(Ed.'s Note: The dismantling of the closed HEB store downtown is progressing into its final phase as the communications dish is removed by a crane this afternoon. A sign on the Elizabeth Street side of the store lets pedestrians know what is obvious. The store, which first went up here in 1948, had served downtown and Matamoros residents and was profitable, city officials said. So far, no other grocery stores have announced an interest in moving there.)
29 comments:
Brownsville is dying and no hope unless the citizens of Brownsville understand that corruption in all levels of of the city must end. Our new mayor is just the same of story of stupidity and incompetence of education idiots.
So much for Historic Brownsville, a panacea. smh
where are the girls standing now ?
Unlike the Mayor and the City Commission; and perhaps you Juan, H.E.B. realizes that the downtown area is not the place for profit. The "real" Brownsville is not downtown, it is North and in the Southmost area. The other H.E.B. stores are where the people are. Sorry that people from Matamoros can't buy groceries there anymore, but.....
I blame Ben Neece. He talks up downtown shit but then this happens. La caga ese vato.
Bus needs to run on sunday so the citizens of matamoros can go shopping on all the north brownsville stores do they won't close down LA VERDAD
@ October 30, 2019 at 8:36 PM
Many of the people who comment have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. I understand many people think downtown is just a place for Mexicans to shop and that Brownsvillians have no business going downtown, but that is an absolutely ridiculous assessment.
You really show your true colors when you make comments like the ones above. It isn't that downtown isn't a place where profit is made. It's just that you have a stereotype of what downtown is and YOU don't like going downtown.
If you would have bothered to read anything written about the HEB closing, you would know the suits at HEB closed the store, not because it wasn't profitable, but because the store was land-locked and expansion would have been nearly impossible without tearing down the existing structure and/or going through a massive renovation project that would have put the store out of commission for months. The store was very profitable. There was never a time when that store wasn't packed with people using the business center or people shopping for groceries.
I get that you might think the elderly who live in the Villa del Sol apartment complex don't matter, along with the rest of the people who live within a five block radius of the downtown HEB, and I'm sure you love shopping at the big, fancy HEB off Paredes and Ruben Torres, but the simple fact is that HEB downtown provided much needed food and other essentials to people who do not have a vehicle or people who do not get around as easily as you might.
Losing that HEB creates a big hole right through the heart of downtown. That might not matter to you, and it may matter even less to most, but to those who call the downtown area home, the HEB is going to be missed.
Unfortunately, losing that HEB plays right into the hands of people like the mayor, who wants to see downtown gentrified and turned into a playground for the Brownsville and Matamoros elite.
Nearly 70% of 2019 farm income will come from federal aid and they are the first to complain about entitlement programs MAMONES!!!!!!
Maybe you forgot how downtown and everywhere else, looked like when the first peso devaluation in the 70's looked like, a GHOST TOWN.
District 4 city commissioner (Ben Neece) should resign after this. What - he didn't see it coming? Si, la cago el vato.
Costumes Museum to host first Catrina Loteria Night
Now that they ran out of funds it will no longer be a WELL KEPT SECRET.
Costumes Museum to host first Catrina Loteria Night
funds from the event will go to help defray operating expenses and social media market.
WONDER HOW MUCH MONEY THE DIRECTOR IS MAKING 100K A YEAR? SHOULD BE A VOLUNTEER.
THEY WANT TO EXPAND AT OUR COST WHY?
For the most part a bunch of ignorant people on this comment thread. For those complaining about the mayor? What exactly did you want him to do? Spend city monies renovating a privately owned building? Encourage a multimillion dollar corporation with some tax incentives to stay downtown? Don’t get me wrong, I understand the plight that individuals will face that were reliant upon the downtown HEB but what could have been done differently? How could we have saved it? I ask only because no one ever seems to want to give a plausible remedy to these situations, only continue the bitch fest…
I doubt the mayor wanted that he closed to help complete his diabolical plan to make downtown for the elites when he and many other downtown businesses relied on that heb for emergency items. And for those people who are constantly hating on the effort put on downtown expansion please get it through ur head that we are trying to make downtown unique and different from anywhere else. Of course north side is the money maker with their corporate business and restaurants at every square inch...but every big city has that. We have a chance to make something different in our town of culture, yet close minded idiots don't even bother to see the bigger picture. North side doesn't need any help to continue and expand. But our downtown, the place, where our city begun, is struggling after years of neglect. And btw no one comes to Brownsville for our north side and mall. They have that everywhere in the valley. However waves of people from McAllen Harlingen San Ben and even Houston have stopped by to our downtown events and business and leave in aw of the image and experience Brownsville has to offer.
@ October 31, 2019 at 8:31 AM
Thank you for your comment, but one cannot reason with ignorance and lack of critical thinking skills. These commentators first reaction to something they disagree with is to attack the messenger or to demonstrate their ignorance by using irrelevant facts.
Nevertheless, thanks for trying to reason with them. Hopefully some of them will realize that they need to conduct some research before trying to attack Montoya's reporting. Creen que se lucen diciendo pendejadas.
OK, the downtown Browntown HEB has closed down..tsk fucking tsk!
@8:31 if this HEB was in downtown McAllen, Austin, Corpus Christi or even Laredo, it would have been torn down and remodeled into a 4-5 story complex. But it’s in downtown Brownsville, Tx where sales are limited to certain time of day and products were catered to a certain population with severe limitation. Miller or Bot light? The $15 pizza’s down the street couldn’t create another card board delicacy to feed someone with what they had to offer there. So please don’t tell me it was profitable and the reason it closed down is because of the reinvestment in infrastructure it needed. Keep consuming the jargon they feed you but realize the point is simple, the money wasn’t there, it wasn’t worth anything to the multi- billion dollar company to bother with, profit margins weren't high enough, the people didn’t waste enough money there, it was bad business, period. Realize downtown Brownsville is a sink hole that functions 3x a wk from 8 PM - 2 AM with 3 bars, bad pizza, and burnt steaks.
Happy Halloween, maggots!
Dog meets dog at the white house appropriate.
Profit-bottom line is the name of the game, HEB didnt see any more postive returns on their investments, time to close and move elsewhere, Walmart does the same, and other businesses do the same as well. I wasnt shock, however that it took longer than i expected.
Trey got what he wanted: The downtown is now dead as a doornail during the day. The "riff-raff" (low income) are off the streets. Now his well-heeled clientele can feel "safe" to patronize his pricey pizza joint. Drink their $10 goblet (8 ounces, actually) of wine in peace knowing they will not have to look at the underbelly of Brownsville which should ruin the appetites.
@ October 31, 2019 at 10:47 AM
The store wasn't broken. There was no reason to fix it. Sure, it was small, and they had to unload the inventory in ways other HEBs didn't, but it worked. The mayor should have tried talking to the suits at corporate to let them know how important the store was to the downtown community. There was no reason for him to invest any money in the property. All he had to do was talk to the people in charge to look for another viable solution rather than closing down the store. And why couldn't he have offered them tax breaks? Hell, the city offered tax breaks to companies that didn't, and haven't, done anything for the community, Tax breaks would have been a perfect incentive. HEB could have done anything. The block behind the HEB is relatively dead. They could have purchased the entire block and built a new HEB there. That's exactly what they did with the old HEB on Boca Chica. Why not find another suitable tract of land downtown and build a bigger, better HEB? There are plenty of things that could have been done.
@ October 31, 2019 at 12:04 PM
Please. Your entire argument is laughable. The mayor relied on that HEB for emergency items? What, do you think he is going to run out of 100 dollar bottles of wine at his fancy, upscale pizza joint? I highly doubt they had someone running to the HEB to buy napkins or tomatoes.
And really? "You're" trying to make downtown "unique and different from anywhere else?" Give me a break. There is absolutely NOTHING unique about upscale wine and pizza place. There is NOTHING unique about bars and coffee houses and art galleries. If anything, downtown Brownsville is trying to be an amalgam of downtown McAllen, Austin, and San Antonio. Hardly any of it is a unique experience. The Palm Lounge is worth a stop, Rutledge is worth a stop, and some of the historic buildings are worth looking at, but honestly, what's so unique about having a beautiful, historic building gutted to put a bunch of tables and a bar so you can drink beer at? There's nothing unique about that in the least.
@ October 31, 2019 at 4:42 PM
I'm not the one telling you the downtown HEB was profitable. The press release put out by HEB was the reason the store was closing was because it needed "extensive renovations." It did not mention anything about losing money. If the store wasn't profitable, I'm sure the company would have included that in their press release.
I get the building was old, and I get the building needed renovations, but it was not collapsing on itself.
If anything, the small HEB was something that actually added to the uniqueness of downtown. Rutledge is something that adds to the uniqueness of downtown. The Majestic Theater facade, the Capitol Theater facade, the Oyster Bar, Market Square, and the Whitman's facade are all things that add to the uniqueness of downtown. The old County Courthouse and the Immaculate Conception Cathedral add to the uniqueness of downtown. The fact that the last military installation to train cavalrymen is within a stone's throw from downtown adds to its uniqueness. Bars, coffee houses, and fifty dollar pizzas don't.
Y Los Palm Loung Burgers!
Where's that shoe shine guy now that was unique.
All I see is the most definite lack of people populating Elizabeth and Washington Streets. It is a bell tolling to all who remember anything about the vitality of downtown. I don't want a hipster hood. I want to be among real people who are vested in each and every corner of downtown, not those who come and visit to eat fancy pizza once in a blue moon.
Why not build an upscale apartment complex on top of the Payless? That would bring the people needed to gentrify downtown. Oh wait, fuckers can't even keep the hobos in Downtown Brownsville
@ November 1, 2019 at 12:44 PM
You're absolutely right. I forgot about the Palm Lounge burgers. Those are definitely good. The service is also excellent and the prices are very reasonable. The Palm Lounge is definitely worth a stop on a tour of Downtown Brownsville.
Only a bunch of pendejos would be on the tour
What would they call the tour, "HOW NOT TO RUN A CITY".
Yea and invite san bene
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