Central Park Shopping Center — Attraction in Austin

Good Morining Austin!!!🙋🏽‍♂️🌄 I thought I hawhat d done a review, but this was my experience. To start: I have been a few blocks away from this shopping extravaganza, overload. It was a special evening with A Beautiful Soul: KK, who suggested going & making an evening of it. Boy Did We. The shopping center is ideal for the folks that live near or around it.

This store has 2 things that really stand out: every department is fully stocked, & The Spencerin Produce: reminded me of a time: when you actually interact with the people who work there. KK was curious about the peaches/🍑 this young man took time to not only help....he allows her to have one. 👀 She then asked about the Cantaloupe: this guy grabs his knife & gives a sample. What?🤪 It was brilliant because: others were given samples & my friend bought 2. The person she bought the peaches for: with a giant smile on his face: he said: they were the best peaches he'd ever eaten.

The first 25 minutes after we arrived was a sensor overload to what all I saw. After the awe of the store, shopping was serious, but, there is so much of everything...it was a Lil too much for me....now. As I age & become more practical... I don't know. 🤭The have a huge restaurant & patio that was playing live music that evening. I would say go check it out... I'll go...

The parking is AWFUL during what seems like any time of the day/week. This is to be expected as the parking lot is not very big for the amount of stores in this shopping center.

This central market is probably the cleanest one in Austin/San Antonio, AND has the best cheese selection. The layout of the store is very IKEA like, as it sort-of guides customers to follow a main path throughout the store, which I really like. It keeps people moving and more organized.

The cooking classes here are great and the cafe is cozy. While the Central Market on the south side is bigger, this store is better.

Central Market in general has quality items and a good selection of organic products (if you're into that sort of things, which I am not). Their vegetables are always healthy looking and always have a HUGE variety, which I appreciate as I have a rabbit and a rabbit's main diet is leafy green vegetables. The bulk sections are probably my favorite part, as I can get what I need without having to buy in excess. I also like that I can bring my own containers to fill and not waste the tiny plastic baggies.

Central Market has much higher quality products than a plain 'ol HEB, but...

Its main attraction is the OG Central Market store – launched over 20 years ago by Texas's largest grocery store chain, H-E-B, as a shot across the bow at Whole Foods (also HQed in Austin, but now owned by Amazon) – but it has a chronic, intransigent problem that even tearing down a large swath of the shopping center's original store space couldn't fully fix: finding parking spots in its parking lot even at relative off-hours can be a challenge, but at peak times it can quite literally be impossible.

I remain unclear why H-E-B hasn't simply bought the entire strip mall & either expanded the store or greatly expanded its available parking – and to be clear it's done exactly that in the past, most notably (in Austin at least) at its store at S. Congress & Oltorf. Not only have they not done so; a Williams Sonoma store opened there relatively recently, for no immediately obvious need. (They already have multiple stores...