HEB Plus in San Antonio-What's Your Opinion? (Alamo, Floresville: Home Depot, neighborhood)

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by quest51210

then they can drive up to central market and do so...i sat through meetings at the KWA and they were nothing but snobs who forgot that their "community" was mostly lower income.

try Lavaca.

We feel very strongly that this is our community. And not everyone who wants to eat organic is a wealthy snob. Just healthy. We do have a community garden, which is great, but you can't grow everything there.
One of the great things about the Southtown neighborhoods is that they're economically mixed, yet we still all want the same things for our community.

[Schaertl]

Originally Posted by Chaka

It's the nearest store to King William/Southtown, which IS a community which tends to buy hummus and organic stuff

I agree. I thought "Maybe they'll go for that KW/Southtown crowd and I will be sitting pretty with a great new HEB." However, if you look at the trade map plan for McCreless:

HEB Trade Map.jpg

You see Southtown wasn't considered. I'd been to the South Presa store, the previous "nearest store to KW/Southtown", and the selection was terrible.

If the "foodies" don't shop at the nearest store, the grocer has no incentive to stock it for them. If you rally your neighborhood to shop at HEB Plus and request specialty items, and I bet you'll see a big change in one year.

[quest51210]

are you sure? everyone wants to bury the utilities and be forced to upgrade all their wiring?

Originally Posted by Chaka

try Lavaca.

We feel very strongly that this is our community. And not everyone who wants to eat organic is a wealthy snob. Just healthy. We do have a community garden, which is great, but you can't grow everything there.
One of the great things about the Southtown neighborhoods is that they're economically mixed, yet we still all want the same things for our community.

[SATX56]

Who and when did someone come up with this "southtown" name??

[quest51210]

its the name the mexican mafia gave it in the 70's

[SATX56]

I haven't heard the term "southtown" used until the last year or two. I've been here 56 years and frequented King William area!

[Montirob]

Originally Posted by quest51210

are you sure? everyone wants to bury the utilities and be forced to upgrade all their wiring?

Going off topic, I know, but...

If you are referring to being a historic district, nothing forces anyone to improve their properties. Unfortunately, a lot of residents are given this misinformation when areas are petitioning to become historic.

Back on topic...

I work with a couple of young people who have just recently (within the last couple of years) moved into the Highlands area. Both are somewhat disappointed with this HEB's product selection, especially the organic department. Neither are rich.

Our neighborhood has similar complaints about the HEB on Fred. Rd. (the 'Deco B'). It's a good store for most staples, but you need to go to either Central Market or Whole Foods for other items.

[SnappyBob]

Looking at that map I can't believe tha HEB thinks that all of those people to the south are going to pass up the Goliad store in favor of the Plus store that has an inferior variety. The people around 181 and 1604 would probably be better off going into Floresville. The HEB there is better than the Plus store at McCrelles.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by satx56

I haven't heard the term "southtown" used until the last year or two. I've been here 56 years and frequented King William area!

Looks like it's been in use since 1991, if I'm interpreting this correctly About Southtown, San Antonio, TX (http://www.southtown.net/about/index.html - broken link)

It's certainly been in use since 2002, since that's when I moved there. KW is just one of the neighborhoods which make up Southtown.

[Chaka]

Originally Posted by Montirob

Going off topic, I know, but...

If you are referring to being a historic district, nothing forces anyone to improve their properties. Unfortunately, a lot of residents are given this misinformation when areas are petitioning to become historic.

I'd say making people upgrade wiring would be a good thing, but you're right, there's no requirement to upgrade your property due to the historic status. There are financial incentives (and sometimes financial assistance) for doing so, however.

Originally Posted by Montirob

Back on topic...

I work with a couple of young people who have just recently (within the last couple of years) moved into the Highlands area. Both are somewhat disappointed with this HEB's product selection, especially the organic department. Neither are rich.

I wouldn't be so bothered with it if they hadn't made such a big deal about how it's worth closing two stores because this one will be so much better. As I said elsewhere, it has furniture. It has plenty of non-grocery stuff. To me - and honestly to everyone I've talked to who's gone there - that 'stuff' doesn't improve the store. It's not really an improvement over what was already there, and in some ways is worse (more crowds due to consolidation, more car traffic and less foot traffic- it's near impossible to walk there safely).

Again, it's not that they need to cater to every individual, it's just not an improvement.