What supermarket do you prefer shopping at in Texas? (Dallas: house, live)

[cinfali]

I live in an area where there are multiple Krogers, multiple HEBs, multiple Randalls stores, a Trader Joe's, a whole foods market and a central market within a couple of miles.

I am a frugal shopper (when I have time) and this may come as a surprise but one of the two main stores I go is Randalls (the other one is Kroger.) Randalls' everyday prices are high but they always have very nice sales, where you can buy stuff in bulk and save a lot. They also have this just for u thing, where they offer you discounts based on your spending habits. I also like the fact that they sell high quality choice meat and their stores are not crowded.

Kroger is the best for everyday prices (for the items I buy anyway) and when I don't have time to check for sales it is the store I go to most often. Also, if you shop there a lot, they will send coupons including freebies to your address.

HEB has everyday prices between Kroger and Randalls IMO, and I am not that impressed with their sales.

Kroger is my main store for organic items but I occasionally go to Whole foods, Central market or Trader Joe's (in that order) as well.

[zcondren]

HEB is heads and shoulders above all the others in the markets they serve. Here is San Antonio our HEB plus got the first curbside installation and we use it every single week. As parents with an 8 month old it is incredibly useful and time saving. I never feel like I am settling for less when I buy their store brand.

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by zcondren

HEB is heads and shoulders above all the others in the markets they serve. Here is San Antonio our HEB plus got the first curbside installation and we use it every single week. As parents with an 8 month old it is incredibly useful and time saving. I never feel like I am settling for less when I buy their store brand.

Kroger's Clicklist was first in Houston. H-E-B kind of lagged behind curbside pick-up. It took them forever to build an addition for the curbside pickup at my local store. It's hard to compare innovation when you only have one grocery store serving your town!

[pnc66]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Realistically (i.e. not driving many miles), my primary options for stores in SW Austin are Randall's, HEB, or Whole Foods. Since HEB is a 1/4 mile from my house, it is the easiest, by far. There is a Randall's that is not a difficult drive, but it doesn't really offer much that I can't get at the HEB. WFs is 'new' to the area, relatively speaking, and has never really made the rotation.

(snip)

The biggest difference for me? I can't recall actually running into a rude employee at HEB, or even an unhelpful one. They have, as far as I can recall, immediately dropped everything and helped whenever I have asked. Randalls, while not overtly rude that I can call, have much more often had the 'eh, not my job' or 'I dunno' attitude.

The biggest selling point for Randall's? I never have to fight a crowd......

All that said, I think HEB does need some real competition, and I would welcome an Aldi's in the market place.

We have definitely shopped at different HEB stores then. When I first moved to Houston, there were only a couple of HEB stores in my area. I got booted out of one of them and the other one the manager was incredibly rude, and I swore I'd never, ever set foot in one again. The first time I went to an HEB was when I was working for Sam's Club in 2001 and we had to go around to different businesses and drum up memberships (this was before the store actually opened). So it was getting to about lunch time and we wandered into HEB with the intent of going to the deli and buying lunch since we were sick of fast food. The manager apparently took exception to our Sam's Club badges and told us to leave immediately and our soliciting wasn't welcome in his store. We weren't soliciting. We were just going to buy lunch at their deli. We never even mentioned anything to do with Sam's Club. The next time was about a year later when I stopped into HEB to pick up the fixin's for tacos and looked high and low and all over the place for the taco shells. Finally I asked one of the mangers where they were and he said (yes these were his exact words) "what, are you blind? They're on the bottom shelf. You walked right by them a dozen times!" Yes I did walk right by them a dozen times but they weren't where I thought they might have been. He didn't need to be so nasty about it. Those were my first two introductions to HEB.

Now that being said, both of those HEB stores have long since closed and the new (well "new" being built about 8-10 years ago) stores are much bigger, much nicer, and have much friendlier employees. However it was about 6 or 7 years after those incidents before I stepped foot in another one.

I have a choice of HEB, Kroger, Food Town, and Aldi pretty close by, and if I'm willing to travel about a few miles, I can include Sprouts, Whole Foods, and Randall's. Mostly I split my shopping between Aldi and Kroger or HEB and hubby will hit up Food Town or HEB on his way home from work.

[pnc66]

Originally Posted by C24L

When did you move to Texas because Albertsons has been in Texas for as long as i can remember

They pulled out of Houston around 15 years ago. I didn't know they were still in Texas. My first job in Texas was at Albertson's.

[astrohip]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

In Brenham, I go to HEB. It has a strange layout, but I'm generally pleased with the quality. I notice they carry better avocados than my Houston Kroger for some reason. Their pre-marinated fajita meats are excellent. The downside to that store is that it's too much of a social scene - old folks standing in the aisles talking to each other.

Brenham is a market where HEB and Brookshire's compete directly (though on opposite sides of town). I haven't been to the Brookshire's because the HEB is much closer to our place.

I prefer the HEB over Brookshire Bros. It's easily twice the size, much better selection. BB has a delicious fried chicken though. From where we are (Sandy Hill area) BB is slightly closer.

You're spot on about the chatting at the HEB. On almost every aisle you'll see people talking. Much different than a Houston (or other big city) store.

[L210]

Having only lived in the San Antonio and Austin areas, HEB is pretty much the only major choice for a dedicated, non-specialty supermarket. The reason why I use the word "dedicated" is because Target and Wal-Mart aren't primarily focused on groceries.

I've had such bad experiences with the meats at Wal-Mart and Randall's that I won't even try them at Target. I prefer HEB for grocery shopping, but often frequent Wal-Mart if I don't need fresh meat. Sprouts is my favorite specialty store. It's cheaper than Whole Foods and has my favorite products that aren't always carried at Whole Foods. I have no use for Trader Joe's and its large selection of frozen foods.

Randall's uses psychology to keep a customer base. They mark things up just so that you feel as if you're saving money with your card. They also give you a sense of belonging to an exclusive club. They count on customers to become addicted to their point system. I found out that one of the gas stations that accepts Randall's points for gas discounts was more expensive than nearby gas stations. The other place I found didn't mark up its gas, but my car ran poorly on it. So, I've stopped with the whole points thing.

Additionally, HEB has a better bakery than Randall's, Wal-Mart, and Target.

[Mark Senior]

Originally Posted by astrohip

I prefer the HEB over Brookshire Bros. It's easily twice the size, much better selection. BB has a delicious fried chicken though. From where we are (Sandy Hill area) BB is slightly closer.

You're spot on about the chatting at the HEB. On almost every aisle you'll see people talking. Much different than a Houston (or other big city) store.

Where is the Sandy Hill area. I'm only familiar with Brookshire BROTHERS, in the Deep East Texas Area, Nacogdoches, Lufkin, and deeper East and Southeast Texas.


Brookshire Brothers is not to be confused with Brookshires Grocery from Dallas to Arkansas, from Dallas thru Tyler into Louisiana down toward Nac and Lufkin.

The Brookshires split territory some 60 plus years ago. The Tyler Brookshires now have almost 200 stores.

[astrohip]

Originally Posted by Mark Senior

Where is the Sandy Hill area. I'm only familiar with Brookshire BROTHERS, in the Deep East Texas Area, Nacogdoches, Lufkin, and deeper East and Southeast Texas.

Brenham. Sandy Hill is an area about 10 miles NE of Brenham, very near Independence.

Brookshire Bros is the only independent in this part of Texas I'm familiar with (HEB excepted). I wasn't aware of the other Brookshire, or their history. Interesting!

Great fried chicken.

[RayStokes]

Aldi is my favorite because of the setup it's so easy to be in and out. I don't need to be inundated with 1,000 different brands of everything. Also many items like eggs, dairy, and some meats are cheaper than just about anywhere else I've found. I also will go to Sprouts, Market Street, and occasionally Whole Foods for certain items. I love Trader Joe's and would shop there, but there's only two that I know of in Tarrant County and both are way too far from me. They need more locations.