Fiesta Returns to South Austin

Looks like Albertson’s loss is Fiesta’s gain. The Houston-based supermarket chain is opening a second Austin location in the former Albertson’s at IH-35 and Stassney this summer. Fiesta used to have a tiny location on South Lamar where the Alamo Drafthouse is, but they closed it down in 2003, leaving only the Delwood Plaza store at IH-35 and 38 1/2 St.

I used to live right behind the Delwood Fiesta in the mid-Nineties, but I quit shopping there because their produce was inferior to H-E-B (except when they were running a 10-cent corn-on-the-cob special or something) and it took forever to check out. They do carry a wide array of international foods, though. I also used to enjoy thumbing through the lurid Mexican murder tabloids that had sexy Latina women in thongs interspersed with graphic photos of drug kingpins with their brains blown out.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see Fiesta move in at the former Albertson’s by my current house at Ohlen and Research. Someone mentioned the possibility of a “Hispanic grocery store” moving in there at one of my neighborhood association meetings a few months back.

I have no idea whether the guy who said this had some inside information or not (the "for lease" sign was still up last time I looked), but I think it would be a good move for Fiesta. There are plenty of Hispanic shoppers in the area and this is one white boy who would love to have a walkable alternative to the proposed Northcross Wal-Mart Supercenter.