Interesting development in the DFW architecture community!

[architect]

Interesting tidbit: Callaway Architecture, a local architecture firm in the DFW area with extensive experience in the grocery industry, is hiring for numerous positions within their grocery practice. The firm completed a substantial number of stores for both Albertsons and Tom Thumb pre-merger, along with Winco. Clearly, based on this hiring, some player in the DFW grocery market is planning to expand. I highly doubt that this is tied to the rumored HEB expansion, as HEB has their own in-house architecture department which is quite large. My money is on Winco. Any thoughts?

[pseudo3d]

Interesting tidbit: Callaway Architecture, a local architecture firm in the DFW area with extensive experience in the grocery industry, is hiring for numerous positions within their grocery practice. The firm completed a substantial number of stores for both Albertsons and Tom Thumb pre-merger, along with Winco. Clearly, based on this hiring, some player in the DFW grocery market is planning to expand. I highly doubt that this is tied to the rumored HEB expansion, as HEB has their own in-house architecture department which is quite large. My money is on Winco. Any thoughts?

Winco's architecture is...pretty bad, actually, and has been expanding for a while.

My guess would be Lidl, since it wants to also build stores in Texas.

[architect]

Interesting tidbit: Callaway Architecture, a local architecture firm in the DFW area with extensive experience in the grocery industry, is hiring for numerous positions within their grocery practice. The firm completed a substantial number of stores for both Albertsons and Tom Thumb pre-merger, along with Winco. Clearly, based on this hiring, some player in the DFW grocery market is planning to expand. I highly doubt that this is tied to the rumored HEB expansion, as HEB has their own in-house architecture department which is quite large. My money is on Winco. Any thoughts?

Winco's architecture is...pretty bad, actually, and has been expanding for a while.

My guess would be Lidl, since it wants to also build stores in Texas.

Lidl's pipeline to open stores in Texas is still a couple of years down the road. Personally, I have not been impressed by Winco's facilities either; although they do serve their purpose. One of the best discount formats I have seen from a design standpoint is Super 1 Foods; their newest stores still fell clean and active, and make an attempt at cohesive decor despite being low-frills.

[pseudo3d]

Interesting tidbit: Callaway Architecture, a local architecture firm in the DFW area with extensive experience in the grocery industry, is hiring for numerous positions within their grocery practice. The firm completed a substantial number of stores for both Albertsons and Tom Thumb pre-merger, along with Winco. Clearly, based on this hiring, some player in the DFW grocery market is planning to expand. I highly doubt that this is tied to the rumored HEB expansion, as HEB has their own in-house architecture department which is quite large. My money is on Winco. Any thoughts?

Winco's architecture is...pretty bad, actually, and has been expanding for a while.

My guess would be Lidl, since it wants to also build stores in Texas.

Lidl's pipeline to open stores in Texas is still a couple of years down the road. Personally, I have not been impressed by Winco's facilities either; although they do serve their purpose. One of the best discount formats I have seen from a design standpoint is Super 1 Foods; their newest stores still fell clean and active, and make an attempt at cohesive decor despite being low-frills.

Brookshire's tried to go into the Dallas suburbs with their flagship brand store, it didn't work out so well. And while Lidl may be a few years away from opening, they had better start early. Between you and me, I'm not sure how much of an impact Lidl will make. Aldi Süd opened their first Aldi store in the U.S. in the mid-1970s, and they're better poised to grow in the U.S. because of name recognition and the fact that they've learned how to deal with the U.S. market. Too many European companies trying to gain a U.S. market share have learned the hard way about how shopping habits differ between countries and had to pull out.

[wnetmacman]

Brookshire's tried to go into the Dallas suburbs with their flagship brand store, it didn't work out so well.

Brookshire still has several stores in the suburbs and beyond D/FW. No, not as many as they once did, but they are still there, and operate much further west. The Brookshire's approach doesn't work well in larger cities where price is concerned, as they are more service oriented. Their main leap into Dallas was when Safeway pulled out in 1987, where they purchased several stores. They later attacked also with the Super 1 Foods stores, which they sold 7 of to Fleming, who broke them all.

And while Lidl may be a few years away from opening, they had better start early. Between you and me, I'm not sure how much of an impact Lidl will make. Aldi Süd opened their first Aldi store in the U.S. in the mid-1970s, and they're better poised to grow in the U.S. because of name recognition and the fact that they've learned how to deal with the U.S. market. Too many European companies trying to gain a U.S. market share have learned the hard way about how shopping habits differ between countries and had to pull out.

Any grocer attempting to conquer Dallas needs to keep three companies in their sights: Kroger, Aldi and WinCo. Albertsons/Tom Thumb is distracted right now trying to be one company, and Walmart is trying to fix internal issues. The three I've named will be the force to reckon with in the coming years. Aldi is hitting hard where they are opening; Milk at 99 cents and eggs for 35 cents will break the other competitors. I've not been in a WinCo store, but the fact that they can expand quickly, and there's plenty of space to do so will fuel their fire.

As for European companies, Aldi has indeed done well. But ask Royal Ahold/Delhaize about expansion. They bought chains that understood their customers and Europe-ized them. Oops. Tenglemann did the same to A&P. The only company from Europe that has done well here consistently has been Aldi. Even the Canadians can't do well; Loblaw tried for 40 or so years to make National work. Remote ownership has disadvantages over advantages. The biggest is that folks at headquarters don't know folks in the locations as well. Ask the buyer at Kmart in the 70's who sent parkas to Florida stores....

[pseudo3d]

Brookshire's tried to go into the Dallas suburbs with their flagship brand store, it didn't work out so well.

Brookshire still has several stores in the suburbs and beyond D/FW. No, not as many as they once did, but they are still there, and operate much further west. The Brookshire's approach doesn't work well in larger cities where price is concerned, as they are more service oriented. Their main leap into Dallas was when Safeway pulled out in 1987, where they purchased several stores. They later attacked also with the Super 1 Foods stores, which they sold 7 of to Fleming, who broke them all.

And while Lidl may be a few years away from opening, they had better start early. Between you and me, I'm not sure how much of an impact Lidl will make. Aldi Süd opened their first Aldi store in the U.S. in the mid-1970s, and they're better poised to grow in the U.S. because of name recognition and the fact that they've learned how to deal with the U.S. market. Too many European companies trying to gain a U.S. market share have learned the hard way about how shopping habits differ between countries and had to pull out.

Any grocer attempting to conquer Dallas needs to keep three companies in their sights: Kroger, Aldi and WinCo. Albertsons/Tom Thumb is distracted right now trying to be one company, and Walmart is trying to fix internal issues. The three I've named will be the force to reckon with in the coming years. Aldi is hitting hard where they are opening; Milk at 99 cents and eggs for 35 cents will break the other competitors. I've not been in a WinCo store, but the fact that they can expand quickly, and there's plenty of space to do so will fuel their fire.

As for European companies, Aldi has indeed done well. But ask Royal Ahold/Delhaize about expansion. They bought chains that understood their customers and Europe-ized them. Oops. Tenglemann did the same to A&P. The only company from Europe that has done well here consistently has been Aldi. Even the Canadians can't do well; Loblaw tried for 40 or so years to make National work. Remote ownership has disadvantages over advantages. The biggest is that folks at headquarters don't know folks in the locations as well. Ask the buyer at Kmart in the 70's who sent parkas to Florida stores....

Ahold Delhaize's track record is decent for the U.S., they have chains that are market leaders, admittedly only in the Northeast. The companies I'm thinking of are not ones that blew their U.S. holdings (I should throw FedMart onto that list) but ones like Carrefour or Auchan, or even Tesco and their Fresh & Easy project.

Generally, yes, the farther away an HQ is, the more chances for screwing up (Safeway and not knowing their acquisitions), but an overseas company has even greater risk in blowing it. The entrance to Texas by Lidl is especially confusing. The Dallas and Houston markets are pretty crowded and Aldi has already taken root there and have expanded rapidly. That pretty much leaves the southern I-35 corridor (deep H-E-B territory) and rural Texas. Rural Texas I'm not sure would take to Lidl (again, culture clash) and I can imagine H-E-B launching a price war to choke out Lidl. Heck, I wouldn't even be surprised if H-E-B was suppressing Aldi's growth in the Waco-Temple-Killeen area (one store each).

[architect]

Brookshire's tried to go into the Dallas suburbs with their flagship brand store, it didn't work out so well.

Brookshire still has several stores in the suburbs and beyond D/FW. No, not as many as they once did, but they are still there, and operate much further west. The Brookshire's approach doesn't work well in larger cities where price is concerned, as they are more service oriented. Their main leap into Dallas was when Safeway pulled out in 1987, where they purchased several stores. They later attacked also with the Super 1 Foods stores, which they sold 7 of to Fleming, who broke them all.

Personally, I'm surprised that Brookshire's couldn't make either format work in urban/suburban parts of DFW. When they first entered the market with their namesake stores, DFW was not nearly as competitive as it currently is. Although Tom Thumb was considered the "premier local" grocer at the time, most other competitors weren't doing anything particularly innovative which Brookshire's couldn't match. Price wasn't nearly as much of a factor due to preceding Wal-Mart's growth in the region. The thing that likely hurt them was simply their small-town feel (which is often reflected in their product selection, even today where certain brands are not carried which are common at other chains). However, from a service aspect, they could easily meet Tom Thumb, which was the bar to reach in DFW at the time. Then, later on with Super 1 Foods, they couldn't make a format work which was a precursor to both WinCo and Aldi, which have both been immensely successful in DFW.

And while Lidl may be a few years away from opening, they had better start early. Between you and me, I'm not sure how much of an impact Lidl will make. Aldi Süd opened their first Aldi store in the U.S. in the mid-1970s, and they're better poised to grow in the U.S. because of name recognition and the fact that they've learned how to deal with the U.S. market. Too many European companies trying to gain a U.S. market share have learned the hard way about how shopping habits differ between countries and had to pull out.

Any grocer attempting to conquer Dallas needs to keep three companies in their sights: Kroger, Aldi and WinCo. Albertsons/Tom Thumb is distracted right now trying to be one company, and Walmart is trying to fix internal issues. The three I've named will be the force to reckon with in the coming years. Aldi is hitting hard where they are opening; Milk at 99 cents and eggs for 35 cents will break the other competitors. I've not been in a WinCo store, but the fact that they can expand quickly, and there's plenty of space to do so will fuel their fire.

I might actually add Tom Thumb to this "list of three." Although they are clearly still in a state of flux right now, Albertsons seems to focusing their DFW efforts around the Tom Thumb brand, and also seems keen on growing the chain. Their new urban stores could be immensely successful if marketed correctly, and could effectively shut out HEB in established neighborhoods where land is scarce. On the other hand, I could also see HEB making a huge splash in the market if they ever decide to make a large-scale entry, particularly in the Tom Thumb banners is left to flounder. WinCo will continue to to establish themselves in the DFW market for sure. However, most of their DFW stores are marketed much more towards a "no fills" shopper base, and may struggle in areas of DFW which lean upscale (which make up a good portion of DFW neighborhoods). These next few years will be very defining for the grocery market in the areas, as the landscape could look dramatically different in 3-5 years.

Also, as far as Lidl goes, it would not make sense for them to start architectural design this early in the game if their stores are still a couple of years down the road. At this point, site selection and real estate acquisition are key. However, with the ever-changing nature of building codes and other regulations, any actual building which is designed now would likely need to be somewhat redesigned before being eventually constructed, essentially making the effort pointless. Plus, cookie-cutter store designs common to chains such as Aldi and Lidl can typically be designed in a matter of just a few months, and are often replicated across numerous sites with slight modifications.

[veteran+]

Brookshire's tried to go into the Dallas suburbs with their flagship brand store, it didn't work out so well.

Brookshire still has several stores in the suburbs and beyond D/FW. No, not as many as they once did, but they are still there, and operate much further west. The Brookshire's approach doesn't work well in larger cities where price is concerned, as they are more service oriented. Their main leap into Dallas was when Safeway pulled out in 1987, where they purchased several stores. They later attacked also with the Super 1 Foods stores, which they sold 7 of to Fleming, who broke them all.

And while Lidl may be a few years away from opening, they had better start early. Between you and me, I'm not sure how much of an impact Lidl will make. Aldi Süd opened their first Aldi store in the U.S. in the mid-1970s, and they're better poised to grow in the U.S. because of name recognition and the fact that they've learned how to deal with the U.S. market. Too many European companies trying to gain a U.S. market share have learned the hard way about how shopping habits differ between countries and had to pull out.

Any grocer attempting to conquer Dallas needs to keep three companies in their sights: Kroger, Aldi and WinCo. Albertsons/Tom Thumb is distracted right now trying to be one company, and Walmart is trying to fix internal issues. The three I've named will be the force to reckon with in the coming years. Aldi is hitting hard where they are opening; Milk at 99 cents and eggs for 35 cents will break the other competitors. I've not been in a WinCo store, but the fact that they can expand quickly, and there's plenty of space to do so will fuel their fire.

As for European companies, Aldi has indeed done well. But ask Royal Ahold/Delhaize about expansion. They bought chains that understood their customers and Europe-ized them. Oops. Tenglemann did the same to A&P. The only company from Europe that has done well here consistently has been Aldi. Even the Canadians can't do well; Loblaw tried for 40 or so years to make National work. Remote ownership has disadvantages over advantages. The biggest is that folks at headquarters don't know folks in the locations as well. Ask the buyer at Kmart in the 70's who sent parkas to Florida stores....

Spot on!!!

I would add that along with remote ownership issues there is also the "personality" of the foreign corporation to consider. The more hubris a foreign company brings to our shores the quicker they will leave in failure.

The Albrechts family (Aldi and separately Trader Joes) clearly demonstrate a strong willingness to learn their market and to listen to their customers and finally to partner and/or hire local industry experts.

It took Ahold and Delhaize longer to learn, but for the most part, they did. Now with the synergies and learnings of the merger, perhaps their success will be accelerated.

The epitome of failure and hubris was Tesco with Fresh & Easy.