Why is there no HEB in Dallas (San Antonio, Plano: construction, live)

[First24]

There's a gigantic H-E-B in Burleson. It's not like DFW residents have to travel a vast distance to find one.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by First24

There's a gigantic H-E-B in Burleson. It's not like DFW residents have to travel a vast distance to find one.

Yeah, because Richardson to Burleson is a reasonable distance to drive to go grocery shopping.

It's 58 miles from my house. Uhhhh no.

There's also one in Waxahachie that's only 40 miles away. Let's go!

[Dallaz]

I think it's because the grocery market in DFW has so much competition, Walmart and Kroger dominate the market. HEB would have to put up a good fight to compete against these retailers. Since Albertsons and Safeway (which owns Tom Thumb) merged, it gave Albertsons an even larger presence in North Texas. So, now they have to compete against Albertsons aswell.....

BTW Kroger and Walmart are adding even more stores in North Texas.

[BigDGeek]

Originally Posted by Dallaz

I think it's because the grocery market in DFW has so much competition, Walmart and Kroger dominate the market. HEB would have to put up a good fight to compete against those retailers. Since Albertsons and Safeway (which owns Tom Thumb) merged, it gave Albertsons an even larger presence in North Texas. BTW Kroger and Walmart are both expanding in the North Texas market....

Kroger is a great store. I shop there regularly, even though mine needs a facelift and some people think it's "ghetto." It's the Belt Line/Coit location in Richardson. I like it just fine. It's not as fancy as some of the newer ones, but...eh. It doesn't have to be fancy. It's good enough. If they wanted to make it more fancy, I'd be OK with that.

Wal-Mart is amazing for frozen food but stinks for a lot of other things. It'd be nice if there really was one store where I could buy everything on my list, but so far that doesn't exist. I doubt HEB would manage it. But I'd welcome one in Richardson anyway. More competition = win for us consumers.

[synchronicity]

Wait, haven't we figured out that all of Richardson is ghetto, just like East Plano which is dragging down West Plano?

[timtemtym]

Tom Thumb pulling out with the Albertson's acquisition? Aww no! I wonder if Randall's will do the same in Houston. Our Safeway brand out here is Von's/Pavillion's and some are located right near Albertson's so there is talk of what this buyout will mean for those. We already have a severe lack of competition in the grocery market in LA (Kroger's is here but is called Ralphs and Walmart hasn't made much of an inroad into LA proper).

HEB could mean a major shakeup for the DFW market. They're good on price, but even better on building die-hard customer loyalty. I never go home to Houston without bringing back some coffee and other items I only found at HEB.

Howard E Butts knows what he's doing.

[Dallaz]

Originally Posted by timtemtym

Tom Thumb pulling out with the Albertson's acquisition? Aww no! I wonder if Randall's will do the same in Houston. Our Safeway brand out here is Von's/Pavillion's and some are located right near Albertson's so there is talk of what this buyout will mean for those. We already have a severe lack of competition in the grocery market in LA (Kroger's is here but is called Ralphs and Walmart hasn't made much of an inroad into LA proper).

HEB could mean a major shakeup for the DFW market. They're good on price, but even better on building die-hard customer loyalty. I never go home to Houston without bringing back some coffee and other items I only found at HEB.

Howard E Butts knows what he's doing.

Tom Thumb's name isn't changing....just the ownership. None of the Safeway brands will change names.

If a Safeway branded store is near a Albertsons store....one of those stores will close.

[move4ward]

Originally Posted by alastrian2

"News" to add to the fodder. Article from 5/22/14:

"The Supermarket News story notes that Albertsons could sell out once the merger closes, and quotes an anonymous insider who believes “San Antonio-based HEB could be interested in expanding further in the market, and that Cerberus [the firm that owns Albertsons] could be interested in exiting the market once the deal closes.”

See the full article at: Will HEB, Market Street replace Albertsons, Tom Thumb? » Lake Highlands

There are a lot of moving parts with Tom Thumb/Albertsons merger.

Even if HEB doesn't deal with Cerebrus, they would want to see who buys them out. HEB could do a smaller side deal with the new owners for some locations in their plans, if they don't want all the store locations. That's a lot of real estate in play, until the merger is complete.

[mami2emily]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

Good; I wouldn't miss Tom Thumb.

Me either! Give me Kroger any day over Tom Thumb. Would love to see a true HEB store since I'm fond of that brand at Central Market.

[Tamara0914]

Back in DC there is Safeway all over the place, never really cared for it myself, never thought the deals were that great and their produced wasn't anything to rave about. I like the Kroger in Frisco where my aunt lives and I go there if I'm up that way. The Kroger closest to me is a Signature store (not from here, so correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that supposed to their nicer stores or something?) - and its on Belt Line and Marsh.. very ghetto in my opinion. I avoid going there, same thing with the Target next door to it.
I go to the Walmart on Belt Line and Montfort now for frozen things and toiletries, water,etc.. then across the street to Whole Foods for a few things I love there, and finally to Sprouts to get fruits/veggies. Haven't found a place I love for meat - any suggestions? I'm at across the street from the Galleria.

I might drive down to HEB this weekend......I have to see what all the hype is about