Fiesta Mart, L.L.C., formerly Fiesta Mart Inc., is a Latino-American

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

chain based in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

that was established in 1972. Fiesta Mart stores are located in Texas. The chain uses a cartoon

parrot Parrots (Psittaciformes), also known as psittacines (), are birds with a strong curved beak, upright stance, and clawed feet. They are classified in four families that contain roughly 410 species in 101 genus (biology), genera, found mostly in ...

as a mascot. As of 2004 it operated 34 supermarkets in

Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the Office of Management and Budget, United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–Pasadena–The Woodlands, is the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical ...

, 16 supermarkets in other locations in Texas, and 17 Beverage Mart liquor store locations. During the same year it had 7.5% of the grocery market share in Greater Houston. Many of its stores were located in Hispanic neighborhoods and other minority neighborhoods.Kaplan, David and Nancy Sarnoff.
Wholesaler Grocers bags Houston's Fiesta Mart
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

''. Thursday August 26, 2004. Retrieved on December 1, 2011. The chain is best known for stocking

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

groceries, and also serves hot cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner; Allison Wollam of the ''

Houston Business Journal American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes ''The Business Journals'', which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States with each market ...

'' said "The company has been successful at targeting the Hispanic market and specifically catering to their needs and shopping styles."Wollam, Allison.
Grocers Supply may bag Fiesta Mart in acquisition deal
" ''

''. Friday August 24, 2004. Retrieved on July 7, 2010. "The grocer now caters to more second and third-generation Hispanic Americans." Bernie Murphy, a spokesperson for Fiesta, said in 2006 that at some stores Hispanics make up to 70% of those stores's clientele. Fiesta caters to these customers with a large selection of foods and ingredients that are generally not available at a typical grocery store. Fiesta stores also often include several other stores owned by independent operators, such as discount

jewelry Jewellery (or jewelry in American English) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment such as brooches, ring (jewellery), rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the ...

and

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

. Fiesta also operates Fiesta Liquor Stores, where only alcohol is sold.

History

In 1972, Donald Bonham and O.C. Mendenhall started Fiesta; neither of the men had Hispanic ethnic backgrounds. Bonham had farmed in Belize and Guatemala and supervised the creation of a Chilean supermarket chain. When Bonham returned to Texas, he believed that Houston-area businesses did not adequately cater to

Mexican American Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexico, Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the Unite ...

s, a large segment of the city's population. Bonham opened the first Fiesta, which catered exclusively to

Hispanic Americans Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who have a Spaniards, Spanish or Latin Americans, Latin American background, culture, or family origin. This demographic group includes all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino (demonym), ...

,Hisey, Peter. "Ethnic food flavors Fiesta Mart; Houston chain poised to open hypermarket-size unit – supermarket chain." ''Discount Store News''. September 4, 1989
1
Retrieved on July 7, 2010. in the Near Northside. As the demographics of Houston changed, by the late 1970s Fiesta added African, Indian, Korean, Filipino, and Vietnamese items. By the mid-1980s Fiesta had 15 stores.Sit-DuVall, Mary.
`Right' store was ripe for picking / Randalls joins trend with deal
" ''

''. Saturday July 24, 1999. Business 1. Retrieved on December 1, 2011. By 1989 the stores also featured items catering to

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

s and

Thai American Thai Americans (; formerly referred to as Siamese Americans) are Americans of Thai people, Thai ancestry. The Thai American population is racially and ethnically diverse, consisting of many Thais who identify as mixed race. History in the Unite ...

s. By that year Fiesta had $420 million in annual sales, including $25 million in apparel sales. As the chain developed, its clientele became larger and included second and third-generation Hispanics. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Fiesta operated a very large supermarket and general goods store, an early version of modern supercenters like Walmart Supercenter or SuperTarget, at the southwest side of the intersection of I-45 and Texas State Highway NASA Road 1 in Webster, TX. This store was targeted towards the surrounding community, which was one of the more affluent Houston suburbs. It featured a large, sloped hydroponic garden along the north wall. The floor space was slowly sold off in portions in the 1990

As of 2011, the location is now called the NASA Value Center Shopping Center and has no Fiesta presence. In 1994, Fiesta acquired four locations sold by

Appletree Markets AppleTree Markets was a supermarket chain in Texas formed in 1969 when Safeway opened its first stores in Houston, which were spun off under the AppleTree name in 1988. The division once had 100 stores in Greater Houston and Greater Austin. By Janu ...

. In 1998 Fiesta made a marketing agreement with Conoco Inc. to allow the gas station chain to build gas stations on the properties of Fiesta supermarkets. In 1999 Fiesta had 10.9% of Houston's grocery market. In 2003 the ''

Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown Houston, Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely ...

'' ranked Fiesta as the "Best Grocery Store" in Houston. In 2004, Fiesta Mart was acquired by

Grocers Supply The Grocers Supply Co., Inc. is a wholesale grocery distributor with its headquarters in the Southeast Houston district, Houston, Texas. As of 2011, it was the largest grocery wholesale company in the Southwest United States.Monroe, Melissa S.La ...

, a family owned Houston-based wholesale groceries distributor. On July 23, 2008, Fiesta Mart acquired eleven Carnival Brand stores from Minyard Food Stores. In 2015 the Levit family, the owners of Grocers Supply, sold Fiesta to Acon Investments, a company based in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. California-based Bodega Latina and its Mexican parent company

Chedraui Chedraui (Chedraui Group) is a publicly traded Mexican grocery store and department store chain which also operates stores in the U.S. in the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Nevada under the banner name El Super and stores ...

acquired Fiesta Mart from Acon in April 2018.

Headquarters and locations

The headquarters is on Wirt Road, on the property of Store #8 in

Spring Branch, Houston Spring Branch is a district in west-northwest Harris County, Texas, Harris County, Texas, United States, roughly bordered by Tanner Road and Hempstead Road to the north, Beltway 8 to the west, Interstate 10 (Texas), Interstate 10 to the south, a ...

. The headquarters was in the Cottage Grove area of Houston for many many years. The property was sold, and the office was later in the

Capital One Capital One Financial Corporation is an American bank holding company founded on July 21, 1994, and specializing in credit cards, auto loans, banking, and savings accounts, headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, with operations primarily in the ...

building on Westheimer Road near the Galleria; it moved there in 2018. Locations: *

Greater Austin The Austin–Round Rock–San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area, metropolitan statistical area, or Greater Austin, is a five-county United States metropolitan area, metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Texas, as defined by the Office of ...

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

(2 locations) * Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex ** Arlington ** Carrollton **

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

(11 Fiesta locations, 1 Carnival location) **

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

(7 Fiesta locations, 1 Carnival location) **

Garland A garland is a decorative braid, knot or wreath of flowers, leaves, or other material. Garlands can be worn on the head or around the neck, hung on an inanimate object, or laid in a place of cultural or religious importance. In contemporary times ...

(2 locations) ** Irving (2 locations) ** Plano *

** Conroe ** '' Unincorporated'' Harris County (3 locations) **

(27 locations) **

Missouri City Missouri City is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within the metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Fort Bend County, with a small portion in Harris County. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 74,259, an increase ...

** Rosenberg ** South Houston

Former stores

Beaumont, Texas Beaumont is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, located in Southeast Texas on the Neches River about east of Houston (city ...

(1994–1995, site is now the headquarters of Conn's, Inc., a chain of electronics/appliance stores in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma) *

Grand Prairie, Texas Grand Prairie is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Dallas County, Texas, Dallas, Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant, and Ellis County, Texas, Ellis counties with a small part extending into Johnson County, Texas , Johnson county. It ...

(Carnival food store 1999–2008; SAVERS COST + PLUS 2008–present) *

**1 location in

– Now 99 Ranch MarketBoundary Map
" ''Spring Branch Management District''. Retrieved on December 8, 2009. ** North Shore, Houston (2017), due to damages from

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating tropical cyclone that made landfall in Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cy ...

. In 2021, the store was said to be set to reopen at an undetermined period in the future but not timeline was provided **

Midtown Houston Midtown is a central neighborhood of Houston, located west-southwest of Downtown. Separated from Downtown by an elevated section of Interstate 45 (the Pierce Elevated), Midtown is characterized by a continuation of Downtown's square grid stre ...

(2020), due to declining performance and expired lease to

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

Montrose, Houston Montrose is a neighborhood located in west-central Houston, Texas, United States. Montrose is a area roughly bounded by Interstate 69/ U.S. Highway 59 to the south, Allen Parkway to the north, South Shepherd Drive to the west, and Taft to Fair ...

(1994–2012), site is intended to be an apartment complex development *

Sugar Land, Texas Sugar Land (sometimes incorrectly spelled as Sugarland) is the largest city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, located in the southwestern part of the metropolitan area. Located about southwest of downtown Houston, Sugar Land is a po ...

** The Sugar Land Sugar Creek Fiesta Market Place store opened in a former Gerland's location in July 2013. The store included the first

Caribou Coffee Caribou Coffee Company is an American coffee company and coffeehouse chain. It was founded in Edina, Minnesota, in 1992. As of September 2023, the company operates over 750 locations worldwide. It is headquartered in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. ...

outlet in the state of Texas, a Market Place Eatery restaurant with meal offerings, and a Red Mango yogurt shop. In March 2014 Fiesta announced that the store will close on April 20, 2014Kaplan, David.
Sugar Land area Fiesta is closing
" ''

''. March 24, 2014. Retrieved on March 25, 2014.

References

External links

Fiesta Mart website
{{Supermarkets of the United States Supermarkets of the United States Companies based in Houston Retail companies established in 1972 1972 establishments in Texas

History

Headquarters and locations

Former stores

References

Further reading

External links