Fiesta Mart has gone through various merchandising and ideas over the years, including just being a supermarket focused on Hispanic foods, to being a low-price leader, to having interesting store concepts that rival Randalls and Kroger, to exploring new concepts and formats. Fiesta #81, originally branded as "Fiesta Fresh Market" was one of the last "original" Fiesta stores under the original ownership (the link talks about Fiesta #82) and was one of these concept stores. Opening in Conroe in November 2013, it was far smaller than most of the stores in the chain and was basically designed as a "specialty" Fiesta with a deli and bakery fit among its 22,000 square feet of space. Located at 210 East Davis Street it is near downtown Conroe and required a redevelopment of the block.
The buildings that were demolished included Smith's Tire & Lube (202 East Davis Street), Moore Furniture (105 E. Philips Street), and the vacant Heilig-Meyers Furniture (110 E. Philips Street, which closed in 2001).
Smith's had been there for a long time, it was built in 1966 as Smith's Mobil, became a Texaco in 1973, and shuttered in 1990 (moving to I-45), reopening as Smith's Tire & Lube in 1991. Heilig-Meyers Furniture is a visibly old building that dates back decades (1950s or 1960s but I haven't found much on it).
The logo wasn't the only thing that new ownership changed, in a nod to both older roadside attractions and in some way's Fiesta's own past, a blinking light marquee was at ground level near the entrance. This went away between 2017 and 2018.
I have not personally been to this store, unfortunately, but I remember reading about it and thinking that it was a good idea since I remember the Fiesta bakery being great--telera rolls, dirt-cheap apple fritters (25 cents, even in 2014), and a bunch of other stuff. These days probably not so much...
This entry is an expanded version of what originally appeared on this page ("Davis Street in Conroe").
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