Randalls just went 100% discount - Watch out H-E-B..... (Houston, San Antonio: costs, groceries)

[mickey65]

I'm on HEB's mailing list and recently got a coupon for $5 off my total grocery bill if it went over $25. Thought that was nice...

[woodinvilleguy]

Originally Posted by mickey65

I'm on HEB's mailing list and recently got a coupon for $5 off my total grocery bill if it went over $25. Thought that was nice...

'
I've gotten similar coupons from HEB, Randall's, and Sprouts. They are my favorite :-)

[+ or -]

Honestly, although I don't like supporting monopolies (even though HEB only controls about 60% of the grocer market, it's still a monopoly), I have to admit HEB's price to quality ratio is quite high.

The produce is fresh, the meats and fish always right, and the packaged goods neatly organized and fairly priced. I cannot justify the price premium of Central Market, Whole Foods, or Randall's for regular shopping visits.

Of course, if I was making a half a million a year, perhaps, but I find HEB more than adequate.

[FueledByBlueBell]

Originally Posted by XLadylawX

It's not as though either Randalls or H.E.B. are high quality anyway. My kingdom for a grocery store that sells a wide variety of individual products, USDA Choice meat, and baggers who INSIST upon loading your groceries into your car. Just a little bitter about the narrow selection of grocery stores in the greater Austin area.

Please don't suggest Whole Foods. They have good food and meat but not a super wide range of each individual product and no car loading either.

Is this your perfect supermarket in theory or are there examples of stores that you are comparing your experience to? I'm curious as I've lived in a few places and might have been missing something.

[tibbar]

I shop at HEB. I can walk from my house to the Randall's at Wm Cannon and MoPac in 5 minutes. I lived in this house when the store was built (and the neighborhood association people fought so hard to keep it out). I shopped there a few times but prices were way out of line. Then Safeway bought them and prices came down a lot. I checked out Wal-Mart when the grocery section opened up and I didn't see any real savings on the items I buy, I still get a better deal at HEB.
Now I guess I will have to go and check out Randall's and see if this new pricing is better than HEB. I will say Randall's sometimes had some really good prices on meat.

[ATX Wahine]

I've shopped the grocery section at Wal Mart a couple times and although I saved some money, I found that the quality of many food items purchased there was subpar. Examples include frozen food items full of ice crystals (poor handling - the food had thawed and then re-frozen) spices that were obviously old and had been exposed to moisture, stale cookies and crackers, etc. I won't buy any groceries from there again except for household cleaning items, canned sodas, etc.

I'm quite pleased with HEB. I think their food quality is very good and their store brand products are high quality as well and overall, they have a huge variety. I live closest to the HEB at the "Y" in Oak Hill however and like a couple other HEB's, it's in awful shape, and desperately needs a remodel. I tend to patronize the Bee Cave HEB most of the time now.

[Mike78613]

Wal-Mart - Much more crowded, lots of people and kids that are running around out of control (darn parents). Lots of froo-froo shopping (all in one).Lot's of check out registers, not enough employees and the check out time can be long!! They price match, make sure you bring the add to them

H-E-B - You get some good savings. Quicker check-out at the lines. Mainly people go here to get groceries and not froo-froo shopping.
They price match, make sure you bring the add to them


Randalls - Much like HEB. Much cleaner then the other two. IMHO better fresh veggies and meat choice is fresher. Not as crowed and clerks are very polite, just like at HEB. They price match, make sure you bring the add to them


I hate wal-mart the most out of the 3. I end up spending more at wal-mart due to the froo-froo shopping

[tibbar]

I shop the HEB at the "Y" in Oak Hill. That store is my favorite and it was updated a while back. I was thrilled to see they didn't turn it into one of those "Shopping is an experience" stores. The isles are straight and I don't have to be threaded through the crowded veggies and the deli and cooking area like the one at Brodie and Wm Cannon (which is closer to me). I want to get in, go straight to where the food I want is, pay and leave.

[ATX Wahine]

Originally Posted by tibbar

I shop the HEB at the "Y" in Oak Hill. That store is my favorite and it was updated a while back.

I hate to think of what it looked like before the 'update'. I find the parking lot and entry to be pretty grubby and often smelling of sewage, the main exit near the registers poorly designed and always crowded, and the variety of even every-day products not nearly as good as the other stores.

I do agree with you however about the quick in/out nature of it versus some of the other stores. If they could just maintain the property better and add some more product variety I'd shop there exclusively. I know - I'm just one person.

[inthecut]

Was just kidding about my earlier statements....thanks, TR, for deleting, as it was actually a bit silly......Still wish we had more little mom-and-pop grocery stores, like in the old days, for when you are just looking for a basket of items....hate having to navigate a large store(park, walk around, wait in line, get back in car and slalom through exit traffic and pedestrians), when I recall just popping in the little corner stores in the old days......

BTW, most of those little corner stores closed in the place I came from as well......and the newer sunbelt cities will never build them.......
so if you want to live the lifestyle of a sunbelt city, which isn't exactly hell, you just get used to going to the closest mega-store to you.....the only place that has little stores in Chicago is the city itself, and a few of the older, inner-ring suburbs....the new growth in Chicago is all mega-groceries, just like Austin, with a handful of alternative "whole" places, and trader joe's types.......

It's a new world and lifestyle now, and we can't go back to the little corner store anymore than the chance of bringing back sock hops and soda fountains.....