From Nancy Sarnoff:
The East End of Houston has been called a “food desert” for its lack of grocery stores. But come next year, the area will be a little less dry.
Wal-Mart Stores said it will open a store at the corner of Interstate 45 and Wayside around the middle of next year. The company had been eyeing the spot for a 150,000-square-foot Supercenter for a while.
Construction details are still being completed, according to a spokeswoman.
“We are very excited about moving into and partnering with the East End community,” said Wal-Mart’s Kellie Duhr.
The store will be the second Walmart Supercenter inside the Loop. The first is being built near the Heights on Yale Street and should open this fall.
Source: Swamplot
We first heard about this almost exactly a year ago. Far as I know, there hasn’t been anywhere near the hue and cry over this location, which I daresay (and said at the time) is almost certainly because there are very few residences in the area, unlike the Heights Wal-Mart. I don’t know what the folks in the Idylwood neighborhood, on the other side of Sylvan Road, think about this, all I know is that if they hate it or love it, I haven’t heard it. This fits my perception of where big box retail belongs – adjacent to a highway, with direct access from the service road, and with separation from residential neighborhoods. I can’t quite tell from this Food Trust report on food deserts in Houston if that area qualifies as such, but I think it’s safe to say that it’s not exactly oversaturated with grocery options. Be all that as it may, here it comes whether you like it or not.
Nah, it’s not the lack of residences, it’s the lack of urban elitists that’s the reason. Ask anyone that manages construction projects in the city. The urban elite areas make for lots of problems and complaints.