HEB Going Downhill ??? (Houston, San Antonio, Austin: construction, prices, stores)

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by Mattl1979

I concur. My wife and I call HEB "Here Everything Bites", lol. We've been going to Walmart and doing the online delivery from Kroger wherever possible. The HEB Plus in Kyle is horribly packed and frequently out of stock. They're refusing to build another store in the area, despite the exploding population. Really wish Kroger stores were down here. HEB is infiltrating DFW so why can't Kroger make their way back south?

Kroger is, presumably, since they bought Randalls and also started direct delivery in the area. Not sure on a time frame.

[whereiend]

Blasphemous opinion for a Texan but I've never liked HEB all that much. The products are generally quite good but the stores are too big and too crowded. Going there always feels like an ordeal between the giant parking lots filled with traffic, large store you have to traverse to find everything you need, millions of brand options for every item, and consistently long checkout lines no matter what time of day you go. I like the experience of going in and out of a neighborhood grocery store on my way home from work much better..

Central Market is pretty nice, though. I just wish they would stock a bit more in terms of household basics as I end up needing to go to HEB or use Amazon for that stuff.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

I prefer Houston locations to Austin and San Antonio. Not sure why the Houston locations are so much better. The San Antonio stores are honestly all a disappointment from my experience. Which sucks because it’s a San Antonio based company.

I agree. My friend's theory on that is because Houston is still a relatively new and emerging market for HEB, so their putting on their best show to win over market share there. She thinks since they are pretty much a monopoly in Austin and San Antonio, that they put minimal effort into the stores here.

[Need4Camaro]

Yeah, that makes sense as they have to compete with Krogers in Houston unlike Austin.

In any case the only time I go to HEB these days is when I need items for cat food. I haven't shopped at HEB for personal reasons in a long time.

[texan2yankee]

I buy groceries at HEB almost exclusively because this texas owned company's management supports so many charities in our state.... local food banks, disaster relief, animal shelters, etc. HEB is a community hero that i am proud to support with my shopping dollars.

[yadigggski]

I can say there seems to be a pretty stark difference in the stores depending on where you go.

In SA the ones in the Stone Oak area, Alon market, Leon Springs, Alamo Heights and Bulverde/1604 are great. The "normal" ones in the inner city can be kind of... meh.

Haven't been to many in Austin but the one off Congress & Oltorf (this was in 2019) was in the "meh" category. The one off 41st and Red River was decent, nothing great though. The HEB Plus' in Lakeway and Leander were solid.

[CarnivalGal]

Originally Posted by texan2yankee

I buy groceries at HEB almost exclusively because this texas owned company's management supports so many charities in our state.... local food banks, disaster relief, animal shelters, etc. HEB is a community hero that i am proud to support with my shopping dollars.

I'd love to support them with my shopping dollars. But it's hard to do that when they don't have what I need, either because they're just perpetually out of it or they stopped carrying it. So instead, more and more of my shopping dollars are going to other places that do have those things.

[DabOnEm]

HEB has been in Houston over 30 years at this point so Houston is no longer an emerging market for them (over 20 stores). Now DFW, that's an emerging market as they just opened their first full line supermarket HEB store there last year (after building several Central Markets the years before). They probably arent putting much focus in Austin as they try expanding into the crowded DFW grocery market after successfully winning over Houston's (HEBs are by far the most packed supermarket in Houston...like neck and neck with Walmart). All those products you see missing maybe we diverted to DFW shelves instead.

[Trainwreck20]

I suspect that many HEB locations are trying to minimize inflation increases by stocking more affordable products. In fact, it is possible that the change in products is reflecting a change in sales trends, I don't know. Truth is that some people can afford to pay more for products they want and some people will switch to products that they can afford. There is not an insignificant portion of the population that can't afford name-brands as they increase and/or cannot afford the time/travel to go to multiple locations to shop.

Edit:
I just went and looked online (not in the store) and the price of Rold Gold pretzels is just about twice what HEB pretzels are ($0.26/oz vs $0.14/oz) at my local store. According to the CPI, the price of manufacturing chips/pretzels is up 24% over the last four years. Assuming that is passed on directly (which may, ofc, be a lower or higher pass-through), that would be +$0.81 bag of pretzels for RG or $0.44 for HEB brand.

I switched to the Victoria store, and they do not carry RG at all, although the HEB pretzels are (online, anyway) the same price as my local store.

[DCtoTejas]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Kroger is, presumably, since they bought Randalls and also started direct delivery in the area. Not sure on a time frame.

I didn't know Kroger bought Albertsons (Safeway / Randalls). Ugh. I've never liked Kroger always found it to be really overpriced compared to other stores. I also grew up with Safeway which made me enjoy Randalls for nostalgia reasons. Randalls is a totally different beast than HEB, you can get great deals but you have to play their sales and coupon games. The one by me (Brodie and Slaughter) has consistently better produce and dairy than any local HEB; there's something about HEB's dairy in general it's just kind of off.



I've noticed the general downhill trajectory of HEB too, the ones near me are always having trouble keeping the shelves stocked and I've noticed the loss of good products like Milargro tortillas in favor of HEB's crap brand. I think part of it is them struggling to keep up with the general Austin population boom, there is simply too much growth here. I also hate that they are the only store in Austin that still makes everyone bring their own bags, every other store offers paper bags as an option and I think that is HEB chintzing us and not some great care for the environment. It's still the best all in one shopping option for me but I kind of hate going because of all the issues.