door at 420 Main St. informs customers that the 3-year-old establishment has closed for some sort of “revamp,” and refers patrons to the company’s website for “days open and future plans.” But the website isn’t much more helpful. “Thank you all for your past patronage and healthy intentions. Please stay tuned to further development at the Downtown location,” it notes dryly. The Georgia’s Market Memorial Village (now at 9201 Katy Fwy. at Piney Point; the one at Dairy Ashford closed) remains open.
- Welcome to Georgia’s Market Downtown [Georgia’s Market]
- Previously on Swamplot: Peeking in on Georgia’s Downtown
Photo: EaDo Life
I can’t imagine the reason for the ambiguity. Why would Georgia’s vacate its downtown spot considering the area’s ripening for an explosion in new business? Houston needs more local, organic-inspired small grocers to help balance the ubiquity of corporate, generic offerings.
Tony: I guess the owners with money on the line don’t see it the same way. But if there were truly a strong demand, it would be odd not to have a business come and fill it.
“Organic-inspired”? Something smells like bovine fecal coliform to me. Always wash your organic veggies folks!
The food here is sad, the layout is awkward, the seating area feels like a convenience store, the grocery items for purchase are strangely curated, and it’s always empty. This sounds about right.
I always had high hopes for Georgia’s Market but Sara nailed it right on the head.
But doesn’t the world realize that we need more street level retail in old buildings!
If you aren’t making money, you can’t survive. Once the two apt complexs are built, they will have more people that can walk to the grocery store.
First time I tried Georgia’s, I walked in and immediately thought “what am I supposed to do?” Prepared foods were in a self serve buffet with no pricing. You could order food somewhere, but it really wasn’t clear. People working the cash register were milling around and not really that helpful. The food was just ok. It did not change much in subsequent visits. Thanks to the tunnels, there really is not a lot of foot traffic on that section of downtown. Anyone wanting to do that kind of concept there will need to have a quality product that people will seek out. I will walk 15 min to get to Hubcap, but would not walk 5 to get to Georgia’s.
They needed an actual ice machine for lunch. I get tired of asking the counter person for ice. The salads were good. I bought coffee there, but that went away. There was never enough people to go there for groceries after work. Phoenicia seems to have figured it out. Bar, food, parking.
I like to buy their meats at the Urban Harvest farmer’s market, so shortly after the downtown store was opened I went to see if I could purchase the same items there. Nope. On that one and a following visit, I found the selection of groceries to be lacking and never went back. Too bad.
It’s about time! Georgia’s didn’t have basic essentials that are needed to keep a corner store alive (milk, eggs, etc.). They also had a pretty mediocre (and overpriced) beer selection. Obviously a small-scale grocery doesn’t have to have everything – the point is that people will walk over for a few things instead of driving out of downtown – but there was literally nothing to draw local residents. The prepared foods were even unreliable. I was so sure this place was laundering money.
Eh, Byrd’s was much better. This is a tough corner for a market. So, let it be yet another bar.
Didn’t I read a while back that Georgia passed away and that it was she who had the idea of how she wanted the downtown operation to run. Clearly over the last year, it has not had any semblance of an identity. And with the arrival downtown of Phoenicia, most anyone living downtown who wanted to buy downtown was going to go there instead.
Also, it was not located at Rusk and Main, but rather at Prairie and Main.