Not a traditional big-box kind of place, but this seems like a good fit for downtown.
While it won’t be on the scale of a large grocery chain, local caterer Jerrell “Rusty” Powers is preparing to open a market at the corner of Main and Preston in the heart of downtown.
The Houston Business Journal had a story about it today.
Byrd’s Market & Cafe is expected to open late this month on the first floor of 420 Main Street.
The 1930s structure was the former home of Byrd’s department store.
In 2005, Robert Fretz Jr. of Fretz Construction, whose grandfather originally built the property, restored the structure and spent nearly $4 million turning the top floors into condominiums.
But the first-floor retail space was never filled.
A press release says the mew market will be “organic” and feature “a casual, affordable, chef-driven dining experience.”
Organic and affordable don’t often go together, but we’ll wait and see.
It also says that Byrd’s will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.
That should please downtown dwellers who often complain that there’s nowhere to eat breakfast on a Sunday morning.
Sounds like a potential winner to me. They ought to draw from the Discovery Green crowd, which is largely a destination attraction, and if they’re lucky some day from the Market Square crowd as well. In the meantime, here’s hoping they make downtown a more interesting and useful place. Greg has more.
It’s way too far from Discovery Green. They’ll probably just draw the jail/courthouse crowd. I for one am looking forward to the opening, I work just a block away.