The gist
On Oct. 17, Sugar Land City Council voted unanimously to enter an agreement with the Smart Financial Centre to open a new visitor center in the highly trafficked event space.
Due to low visitor attendance during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Visit Sugar Land ceased operating the city's visitor center, formerly located in the Sugar Land Heritage Museum, in April 2023.
The Sweet Shoppe will sell branded Sugar Land merchandise as well as feature candy-themed interiors and decorations as a nod to the city’s history.
The cost to open the Sweet Shoppe will be $357,271 and will be funded by the city’s hotel occupancy tax, according to agenda documents.
Quote of note
Visit Sugar Land officials hope by operating the visitor center out of the Smart Financial Centre, it will be able to take advantage of the space’s sales, events and hundreds of thousands of annual visitors, manager Mary Roduta said.
“We’ll continue to bring our support of small businesses, where we would actually invite a local business owner to sell their merchandise with the space as well,” Roduta said.
An opening date has not yet been set for the Sweet Shoppe.
