Here’s a rendering showing the future of the Kroger now under renovation at 3300 Montrose. The construction will be contained entirely within the store’s current footprint — though a 2,400 sq.-ft. mezzanine “lounge” will up the store’s interior space to more than 43,800 sq. ft. Kroger spokesperson Kristal Howard says the changes to the store will improve the layout and allow changes to the food offerings, including an increased emphasis on “perishables.” The design comes from Houston’s CDA Architects, the folks who brought you the Costco at Greenway Commons, the Kroger on West Gray, and that yellow Walgreens at the corner of T.C. Jester and W. 18th.
What about parking? Has Kroger had its eyes on the land under the derelict office building across Hawthorne St. at 3400 Montrose, which Scott Gertner’s Skybar left last year — followed by everyone else in the building? “We have not been in communication with any nearby properties concerning an expansion of our Montrose store,” Howard says.
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Construction started in January and is set to be finished in May; no closing of the store is planned. Kroger plans to renovate 11 Houston-area stores this year.
Rendering: CDA Architects, via Kroger
RIP, Disco Kroger. You served us well during our years in the Montrose.
Anyone heard news on the 20th St. Kroger? I heard that they were going to expand in Walgreens’ former space. Then I heard that Goodwill or Salvation Army was going to put a store there.
I’ve never had a problem parking there. I guess because many people walk, lots of people go here for short trips. Plus, it’s open 24hrs.
Can’t wait for more renderings.
You fed many a broke student and or derelict from St. Thomas and or Covenant house. Your jerk security guards, and oblivious staff will not be missed, nor your parking lot.
The expansion of the perishables (i.e. prepared foods department) is key thing this location needed. There are lot of people that walk in to get a few things and walk out. Walking in an having a large variety of foods prepared will make it more convenient for quick meals.
My favorite Kroger…RIP Disco Kroger.
I had actually quit going to any Kroger at all because of the poor service and attitude of the store staff. A few weeks ago I made a quick stop at the recently remodeled W. Gray Kroger and to my surprise found the store to be much improved and the staff very friendly and helpful. Either they did a bunch of training or hired some people away from Randalls. I hope they keep it up – I will patronize that store again. Hopefully disco kroger gets the same staff overhaul.
I hope Ghetto Kroger (a.k.a. “PoKro”) in the East End is one of the other 11 slated for renovation. I stopped patronizing that dump about a month after moving to this side of town, opting to drive twice as far to the nearest HEB. But I would consider going back if they gave it a nice facelift… and a better deli section.
@jefe you mean “Kombat Kroger” by UH . . . wow that seems to get all the hand me downs..
Disco Kroger? Ghetto Kroger? Kombat Kroger? Do they all have nicknames?
ooh don’t forget “Kruisy Kroger” on West Gray…
West Gray is Kougar Kroger. Just a tremendous amount of ass in that place at 5:00 p.m.
Too bad the store at Wayside and Polk closed.
What would it have been? Wayside Kroger is just too mundane.
Yep, they all have nicknames:
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/eating/2010/12/nicknaming_the_inner_loop_krog.php
a.k.a. Mary Kroger. Stick-on stone? Yay!
Lest we all forget about the Kroger at gunspoint, you know the one that has ALL self checkout and closes per the sign, at sun down.
i had started to refer to W Grey Kroger as Prada Kroger. its really nice! I am happy that Disco Kroger will be a little nicer. Even though i mostly shop at Fiesta.
i always liked this krogers because it seems to be similar to the old footprints and is easy to get in and out of as opposed to all the newer breed grocery stores.
can’t say there’s anything more i wish it had besides some more prepared food options which it sounds like they’ll be getting so this should be good. i’d like to see them do something about only have 1 or 2 lanes maximum available for large loads as it can get bogged down very quickly. i feel like they want me to go to fiesta if i have lots of stuff to buy and that’s not a good signal to send your customers.
unfortunately for fiesta, i feel krogers just always has my staples on sale more often and i can make good use of their store brands to come out with a lower bill in the end. i suppose fiesta doesn’t have the same distribution size to compete with all the big sales and they have fewer store brand items to offer at reduced prices. now that i think of it though, i still use fiesta for all my produce and meats so that’s an area kroger’s could use some more work on though.
Ah, Disco Kroger, may your customers never change.
Prada Kroger?
I think the one on West Gray is Botox Kroger
Best breakfast buffet after a night at SOME.
I always thought Prada/Posh Kroger’s nickname was “hired help Kroger” because the only things they really keep in full stock are cleaning supplies and diapers for the neighborhood uniformed staff supply runs.
The 11th St Kroger has become the new Satellite Disco Kroger. There are more flames down those aisles than in San Francisco (including me!). Of course my partner and I see way more couples shopping together and with their kid(s)!
The Wayside/Polk Kroger = Craphole Kroger. It was godawful when I would go in the early 90s.
JT,
Yes, I do have to agree. But…..back in the 80’s we had extremely limited choices around here so I shopped there regularly after work as it was close.
Craphole Kroger…..sounds about right.
Totally agree with kjb434 on the satellite Disco Kroger on W. 11th, but it’s not just the flames. Once it expanded, all the lesbians in Timbergrove (aka LesbianGrove) ditched the tiny HEB and got lured in by the fabulous aisle of organic granola and soy products. It has become quite the “family” friendly store for those of us who got priced out of The Montrose.
Thank god for the W Gray store. Those old botox babes with the animal print leggings may be slow and brittle, but they don’t have children. HEB is the worst for yard apes. And 11th st Kroger is not far behind. What is with those earnest mommies who think it’s some sort of learning experience to let their sticky little toddlers touch the merch? Teach your spawn about organic produce at home, please. Gross! What a dream it would be if the remodeled Disco Krog went adults-only. Sigh. Until then, I’ll be clacking through the aisles with the rest of the after work Kougar Kroger shoppers.
Too bad Kroger didn’t pick a better architecture firm. CDA’s other retail projects are hideous. HEB’s design, by Lake/Flato in S.A., is much more attractive and HEB made the effort to consult with the neighborhood. The new HEB will kill the facelifted Kroger.
Kids can be an issue, but the Kroger on 11th St is so big now it’s easy to walk away. It still saddens me that people today abhor physical correction of children. It would go a long way having them behave better in public environment. It works even better when someone who’s not your parent can slap you around to make you behave. Those were the good days.
Please, sweet baby Jesus, I hope they do SOMETHING to the Kroger at Polk and Cullen. I really mean anything–converting it into a pile of smoking rubble is preferable at this point, because I feel terribly guilty driving fifteen more minutes to a decent grocery store when I can walk to this hellhole. But I reached my breaking point with PoKro a long time ago and I will only go there when coerced.
A face lift would be nice. I just wish they’d finish the floors quicker. All those bumps make me spill the cocktail in my little cart cup-holder thing.
But it’s still my store. I saw a 7’2 cross dresser in Disco Kroger just last week. He may’ve been taller, but the heals threw off my perspective. Love that place. Besides, I’m not pretty enough for the W. Gray store.
I like the 5 o’clock MILF scene at River Oaks Kroger, because you need 4-5 inch heels to go grocery shopping. Only downside to that krogers is the semi regular appearance of the dreaded ex girlfriend — she’s a real piece of work…
The last time I was at the W Gray Kroger, there was an old guy in the dairy section with his balls hanging out of his skimpy running shorts. I kid you not – I’m shopping for butter and HELLO! there they were, just hanging out for the world to see.
This is the Kroger I go to. I don’t have any complaints about the staff as I go in, grab my stuff, and go to self checkout.
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Most of my shopping is done on Sunday at Central Market but since this Kroger is walking distance, I’m there quite often to grab something quick.
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And no, they’re not going to use/buy/lease the 3400 montrose parking spot. That building will be updated real soon…
“The last time I was at the W Gray Kroger, there was an old guy in the dairy section with his balls hanging out of his skimpy running shorts. I kid you not – I’m shopping for butter and HELLO! there they were, just hanging out for the world to see”
Well if his “eggs” were showing, the dairy department seems like the right place!
That would be my comment of the day.. Fresh huevo’s, still on the vine at Snooty Krogers.. Will say they have the best sushi, from any grocery store, but for some odd reason I Have no desire to discuss anything in raw form..
Hey Spanxy, Q: does it really matter that kids touch merch at Kroger? A: Not really. If you’re not washing your produce, then you’re just as much as fault as those disgusting parents whose kids are touching the produce. KJB, you can beat your kids, just don’t do it in public.
I think KJB wanted to beat someone else’s kids.
I can’t imagine that parking is going to be much of a problem, actually.
When Skybar moved out of 3400 next door, Kroger’s parking lot essentially doubled in size. Skybar had been using(/renting?) half the parking lot for years, making Wednesdays and Fridays a good opportunity to discover River Oaks Kroger.
Besides, the spillover can always park across Montrose in the Starbucks parking lot, right?
What’s the worst that could happen over there?
Heights Guy, I was usually the kid that some else beat. My mom just let it happen so I learn my lesson.
Cody, I hope you realize that 3400 Montrose is condemned and is going to be torn down.
@kjb434: I bet it won’t be torn down. We could have a friendly wager if you’d like.
Cody,
You going to pay off somebody at the city of Houston? The multitude of red tags and problems with the building will make it a money pit.
kjb434: No, I am not going to pay off anyone.
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I just doubt *whoever* buys the building is going to pass on the massive amount of infrastructure that’s there.
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My *guess* is it gets sold to someone looking to fix the building, or it doesn’t get sold. The cost of the property, cost to demo, cost to rebuild, and difficulty of financing today suggests that it’ll either get bought/fixed, or stay there and rot for quite a while. I’d feel comfortable making a bet I’m right.
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and pfft, red tags. I get ’em all the time. They are harmless ;)
I worked for someone in the 3400 building a few years back who looked into buying it.
At that time, he said the property was worth about $5 million, and would cost close to $4 million to cure of its asbestos.
You can’t just bulldoze the thing if there’s asbestos, condemned or not…
Yeah, chalk up another one in support of a FULL RENOVATION of Kombat Kroger!! There’s just no way that they can continue to have this place be a dump! The census records just came out, and EaDo’s population gained 3500 people (of course in 2000 EaDo didn’t exist… it was just a warehouse district). If EaDo wants to actually KEEP these new residents, it’s gonna have to build us a damn grocery store that has stuff we actually eat!! That means Hummus, Brie, F-R-E-S-H produce and a deli that offers some actual prepared foods. We need to ban together as a community and demand a renovation. I really like Kroger and shop there about 90% of the time for my groceries. I should NOT have to drive to West Gray or Montrose just to get fresh Cilantro!!
@wayne2k33
From one EaDo resident to another … YES! The East End needs a legit grocery store, and the Cullen Kroger just doesn’t cut it. Can Montrose send one of its 600 grocery stores our way please?
If some joker came into my store and demanded that I remodel then they wouldn’t be allowed back.
I’ve always called the Polk/Cullen Kroger, Crappy Kroger, because it is. Two kinds of cheese, but 50 kinds of beer!
I was just at disco kroger yesterday,hadn’t been there in a while so was surprised to see the construction. I never go to Kroger usually because don’t like the Kroger card concept (it kind of pisses me off) only went because wanted some cut flowers and the Dunlavy Fiesta doesn’t have much of that. It was a depressing shopping experience. On checkout, the Kroger clerk made it real obvious she would rather be anywhere else. Guess I can’t really blame her, but would have been nice if she would at least pretend to want to be there while she was there.
I sent an email to Kroger corporate office about renovating the East End store. I even let them know about the nickname we’ve given it.