Montrose drying up?

Amid news of Montrose H-E-B TABC troubles, longtime Fiesta's days may benumbered

St. Stephen's Episcopal Church & School
Photo via Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church & School
Photo by Clifford Pugh

When the new Montrose Market H-E-B opened Nov. 16, excited area residents might have noticed one section of the 78,000-square-foot store in particular: The cordoned off beer and wine section.

H-E-B was likely in an understandable rush to open before Thanksgiving and did so before the grocer had secured its liquor license from the TABC. Like the Montrose Whole Foods, it plans a craft beer and wine bar, near the coffee shop, where shoppers can buy alcohol to consume on-site.

Now almost one month later, the market has still failed to secure its liquor license, due in part to a protest by nearby St. Stephen's Episcopal School. (Although the church's main campus is more than the required 300 feet away on the corner of West Alabama and Woodhead, a smaller satellite building used for classrooms is closer to the H-E-B site on the corner of Woodhead and Sul Ross.)

The TABC Houston field office confirms that St. Stephen's protested the license and that a hearing has already taken place on the issue. TABC attorney Sandra Patton tells CultureMap that it's now up to a county judge to deny or grant the license, which should happen in the next few weeks. If the judge denies the license, Patton says H-E-B can file for an appeal in district court or request another hearing.

A spokesperson for H-E-B and for St. Stephen's could not immediately be reached for comment.

It's more than a buzzkill for area residents who were excited for the opening of the new flagship store, especially given the recent news reported by Swamplot and the Houston Chronicle that the Fiesta across the street, which has been in operation 50 years and has been a long-time neighborhood favorite for its extensive and reasonably priced wine department, might be on the way out.

Owner Suzanne Levin has hired Cushman & Wakefield to market the nearly 4-acre property that currently houses Fiesta and several smaller stores and is said to be entertaining offers. Variance signs posted around the strip center that houses the grocer indicate that a new development is in the works in its place, and employees at the antiques store in the same shopping center said a mid-rise is rumored for the property.

Tell us: Are you disappointed to hear that Fiesta might be closing? Are you surprised H-E-B opened without its liquor license?

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Unhappy holidays

Porch pirates swipe nearly $2B in packages from Texas homes this year

Porch Pirate Person in Glasses Steals Packages

Getty Images

The Grinch isn't the only one stealing Christmas these days.

’Tis the season for porch pirates. If past trends are an indicator, the Grinch will swipe close to $2 billion worth of packages delivered to Texas households this year, with many of those thefts happening ahead of the holiday season.

An analysis of FBI and survey data by ecommerce marketing company Omnisend shows porch pirates stole more than $1.8 billion worth of packages from Texans’ porches last year. Porch pirates hit nearly one-third of the state’s households in 2024, according to the analysis.

Omnisend’s analysis reveals these statistics about porch piracy in Texas:

30.1 million residential package thefts in 2024.
An average household loss of $169 per year.
An annual average of 2.9 package thefts per household.

“Most stolen items are cheap on their own, but add them up, and retailers and consumers are facing an enormous bill,” says Omnisend.

Another data analysis, this one from The Action Network sports betting platform, unwraps different figures regarding porch piracy in Texas.

The platform’s 2025 Porch Pirate Index ranks Texas as the state with the highest volume of residential thefts, based on 2023-24 FBI data.

Researchers at The Action Network uncovered 26,293 reports of personal property thefts at Texas residences during that period. The network’s survey data indicates 5 percent of Texas residents had a package stolen in the three months before the pre-holiday survey.

The Porch Pirate Index calculates a 25.8 percent risk of a Texas household being victimized by porch pirates, putting it in the No. 5 spot among states with the highest risk of porch piracy.

The Action Network included online-search volume for terms like “package stolen” and “porch pirates.” Sustained spikes in these searches suggest that “people are actively looking for guidance after something has happened. Search trends serve as an early warning system, revealing emerging-risk areas well before annual crime statistics are released,” the network says.

Tips to avoid being a victim
So, how do you prevent porch pirates from snatching packages that end up on your porch? Omnisend, The Action Network and Amazon offer these eight tips:

Closely monitor deliveries and quickly retrieve packages.
Schedule deliveries for times when you’ll be home.
Use delivery lockers or in-store pickup when possible.
Ask delivery services to hide packages in out-of-sight spots outside your home.
Install a visible doorbell camera or security camera.
Coordinate deliveries with neighbors or building managers if you’ll be away from your home when packages are supposed to arrive.
Request that delivery services hold your packages if you can’t be home when they’re scheduled to come.
Illuminate the path to your doorstep and keep porch lights on.

holidays porch pirates crime