A major supermarket shakeup is taking shape in Houston—with one grocer preparing to move into the former space of another. While the closing signs still hang at Kroger‘s shuttered Hedwig Village store at 9325 Katy Freeway, construction crews have started work for another to move in. The next grocer to occupy the space? Sprouts Farmers Market.
The Phoenix-based company has not announced or confirmed the takeover, but workers onsite told Chron that a Sprouts store is expected to open there sometime next year.
Kroger’s Hedwig Village store closed last September, one of five locations the company shuttered in the Houston area last year, as Chron reported.
Kroger representative Shayna Barrett previously said the Houston-area closures were part of “a larger company-wide decision to run more efficiently and ensure the long-term health of our business.”
But she also went on to say that the company is exploring sites across Greater Houston for new locations, with customers expected to see “real progress over the next three to five years” as they add new stores.
Sprouts, meanwhile, is already doing it. Beyond the potential new location in Hedwig Village, the company has opened three Houston-area stores this year—in Richmond, Kingwood and Webster—with another set to open in The Woodlands in September.
Since opening its first store in Chandler, Ariz. in 2002, Sprouts has grown to nearly 500 locations across 25 states, including more than 65 in Texas, touting itself as one of the country’s largest and fastest-growing specialty retailers of fresh, natural and organic foods.