HEB in the Heart of Alamo Ranch & Much More! (San Antonio: sales, to buy)

[Azure110]

Originally Posted by Pancho-Villa

It's not like this all day, and there's a certain amount of embellishing going on here as well.

The irony of all of this is no one seems to be concerned with all the traffic that the AR HEB will bring to the area. If it is as bad as they say, bringing in a new HEB isn't going to help.

[lukas1973]

Originally Posted by Paka

Aldi is already in the Dallas market and there are HUGE Kroger stores that are right across the street and always busy. If that has not deterred HEB from moving into the Dallas area as aggressively as they are, I don't think the new competition (and the Lidl stores are just larger than Aldi, but not all that different in Europe) are going to make that big a difference in HEB's expansion plans. They are totally different animals, HEB goes for the "MEGA" get it all in one stop type of need. European stores are not like that....more "market" only. JMHO.

Correct, in Europe we only have one type of grocery store. They are all tiny and have no selection at all.

Of course not

Of course you will find all types of grocery stores in Europe. On average they are in most (if not all) European countries much smaller than the average American grocery store, but there are much more grocery stores per capita in Europe than in the U.S. That's why you will find in most European countries grocery stores nearby that are as large or larger than a typical H-E-B store.
To me Kaufland (Germany and some Eastern European countries) seems kinda similar to H-E-B. With the exception that Kaufland stores are mostly larger and surely significant cheaper than H-E-B. Kaufland is considered a big box discounter or a somewhat low-end compact hypermarket.
Kaufland is the sister grocery chain of Lidl.

[lukas1973]

Originally Posted by Azure110

I have never shopped at Lidls so I may be wrong. Based on the article I read about them...they sell not only food but also clothing, furniture, and other stuff. Article mentioned them being like a cross between trader joe's and Wal-Mart but with "insanely" lower prices. They do seem a bit like Aldi (and I have been to Aldi before) where they use their own brand name and you have to pick it out of the original shipping packaging. Aldi is just a grocery store, correct?

This article is rather nonsense. Lidl has, like Aldi, weekly changing non food offerings. Among those you can find some clothes and sometimes small furnitures. Lidl is basically very similar to Aldi, their new stores are about double the size of an Aldi store and they are more upscale and have an instore bakery. And they will offer more food specialties from Europe. Their prices are normally identical to the ones you can find at Aldi.

Aldi and Lidl are best described as limited assortment grocery retailer or discount grocery retailer.

[lukas1973]

Originally Posted by Paka

Aldis is good, cheap and serves a market. No credit cards, must bring your own bags/boxes...but basic need items at really good prices. It is the "Ikea" if you will of the groceries world.

The issue is it can not meet all your needs with the "one stop shopping conveniences" we expect in the US.

No birthday cards/Rx/meat and groceries/clothes/QTips/flip-flop/fireplace firewood/gas for the car/movie rental lifestyle-all-in-one-stop the US has come to expect. Europe is so different in their shopping needs. You go here for this, there for that.

So, if you take that idea and embrace it, Aldi's is a nice little place to shop.

Aldi accept credit cards. Comparing Aldi to Ikea seems a little bit weird. Aldi has a limited selection but offers cheap prices. Ikea has a huge selection but it's not cheap. Ikea seems rather the other thing of Aldi.

There are quite a few retailer in Europe that operates thousand of hypermarket stores that offer exactly this one stop shopping experience. France is very well known for these huge hypermarkets. The difference is that this kind of store is in most European countries by far not as popular like it is in the U.S. In Europe almost everything is build more compact that makes it often absurd to drive to these out of town hypermarkets. Most Europeans prefer a different way of shopping but that doesn't mean that huge hypermarkets are unknown or not accessible in a few minutes drive. At least in most European countries, some European countries doesn't seem to have any hypermarkets.

Doing a weekly one stop shopping trip is at least in Germany considered somewhat lazy and seems more popular among lower income families. At least in Germany the clothes or shoes you can buy in these hypermarkets are ugly and poor. That makes shopping in these hypermarkets often a horrible experience because you are surrounded by people that would buy such clothes or shoes.

[prim8]

Originally Posted by Bradford72

If by "down the road" you mean navigating traffic-infested Culebra for 20 minutes just to get inside 1604, then waiting another 10 minutes just to find a gap to pull back out onto the frontage road, hoping someone lets you across all three lanes so you can access the turnaround, then crossing another two lanes in order to make it to the parkway, then dealing with the construction of the overcrossing AND the theater traffic...then yes, it's just "down the road."


I CANNOT WAIT for the Alamo Ranch HEB to break ground.

Just take Wiseman to Rogers Rd. and take it back, it is faster and a lot less headache.
Alternatively, you can go up to the Rogers Rd. Culebra light and get onto Culebra from that and save yourself some of the headache of finding an opening to pull out.

[Remington Steel]

OMG...traffic is gonna be terrible for AR residents! On top of the traffic the movie theater and new strip malls will bring! Glad we moved from that area. Don't think AR will be an "exclusive" neighborhood as it once was, but I could be wrong.

[pobre]

Originally Posted by lukas1973

France is very well known for these huge hypermarkets.

Carrefour for one. And, you are starting to see warehouse stores (Costco, for one) in Europe as well. So the retail landscape is changing there, just as it is changing here.

While I love a store that offers me many items, I HATE running a marathon through it (HEB Plus). So I go a few miles farther to a smaller HEB, or go to Target or Trader Joe's instead. Our population density here is such that we are attracting many more options...I don't live in AR, but I can appreciate their frustration with Culebra Road.

...waiting for Wegman's...

[Pancho-Villa]

Originally Posted by Remington Steel

OMG...traffic is gonna be terrible for AR residents! On top of the traffic the movie theater and new strip malls will bring! Glad we moved from that area. Don't think AR will be an "exclusive" neighborhood as it once was, but I could be wrong.

I would never live there either. It was never exclusive in the economic sense, maybe in a geographical sense. No more.

[Remington Steel]

Originally Posted by Pancho-Villa

I would never live there either. It was never exclusive in the economic sense, maybe in a geographical sense. No more.

Well, maybe not "exclusive", but it was advertised as one of the better communities on that side of town considering the housing price ranges. I hate to say it, and this is just "reality"...with that type of traffic and cheap/mediocre commerce coming to the area, the property values may start to dwindle. I know a couple of friends/families that saw this coming, sold their houses in AR and jumped ship within the last year. They barely made a profit.

[Pancho-Villa]

It was sold that way, and people bought into the hype...but it was never. Your friends made a great move, congrats.