Congratulations HEB! (New Braunfels, West: home, club, shop)

[elnina]

Because HEB is a Texas-owned grocery store, they were able to "sit it out" when it came to keeping their prices low in order to knock the other stores out of town. I remember the week Albertson’s closed up shop, the HEB prices went up right away.
I remember when gas prices went up to $5/gal HEB posted excuse for their price hike. Now gas cost less than a half, but I didn't see any prices going down. They fool us with shrinking the packages, selling less but keeping the same price, l or posting "specials" that are not specials at all...
Why do we need the non-food junk there? Grocery stores should sell groceries, and leave the junk for WalMart.

[TexasRedneck]

They stock what they do because the customer demands it in the name of convenience. Trust me - if they didn't sell, they wouldn't stock it. HEB does a LOT in the community - much of which is never even revealed. They're tough competitors - they had some of the largest national chains in the country come in, vowing to take their market share. HEB often was selling at a loss in order to remain competitive - and they found creative ways to reduce costs while doing so. Yeah - their prices rose when they got Albertson's and the rest out of town - they were finally able to have some profit margin. Their gas prices are usually competitive based on my observation (and since I buy gas pretty regularly, I notice it). Most of the package shrinkage isn't due to HEB, but rather the manufacturer, including their contract manufacturers. They aren't perfect, but they ARE a HUGE part of the SA economy, both as a retailer and an employer.

[elnina]

They have competitors in Houston, and everyone is still in business. But because of the competitors they have bigger and better selection, better bakeries, and lower prices. Their Central Market is a shopper delight. Competitors made HEB shops try harder, be better, offer more. They don't have to try anything in San Antonio...
H-E-B has enjoyed a near monopoly in the San Antonio market, and squeezed out previous competitors such as Handy Andy, Albertsons and Kroger with cut-throat price wars for way too long. I hope sooner or later it's going to change.
One store can't be everything for everybody, and many San Antonio residents look forward to a more diverse grocery market.

Just to compare:

Dallas-Fort Worth
No. of H-E-B stores: 8
No. of competitor stores: 415

Houston
No. of H-E-B stores: 61
No. of competitor stores: 401

San Antonio
No. of H-E-B stores: 59
No. of competitor stores: 65

http://www.mysanantonio.com/business...exas-12253.php

[Azure110]

if And when Lidl opens up here, HEB will have more competition.

[elnina]

They are too small and too limited, but yes, some people will shop there.

[Azure110]

Originally Posted by elnina

They are too small and too limited, but yes, some people will shop there.

It seems that would be true for Aldi but not Lidl.

[Remington Steel]

Variety (and competition) is nice and all, but I'm not complaining when a brand like HEB has EVERYTHING me and my family could possibly want and then some. And we even have (HEB) Central Market and Whole Foods when we feel like hanging with the flooty tooty crowd as my wife calls it....lol

[huckster]

A woppdi-do- straight back at ya Rustybolt. French bread?
HEB sells some Pan Dulce that puts tears in my coffee cup with each bite when I eat a, Concha Mexican Pastry from the HEB on Grissom and 471. I usually must go to the other room and compose myself before I can finish my breakfast, otherwise my coffee becomes salty due to my constant weeping into it. The cultural imprint the French left on Mexico when they invaded and placed an emperor- was the introduction of French Baked Goods. The same thing happens to me whenever I eat French bread. I cannot help myself. One of my sons was a pastry chef while in college. Needless to say I wept a lot during those days. The thing is the HEB on Bandera and 1604 does not sell Pan Dulce.

Ultimately the French Army was defeated and sent home- then tried a re -invasion and were defeated again and sent home.
So came to us San Antonio's Pan Dulce. The French ruled Mexico as a colony for about twenty years.

The U.S. could not come to the aid of Mexico, to help Enforce the Monroe Doctrine because the American civil war was being waged. The French attempt to invade Mexico happened with the complicity of England and Spain. The sneaky Europeans knew when to send troops. One of the Royal French Emperors was beheaded upon the orders of Benito Juarez.

Many food companies have reduced the size of their product packaging in grocery stores. I have noticed also. The chips or ice cream or candy bars look like they are in the same old familiar packaging, alright.
It looks the same. So I buy the product. However the weight and volume of the thing is 25% smaller and we get fooled for a little while.

Originally Posted by Rustybolt

Big woop. Polls like this are always skewed. Think about it. No one in the western US even has a clue who HEB, Wegmans, or Publix even is. FWIW, I have shopped all three and would take Wegmans any day. What HEB should be scared about is the one right behind them...Aldi. Aldi is coming in and has deep pockets. Their stores are modest, to say the least. But their prices can be the David that slew Goliath. We need more variety in San Antonio. When in college I worked in a Handy Andy (in Austin) with a full American and a separate French bakery. Expensive operation for Handy Andy but damn we had some incredible baked goods that were made on site. On the French side we had all French made equipment and our head baker came from France and didn't speak a lick of english. But that guy taught me to make croissants that would make you cry tears of joy for their buttery goodness. So I am digressing like huckster, but the point is that we need more competition.

[Hopeful for Life]

Originally Posted by Azure110

Since we are talking about chips. One thing that I wish HEB would do is sell the El Milagro chips at more of their locations. As of right now, I can only find it at either Central Market or the Alon HEB.

HEB is pretty bad about being demographic specific with their products which of course may be an advantage to some.

El Milagro are the BEST ever!! I used to buy HEB corn tortillas since the early 80s. Somewhere along the line, they changed their yellow corn recipe and they now taste like crud. The Milagro corn tortillas are made in San Marcos and have spread out further than they used to be. The Central Market used to be completely out of the tortillas because Mexican restaurants would come to buy out the entire inventory. That is how good they taste. When they sell the tortillas, they usually sell the chips as well. Galindo chips also were high quality chips back in the 80s, but I'm not sure if they still make those?

[sapphire]

I used to cry for more competition for HEB. Then I moved to Dallas and had a Kroger, a Sprouts, an Albertsons, an Aldi, a Tom Thumb and a Walmart supercenter AND a Neighborhood Market within a mile or two each direction from my house. I found myself going to different stores for different items because for example, Albertsons had the best meat prices but their Janet Lee brand is just awful. Kroger had good 10 for $10 sales, our local Aldi was not desirable to me at all, Tom Thumb was very expensive, Sprouts was excellent for produce and Walmart is, well, Walmart. I discovered that I really missed HEB and since we have to live here now, I have learned to love them once again.