Active HEB Formats in Houston area

[storewanderer]

HEB in Crockett is an HEB Pantry Store. There is a plaque by the front door with the HEB Pantry logo noting it opened in 1990. It must be an old Safeway. No bakery/deli. That area seems to be a large office/break room area now.

[pseudo3d]

HEB in Crockett is an HEB Pantry Store. There is a plaque by the front door with the HEB Pantry logo noting it opened in 1990. It must be an old Safeway. No bakery/deli. That area seems to be a large office/break room area now.

Some of the plaques still exist but they're no longer a distinct grocery brand...they're just small H-E-B stores now.

[storewanderer]

HEB in Crockett is an HEB Pantry Store. There is a plaque by the front door with the HEB Pantry logo noting it opened in 1990. It must be an old Safeway. No bakery/deli. That area seems to be a large office/break room area now.

Some of the plaques still exist but they're no longer a distinct grocery brand...they're just small H-E-B stores now.

Pricing struck me as higher in Crockett than other HEB units closer to Houston. Not on everything but certain items seemed higher.

Was Pantry a discount format?

Was Pantry limited assortment like Joe V's? Joe V's has the best prices I've ever seen. It is like inflation never happened if they sell what you want to buy (that is a big if)... cannot believe that store; 10-20% cheaper than Wal Mart across the board on center store items.

[pseudo3d]

HEB in Crockett is an HEB Pantry Store. There is a plaque by the front door with the HEB Pantry logo noting it opened in 1990. It must be an old Safeway. No bakery/deli. That area seems to be a large office/break room area now.

Some of the plaques still exist but they're no longer a distinct grocery brand...they're just small H-E-B stores now.

Pricing struck me as higher in Crockett than other HEB units closer to Houston. Not on everything but certain items seemed higher.

Was Pantry a discount format?

Yes and no. On some level it was compared to Food Lion when it was entering Houston, and it was cheaper than the "real" supermarkets because so much of what they had, H-E-B didn't. Randalls and Kroger's new Signature stores were palaces (even Fiesta got in the game at one time), while H-E-B stores were smaller with much less amenities.

It wasn't a discount format like you'd expect discount formats to operate (run-down stores, cut things like bagging, and definitely not invited to better neighborhoods), though, nor did prices rise when they moved to "real" H-E-B stores. The stores ran the gamut, some of them were in poor areas, while some stores were in nicer neighborhoods. One store in the late 1990s even had a hot deli drive-through.

[wnetmacman]

HEB in Crockett is an HEB Pantry Store. There is a plaque by the front door with the HEB Pantry logo noting it opened in 1990. It must be an old Safeway. No bakery/deli. That area seems to be a large office/break room area now.

Crockett *was* an HEB Pantry, but HEB no longer makes that distinction. IIRC, Crockett was a part of a group of stores that HEB purchased from a small group out of Lufkin called U-$ave Foods, which was a group of former Houston Safeway stores in the northern region that were bought out by old Safeway managers in 1987 or so. This group included Carthage, Center, Lufkin, Crockett, Jasper and Nacogdoches. Lufkin and Nacogdoches were immediately sold off to Brookshire Brothers, who tried to turn both into their flagships; Nacogoches was the only store not originally Safeway (it was a group 9 Kmart) and it did not last. Center did not last long as HEB. Jasper became Brookshire Brothers later. Carthage and Crockett are the only two still operating as HEB. Crockett looked a lot like the Center store and is almost the same size as the Carthage store, which was 27,000 sq. ft. Carthage was originally HEB Pantry as well, but is a normal HEB now also.

[storewanderer]

HEB seems to have an interesting tract record of doing acquisitions then not running all of the stores.

What was the issue that caused Center to not last long as HEB? Just too small/too little volume?

Also I felt like the Brookshire Brothers in Crockett was a former Safeway too. Some things about it were questionable like the front doors. Maybe not a Safeway.

[wnetmacman]

HEB seems to have an interesting tract record of doing acquisitions then not running all of the stores.

That's an understatement. I believe they have a Kroger-esque attitude - #1 or #2 or not at all

What was the issue that caused Center to not last long as HEB? Just too small/too little volume?

Center is a very small town, and the fact that Walmart moved out of the center just after the store was sold were the main factors. Not much lives in Center/Shelby County. It's very rural forest.

Also I felt like the Brookshire Brothers in Crockett was a former Safeway too. Some things about it were questionable like the front doors. Maybe not a Safeway.

I know they have purchased several Safeway castoffs in the past, including Henderson (1980-1995 store, former Marina) and Lufkin (Apple Tree/U-$ave Foods), but the Crockett store just doesn't give off a Safeway vibe like those two.