A grocery store that served Austinites for 45 years is shutting its doors for good. Wheatsville Co-op, which has long been preparing to close its location on Guadalupe Street near the University of Texas at Austin, announced Monday its last day will be Oct. 25.
“With great sorrow in our hearts, we are here to announce that the last day of operation for the Guadalupe location will be October 25, 2026,” read Wheatsville Co-op’s post on Instagram Monday morning. “While Guad will be leaving us, our South Lamar location is still very much alive and will continue serving our community from here to infinity!”
Wheatsville, which is named for the former freeman’s town Wheatville, opened its original store in 1976, then went to Guadalupe in ’81. The store, which was controlled by its members, specialized in locally grown produce, sandwiches and meats, coffee and tea, kitchen staples, and even regular household items and toiletries. On its roof lived a large neon green dinosaur named Mangiasaurus, as it had previously been seen at the former Mangia Pizza.
Around the time that Wheatsville opened at Guadalupe, John Mackey and his partners opened another alternative grocer in Whole Foods Market on North Lamar. The South Lamar location of Wheatsville opened in 2013.
In the last few years, Wheatsville members have been gearing up for the end at Guadalupe. In a 2024 newsletter update, Wheatsville members laid bare the issues facing the co-op including falling sales and construction of Project Connect’s Orange Line, a new north-south light rail in collaboration with the city and other agencies that could begin operation in 2029, threatening access to the Guadalupe store.
“Even if that construction were to be substantially delayed, it will inevitably hinder our ability to run a grocery store in this location,” read the update. “As such, it is difficult to envision a scenario where it would be in the co-op’s best interest to renew the Guadalupe lease at the end of the current term.”
In July 2025, Wheatsville announced the acquisition of two Fresh Plus grocery stores, hinting at an expansion even after the eventual closing of the Guadalupe store, which had been set for the end of 2026. But those plans changed a few months later, when Wheatsville announced in a fall 2025 newsletter update that the project “was no longer a financially viable endeavor.”
“We acknowledge it’s been a complex situation. In recent weeks, after due diligence, we determined that the locations we antiicpated moving into were no longer an option, and that maintaining the Guadalupe location would not be a fincnaially responsible decision,” read the update. “A final decision was made within the last couple weeks, and out of deep respect for our community, we wanted to notify our staff, members, and community as soon as we came to that conclusion.”
That leads to Monday’s announcement that closing will happen about two months before the lease is up at Guadalupe. The grocer wanted guests to come and “support Guad and the co-op as a whole by shopping with us during this rough transition.”
