Independence Heights wins name dispute
Whole Foods changes store ID that had referenced Garden Oaks instead
The first hint of the controversy to come appeared on a company website.
Whole Foods Market was building a grocery store to anchor a new shopping center along Yale Street in historic Independence Heights.
The store would be one of the company’s smaller “365” markets, promoted under the name of the neighboring, more affluent Garden Oaks community.
Independence Heights took it personally.
“Calling the store ‘Garden Oaks 365’ robs the identity of Independence Heights and chisels away at the branding and identity of this important historic neighborhood,” City Councilwoman Karla Cisneros wrote in a May 15 letter to the Austin-based company.
She called for a retail identity honoring the “historical significance of Independence Heights” and invited Whole Foods leaders to a meeting.
The response from the company was swift. Jeff Turnas, president of 365 by Whole Foods, called Cisneros, and by Thursday the online description had been changed to recognize Independence Heights as the store’s new home.
No offense was intended — the Garden Oaks reference online was simply an informal way to locate the store for the public, a Whole Foods spokeswoman said Thursday.
“We want it to be the most fitting to the community that we are in,” she said.
Independence Heights has a long history of breaking new ground. The first black municipality in Texas, the community was settled in 1908 and incorporated in 1915 by residents “seeking equal rights, opportunity and a better life for themselves,” Cisneros said.
The community was annexed by Houston in 1929 and now stretches from the northeast corner of Yale and Loop 610, north of the Houston Heights, to Interstate 45 and up to Tidwell.
Cisneros said it was important to take a stand.
“Houston has a history of sometimes moving and developing too fast, and many culturally important treasures have been lost,” Cisneros wrote in her letter. “There is an opportunity here for Whole Foods to be part of bolstering revitalization efforts underway to reclaim and protect the historic identity of this community.”
Today, Independence Heights is abuzz with construction, including infill single-family homes, an
apartment complex and the Houston Independent School District’s new Booker T. Washington High School. There’s also transformation afoot in Garden Oaks, where larger, more expensive homes are being built.
According to placards on the site — one of which is in the shadow of an “Independence Heights Historic District” sign — the store will serve as an anchor in a larger shopping center to be called Yale Marketplace. Construction has not begun.
Residents, meanwhile, are watching and waiting to see for themselves what the new store will bring to the community.
Dorothy Lucas has lived a block from the site for most of her 70 years. Her home on East 31st ½ Street sits on the same lot where her father built her childhood residence.
Yale Street has always been a dividing line between Independence Heights and Garden Oaks, she said, and for years has symbolized the segregation of communities by skin color, income and legal rights.
“On this side, we’ve always been kind of treated like stepchildren — and that’s been from way back when,” the retired Metro employee said. “I have seen the changes that have taken place in this neighborhood.”
Lucas buys groceries at Sam’s Club, Kroger and Fiesta. She’s never been to a Whole Foods store but would like the name of the new market to reflect her community.
“I don’t have a problem with the store,” she said. “It might be something good.”
Talks are continuing with the neighborhood. Turnas and Omar Gaye, president of the company’s south region, are scheduled to meet with Cisneros and others in July to further discuss the project.
Tanya Debose, Independence Heights’ honorary mayor, said the recent recognition is a refreshing response compared to some of the arduous fights waged by the community.
But she intends to make sure the residents are served on the market’s facade and along its aisles.
“Stores should serve all people who are going to shop,” said Debose, who is also executive director of the Independence Heights Redevelopment Council. “The products and the prices should be affordable for both neighborhoods.”
Cisneros, whose District H includes parts of north Houston and the city’s East End, said she was impressed by the company’s positive response and pleased that Independence Heights residents reached out to her early enough to allow her to intervene.
“It underscores the importance of communication all around and the importance of relationships,” the councilwoman said. “When people talk and come together, they come to good solutions — especially if you approach it in an open way.”