HOUSTON – Two more grocery chains are jumping into Houston's thriving supermarket business.
Sprouts Farmers Market opened its Copperfield location Wednesday in northwest Harris County. It's the third of four stores planned for our area.
The Fresh Market opened the first of four stores, also Wednesday, in West University on West Holcombe near Kirby.
The folks at The Fresh Market hope the name says it all.
"We're gonna have our fresh perishable items, our produce, our meat and seafood, our deli department, our bakery," said The Fresh Market's Blake Atkins. "We make all those things in house and have them fresh for people."
The Fresh Market is a specialty store in the building of what used to be Rice Epicurean Market, Houston's longtime family owned grocer.
Aside from the location, there are few similarities.
Atkins says The Fresh Market has organic products and conventional items.
It is not a budget, no frills kind of store like Houston's new Aldi supermarkets or Joe V's Smart Shop.
"This is gonna be a different price point," said Atkins.
The model is very similar to Sprouts Farmers Market.
The Copperfield store on Highway 6 was the third store to open in the Houston area in recent months.
The fourth opens on Westheimer near South Kirkwood on August 7th.
Neither store likes comparing themselves to others, but when pushed, Atkins offered this:
"Definitely, if you like shopping at Whole Foods, you would definitely enjoy shopping with us," he said.
If you missed this grand opening of The Fresh Market, there are 3 more coming up.
- Wednesday, July 24th: 12516 Memorial Drive
- Wednesday, August 7th: 3745 Westheimer Rd.
- Wednesday, August 21st: 5016 San Felipe