Alternative to Whole Foods?

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by imaterry78259

Sorry, the first Central Market was in San Antonio on 410 and Bandera and then the next store went to Austin.

Central Market (Texas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

First one in Austin, 1994.

[achtungpv]

atxcio is right. I worked at HEB in college when the first CM opened - North Lamar, Austin. Mr. Butt had gone to a supermarket expo in Europe toured stores in France & Italy. After that, he decided he wanted a European style upscale market in TX and made it happened. Austin was chosen because the demographics supported the concept which was way outside the box for TX in '94. Our store director was involved pretty heavily with it in the beginning. I remember he said that Butt didn't really care how long it took to turn a profit since it was a pet project of his. I assume they're doing pretty well now since they've expanded quite a bit.

[smuboy86]

Originally Posted by imaterry78259

Sorry, the first Central Market was in San Antonio on 410 and Bandera and then the next store went to Austin. All the conceptual ideas came from the that store. The reason I know is that my sister was on the marketing team that developed the store. The store used to be a conceptual store

That would be HEB marketplace. It was the concept to led to Central Market. It had things like chinese kitchen, and all the ready to go foods, but wasn't a central market. I attended the launching party of Central Market in SA it was at the Witte Museum.

[cub77cub]

Originally Posted by mimimomx3

I think that Central Market and Sun Harvest are competition enough!

Have you been to a Trader Joe's????? Central Market and Sun Harvest are not the same. If we had a Trader Joe's, the only competition would be that they have lower prices (if the others carried the same products).

Alas, it appears that it will be a while before Austin has a Trader Joe's..

[achtungpv]

Originally Posted by cub77cub

Alas, it appears that it will be a while before Austin has a Trader Joe's..

Aldi's, TJ's parent company, is moving into Dallas so TJ's may not be far behind.

I like TJ's a lot but it definitely is it's own niche market. i don't think it competes with WF or CM at all.

[imaterry78259]

Originally Posted by smuboy86

That would be HEB marketplace. It was the concept to led to Central Market. It had things like chinese kitchen, and all the ready to go foods, but wasn't a central market. I attended the launching party of Central Market in SA it was at the Witte Museum.

The conceiving of Central Market was in San Antonio but the baby was born in Austin. I just want a TJ to come to SA or Austin soon

Can anyone from Cali give me the lowdown on Smart & Final Grocers since they bought Sun Harvest stores

[cub77cub]

Originally Posted by imaterry78259

The conceiving of Central Market was in San Antonio but the baby was born in Austin. I just want a TJ to come to SA or Austin soon

Can anyone from Cali give me the lowdown on Smart & Final Grocers since they bought Sun Harvest stores

Smart & Final is a "bulk" buying store. It's not Costco, but they have lots of larger sizes. They mostly carry foods, but they do have some picnic supplies, etc. Unless something is on sale, the prices are not as good as Costco. I went there only if I was looking for something that Costco didn't carry.

[SlumberPartiesbyGenipha]

HEB Plus has a larger healthfood section, We go to the one is Round Rock.