THE KROGER ON OST AT CAMBRIDGE ST. IS CLOSING 
Citing the demographics and income levels of the surrounding neighborhood, officials from Kroger tell Dwight Boykins that the Signature Kroger at 1990 Old Spanish Trail, immediately north of UTHealth’s Research Park complex, is closing, the council member reports. The store is the closest supermarket to the Texas Medical Center main campus. Boykins cited the decision in explaining why he delayed a vote on Kroger’s request for a $775K tax abatement connected to the expansion of the company’s distribution center at 701 Gellhorn Dr., near the intersection of the East Fwy. and the East Loop. Kroger was granted the abatement by a vote of city council yesterday, with Boykins absent. Update, 6/19: Kroger responds. [Houston Style Magazine, via HAIF; Houston Chronicle] Photo: Juleena M.
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I believe Olajawon owns this site… assuming he hasn’t sold it to Baylor/MD Anderson.
I read the article, and for once, I don’t see a problem with losing this store. There is a Fiesta about a mile west, and an HEB about 3 miles east. That Kroger is kind of tucked away and doesn’t get enough customers.
Could there be more to this story? Driving around the Texas Medical Center in recent years, you can see the new residential developments going up and many of those have the “luxury” tag on them. Just up the street on Cambridge, that funny-shaped Millenium tower just broke ground on Brays Bayou this past spring. Is the area not upscaling fast enough for Kroger? After all that time bravely sticking it out on OST it would be funny to see them surrender right before the 77054 turns the corner.
This makes sense. There is a much nicer Kroger about a mile away at the intersection of Kirby and Main. I imagine all the doctors and nurses who live in the area drive to that one for their grocery shopping. The OST Kroger is fine for picking up a couple of basics on the way home, but it’s not a great place to do a week’s worth of grocery shopping.
Aw man, not slow jam Kroger!
(See Houston Kroger nicknames: http://www.houstonpress.com/restaurants/nicknaming-the-inner-loop-kroger-stores-6418519)
I lived across the street, from that store, 26 years ago, when I first moved to Houston. At that time, the store was a Safeway or sn Appletree or something else. The neighborhood at that time was way less upscale, to say the least. I think the issue with that Kroger store, at that location, is that the demographics have raced ahead of it faster than it can keep up. Many who could shop there, today, won’t shop there, because it is not nice enough. These would be shoppers will travel the extra fifteen minutes, down OST and up Kirby, for better pickings. If you leveled the building at that location and put up a Whole Foods, or the equivalent, then that store, would likely be very successful there.
There’s a huge, nice Kroger Signature at Main and Kirby, which isn’t far at all. Keeping this rinky dink one nearby is a waste of space and money.
Site is owned by Kroger, formerly by Safeway.
There’s a Kroger at Main and Kirby less than 2 miles away from this one. I don’t think it will be missed.
That store was in poor shape. I tried shopping there a couple of times and never enjoyed the experience. Most of my med student friends all shop at the Target off Main or HEB at Buffalo Speedway. It’s incredible how so many people I know will drive to the HEB off Buffalo from all parts of the loop.
Translation: not enough white people in the neighborhood. What unimaginative dorks. WinCo needs to move in.
It seems like most who live or work near the Cambridge/OST Kroger won’t miss the store when it’s gone. That’s okay, but I wonder why the company’s bigwigs can’t see the need for a new Kroger in the Greater Eastwood or Eado area. There isn’t a first-rate supermarket for miles. Developers, civic organizations and individuals have approached Kroger and HEB for more than a decade about this.
When I used to live on the east side of the med center in the 1990s, the Cambridge store was my primary store. Now that I live on the west side of the med center, the Kirby store is where you’ll find me. The Kirby store is head-and-shoulders the better store and I enjoy parting with my grocery budget there.
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I will lament the closing of the Cambridge store because that means that those patrons just may clog up the parking lot at my Kirby Kroger, which has plenty of customers now – and will have even more once the gigantic Millennium apartment complex opens across the street from it.
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With all of the development going on in the eastern half of the med center, I don’t see why Kroger cannot renovate the old gal and reap in even more money?
The site is NOT owned by Kroger. They lease the site.
I stopped going to this Kroger a long time ago since I kept finding bugs in my pasta packages and the meet seemed to go bad before the expiration date. Kroger at Main is much much much better.
This grocery store has been an unkempt eyesore for years. Not a single employee cared about the place or the customers. That’s not to mention how unsafe the place is. Only a few years ago a medical center employee was shot and carjacked in broad daylight. It has survived merely on being convenient to the adjacent condos. It will be nice to no longer see abandoned shopping carts strewn about t he median on Cambridge.
Interesting. HCAD doesn’t reflect the sale of the property to MDA Medical Development in 2008. The deed is visible on the County Clerk site.
This k korger has very rude employees . they do greet u or smile or ask if u need any assistance . I try not to shop here much , an I live across the street . .
I live across the street and miss the Kroger, even if it was just a basic store. The place was crowded to capacity at rush hour, with many medical students as customers, because there’s no other store nearby, and medical center employees at the new Baylor building across the street would pick up their lunch there. The other Kroger is a true Signature Kroger but parking is difficult, and there’s a lot of traffic on OST to get there. Any supermarket on that corner would do great. Kroger just needs to accept that Houston demographics have changed and most of the population is no longer white. That doesn’t mean they don’t need a supermarket at a reasonable distance from where they live.