Goodbye and hello

End of an era? Most Rice Epicurean grocery stores to be replaced with FreshMarket

Four of five Rice Epicureans will be replaced with Fresh Markets.

Rice Epicurean Markets/Facebook
The four new branches mark Fresh Markets' first expansion into Texas.

The Fresh Market/Facebook
Rice Epicurean founder William Levy, left, stands before the Houston chain'sfirst location in Rice Village.
In addition to a vast selection of gourmet items, Fresh Markets offers anextensive line of prepared foods.

The Fresh Market/Facebook

Rice Epicurean — Houston's oldest family-owned grocery store chain — announced Wednesday that it will be paring down its presence in the Bayou City, as specialty food retailer Fresh Market takes over four of its five area locations. Rice Epicurean’s branch at 2020 Fountain View is not part of the agreement and will maintain its classic name.

The affected stores will remain open through the holiday season, before Fresh Market begins an extensive renovation project that will create its first forays into the Lone Star grocery market by fall 2013.

"We are excited to expand into Texas, and into Houston in particular," said Fresh Market president Craig Carlock in a statement. “We look forward to introducing The Fresh Market’s concept of quality perishable food, excellent customer service and unique shopping atmosphere to a new set of customers, and we look forward to offering our new neighbors a distinctive food shopping experience, one that we think cannot be beaten.”

Fresh Market promotes it stores as conveying "the atmosphere of an old world European market," offering what it calls "old-style" butcher shops, fish markets, delicatessens, bakeries and produce stands. The national chain also enjoys a solid reputation for extensive prepared food options.

“We are excited to welcome The Fresh Market to the Houston metropolitan area and to introduce their concept to our customers and neighbors," said Rice Epicurean spokesperson Bruce Levy. "We believe their stores will be an excellent fit in this market.”

Rice Epicurean began in 1937 as a small shop known as the the Rice Boulevard Food Market. After briefly going public in the late 1960s and expanding to four other locations, the grocery store gained national attention in 1988 after the launch of its "epicurean" concept — balancing a stock of special food with grocery staples.

In other grocery store news, Katy will be getting a new Whole Foods in late January as the organic grocer continues its Houston-area expansion along with Trader Joe's and Kroger. Since the summer, two other Whole Foods have been announced for northwest Houston and the Galleria area.

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Bang for Buck

Surprising suburb unlocks biggest apartments in Houston for $1,500

Photo by Matt Halls on Unsplash

Pasadena has the 6th roomiest apartments on a budget in Texas.

Budget-conscious renters searching for the roomiest apartments in the region should look no further than Pasadena. According to a new study, the east Houston suburb has the biggest apartments on a budget in the metro.

In 2026, Pasadena residents can rent a 1,125-square-foot apartment for $1,500 per month. That's enough space for a two- or three-bedroom unit, and it's four square feet bigger than what renters could get with the same budget last year.

RentCafe's annual report analyzes the places where renters can find the largest apartment sizes across 200 of the most populous U.S. cities for a monthly budget of $1,500. The price per square foot was calculated using the average apartment rent and size per city based on "multifamily properties" containing 50 or more units.

Pasadena offers the 6th most spacious apartments in Texas for $1,500, and Houston ranks 11th statewide.

Renters in Houston proper will net a 976-square-foot apartment for the same price in 2026, a size that has shrunk by more than 20 square feet since 2023.

Apartment sizes across Texas
For the second year in a row, the Rio Grande Valley is the region that has the most spacious apartments for a $1,500 monthly budget, RentCafe found.

McAllen leads the nation with the biggest apartment size – at 1,378 square feet – which is large enough for a three- or four-bedroom unit.

"With rents averaging just $993 and the typical apartment measuring 912 square feet, McAllen renters get a lot more space for their money than most Americans do within that monthly budget," the report said. "Still, that figure is down slightly from last year’s 1,393 square feet — a sign that even the most affordable markets are starting to tighten."

Brownsville, another city on the border located an hour east of McAllen, ranks fourth statewide with apartments spanning 1,213 square feet for the same budget.

These are the top 10 Texas cities that offer the biggest apartments for $1,500 in 2026:

No. 1 – McAllen (1,378 square feet)
No. 2 – Amarillo (1,237 square feet)
No. 3 – Lubbock (1,217 square feet)
No. 4 – Brownsville (1,213 square feet)
No. 5 – El Paso (1,128 square feet)
No. 6 – Pasadena (1,125 square feet)
No. 7 – Corpus Christi (1,115 square feet)
No. 8 – Killeen (1,058 square feet)
No. 9 – San Antonio (1,023 square feet)
No. 10 – Mesquite (988 square feet)

real estate apartments housing rentcafe study houston pasadena