HEB moving in closer to DFW with store in Mansfield

[architect]

Last night, the Mansfield City Council approved a new retail development which will be anchored by an HEB supermarket at the southeast corner of US 287 and East Broad Street. Based on HEB's contract with the developer, construction for the store must commence by 2019. It will be interesting to see how the cookie crumbles from here.

Dallas Morning News Article

[pseudo3d]

Last night, the Mansfield City Council approved a new retail development which will be anchored by an HEB supermarket at the southeast corner of US 287 and East Broad Street. Based on HEB's contract with the developer, construction for the store must commence by 2019. It will be interesting to see how the cookie crumbles from here.

Dallas Morning News Article

The first "DFW H-E-B" opened in late 2010 at Burleson, just about 13 miles west of Mansfield, and in 2014, expanded to an H-E-B Plus. On the north end of town, about 3 and a half miles away, there's an Albertsons in a strip mall with a Kmart-turned-JCPenney, and it seems to get good reviews (both H-E-B and Albertsons average 4.5 stars). The Albertsons of course gets less volume than H-E-B Plus, but it doesn't seem to be a deal breaker (and it seems it was that way before).

Mansfield's location has a Kroger Marketplace about 2 miles east and a Tom Thumb a mile north. The Tom Thumb manages to hold its own against a Wal-Mart Supercenter across the freeway, while an Albertsons catty-corner to the Tom Thumb died during the LLC days. The Tom Thumb is of course not that big (it was built in 2002 under Safeway) but there is a Salvation Army to the east of it that was definitely designed for a big box store of some sort (either it was never occupied or something went under, though I can't find the store if it was the latter). If Albertsons wanted to, they could take over the Salvation Army space and renovate the store. Either way it has held its own against the Walmart.

[architect]

Last night, the Mansfield City Council approved a new retail development which will be anchored by an HEB supermarket at the southeast corner of US 287 and East Broad Street. Based on HEB's contract with the developer, construction for the store must commence by 2019. It will be interesting to see how the cookie crumbles from here.

Dallas Morning News Article

The first "DFW H-E-B" opened in late 2010 at Burleson, just about 13 miles west of Mansfield, and in 2014, expanded to an H-E-B Plus. On the north end of town, about 3 and a half miles away, there's an Albertsons in a strip mall with a Kmart-turned-JCPenney, and it seems to get good reviews (both H-E-B and Albertsons average 4.5 stars). The Albertsons of course gets less volume than H-E-B Plus, but it doesn't seem to be a deal breaker (and it seems it was that way before).

Mansfield's location has a Kroger Marketplace about 2 miles east and a Tom Thumb a mile north. The Tom Thumb manages to hold its own against a Wal-Mart Supercenter across the freeway, while an Albertsons catty-corner to the Tom Thumb died during the LLC days. The Tom Thumb is of course not that big (it was built in 2002 under Safeway) but there is a Salvation Army to the east of it that was definitely designed for a big box store of some sort (either it was never occupied or something went under, though I can't find the store if it was the latter). If Albertsons wanted to, they could take over the Salvation Army space and renovate the store. Either way it has held its own against the Walmart.

I have actually visited the Burleson HEB multiple times before; it is honestly one of the nicest HEB's I have visited. I think that the Burleson Albertsons is able to survive simply due to traffic patterns in the city. Although the Albertsons is not too far from HEB, the primary thoroughfare connecting the two (Wilshire Blvd) features a ton of stoplights, making HEB's location (along with the adjacent Kroger Marketplace) inconvenient for residents living on the opposite side of town.

In Mansfield, the current Tom Thumb will likely be the store most affected by HEB's opening. The Kroger Marketplace on Broad St. is located in a growing area and still has its "new store smell" and the resulting publicity that comes with it. The Kroger at Debbie/Matlock will also likely be safe as they just completed a massive expansion, and the store is located in an established area with a stable residential base. In my opinion, the biggest detriment for Tom Thumb will be their pricing, as both Kroger and HEB's everyday prices are considerably lower in the DFW area.

[pseudo3d]

In Mansfield, the current Tom Thumb will likely be the store most affected by HEB's opening. The Kroger Marketplace on Broad St. is located in a growing area and still has its "new store smell" and the resulting publicity that comes with it. The Kroger at Debbie/Matlock will also likely be safe as they just completed a massive expansion, and the store is located in an established area with a stable residential base. In my opinion, the biggest detriment for Tom Thumb will be their pricing, as both Kroger and HEB's everyday prices are considerably lower in the DFW area.

Oh definitely, Tom Thumb is the most vulnerable to the new H-E-B. The chronically higher prices aren't the only problem, there's also the fact that the H-E-B will almost certainly be much larger than Tom Thumb, which is more in tune to sizes of stores where land and shoppers' habits lean toward smaller stores. Short of an expansion and a new EDLP program, the Tom Thumb could be flipped to Market Street, where it could probably hold better ground against the H-E-B than the Tom Thumb could.

[architect]

In Mansfield, the current Tom Thumb will likely be the store most affected by HEB's opening. The Kroger Marketplace on Broad St. is located in a growing area and still has its "new store smell" and the resulting publicity that comes with it. The Kroger at Debbie/Matlock will also likely be safe as they just completed a massive expansion, and the store is located in an established area with a stable residential base. In my opinion, the biggest detriment for Tom Thumb will be their pricing, as both Kroger and HEB's everyday prices are considerably lower in the DFW area.

Oh definitely, Tom Thumb is the most vulnerable to the new H-E-B. The chronically higher prices aren't the only problem, there's also the fact that the H-E-B will almost certainly be much larger than Tom Thumb, which is more in tune to sizes of stores where land and shoppers' habits lean toward smaller stores. Short of an expansion and a new EDLP program, the Tom Thumb could be flipped to Market Street, where it could probably hold better ground against the H-E-B than the Tom Thumb could.

A Market Street conversion is an idea which I have not even considered, and an idea which would likely work well! Market Street seems to do well with suburban shoppers vs Tom Thumb's "Old Dallas" crowd (Mansfield is more of a Fort Worth suburb) and is much more comparable to HEB's new-build stores. If this conversion did occur, it would be interesting geographically, as there are currently no Market Street locations in the southern half of the Metroplex.