Royal Blue Grocery, a chain of boutique urban markets from Austin, plans to open its first San Antonio location on Houston Street downtown — a victory for developers and local officials who want more retail options for downtown workers and residents.

The chain has signed a lease with local developer Weston Urban to open a 2,500 square-foot store in the Savoy Building, across the street from Geekdom and two blocks from where the new Frost Tower is being built, said Randy Smith, Weston Urban’s president.

“It is downtown’s biggest retail win in decades,” Smith said. “When an outfit like Royal Blue, who could be anywhere... says ‘Houston Street is where we need to be,’ it feels good. It validates all the work that’s been done over the last several years on the housing front and jobs front.”

The store, which is expected to open in September, will sell groceries such as dairy, fruits and vegetables, beer and wine, as well as grab-and-go meals including tacos, salads, sandwiches and soups, owner Craig Staley said in an email. It will be open from 7 a.m. to midnight, he said.

“We are not a substitute for a full-size grocer, but we are the three trips in between for one or two things,” he said.

Attracting more retail downtown — especially grocery stores — has long been a concern for developers and city and county officials who want to make downtown more of a livable neighborhood. H-E-B opened a grocery store in King William on the border with downtown in late 2015, but otherwise there aren’t many grocery options in the urban core.

The Houston Street location will be Royal Blue’s ninth store, Staley said. The company has six stores in Austin and one in Dallas, and it is constructing another in Dallas, he said.

San Antonio is a very different city from Austin, and Royal Blue had trouble figuring out “how to address” downtown, Staley said in his email. But Weston Urban won the company over by demonstrating the need for an urban market in that location, he said.

“We are not merely looking to add locations, we want to be additive to the community,” Staley said in the email. “We see just that opportunity on Houston Street, with what is there now and what is planned for that area of town. We also hope to see more residences added in that corridor of the city, as more people see the advantages of living downtown and building strong community in the process.”

In addition to building the Frost Tower, Weston Urban is preparing the renovate the nearby Milam Building and has other projects in store for west downtown, where the renovation of San Pedro Creek is expected to attract further development. The company recently renovated the Savoy into office space, where technology firm Scaleworks moved in last fall.