HOUSTON – A Fiesta Mart located in east Houston, which has been closed for more than three years, is set to reopen.
The store on the East Freeway near Federal Road flooded during Hurricane Harvey and looters ransacked the store, causing a lot of damage.
Since then, it’s been boarded up.
“(There’s) broken glass, graffiti, yeah, there’s a whole lot of that,” said nearby resident Kendra Lewis.
The loading dock in the back of the store was full of water and trash.
“Right now, it’s alright but when all the trash and stuff, yeah, it’s an eyesore,” said Lewis.
Dollar Empire, located in the same parking lot, has taken a huge hit and worked every day to survive. The owners were even forced to raise prices.
“Ever since Harvey happened, in the beginning, it was like 90 to 80% of the business was gone. We hardly survived it and slowly, slowly, we’re bringing back the customers,” said Latif Ali, owner of Dollar Empire.
The brothers from Pakistan opened the store 10 years ago.
“The reason we opened up is because of the big anchor like Fiesta,” said Ali.
Fiesta sent KPRC 2 a statement saying they plan to reopen the store and added, “At this time, we are still working through insurance claims and related aspects affecting when we can repair and re-open the store.”
Ali said he’s looking forward to the day his business will be booming again.
“I’m hoping that one day, they will come. Otherwise, it’s hard to keep it up like this month-to-month. We’re hoping day-by-day, let’s pray to God they’re gonna come back,” said Ali.
Fiesta didn’t release a timeline as to when the store could possibly reopen.