H-E-B to enter DFW market proper with Plano, Frisco stores

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H-E-B to enter DFW market proper with Plano, Frisco stores

Post by biggins »

This is huge news, and a boon for the Metroplex.

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Re: H-E-B to enter DFW market proper with Plano, Frisco stores

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

Wow! This could be the end for ACI in that area, unless stores are transferred to United...
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Re: H-E-B to enter DFW market proper with Plano, Frisco stores

Post by Bakeragr »

Wow, that will be huge! I'm kind of surprised that they didn't pick some sites in the southwest part of the metro area to be closer to their other stores. By picking the areas they did, they're making quite a big splash, I'd think. I can only imagine how huge those grand openings are going to be, people in DFW have waited years for this!
I am guessing that their site selection team has agonized over tons of data to figure out just the right places to jump in. I don't know enough about H-E-B, but it appears they are good with site selection, from my limited experience and their stores I've seen.
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Re: H-E-B to enter DFW market proper with Plano, Frisco stores

Post by storewanderer »

It is only two stores. We will need to see a larger store count for this to really have an impact on competitors.

I think Kroger and Wal Mart have the most to lose. Albertsons/Tom Thumb at this point already do such low volumes I am not sure how much more business they have to lose at this point... unless HEB targets their few good locations that lack nearby competition.

Also WinCo vs. HEB could be a very interesting one to watch if HEB opts to position itself near WinCo locations.
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Re: H-E-B to enter DFW market proper with Plano, Frisco stores

Post by pseudo3d »

I am curious to see how this goes, because it's not like any other market H-E-B has had.

In the case of San Antonio (and to an extent the entire I-35 corridor up to Waco), they had a hometown advantage. Kroger was a non-issue in the region (very few stores, and only lasted for maybe a decade), while their other competitors (Albertsons, Safeway/AppleTree, Tom Thumb/Randalls) were all in constant shift due to their changing corporate situations, allowing them to pick them off successfully. Today, the only other major traditional supermarket chain in the entire region is Randalls, which is a patchwork of stores from different chains.

In the case of Houston, they had nearly a decade to build up the "H-E-B Pantry" stores around town and managed to expand out right when Albertsons pulled the plug on the Houston Division and Randalls began a long, slow, self-inflicted death. In the last 15 years, H-E-B has made progress toward the inner city areas and burrowed into Kroger's market share where they once dominated. (Randalls was never much of a player in the Inner Loop). This is also reflected in Bryan-College Station, where it went from a two Albertsons/three Kroger/three H-E-B setup to two Kroger stores and five H-E-B stores.

In the case of Dallas-Fort Worth, Walmart was able to make greater strides with the Neighborhood Market format (many of those have been closed or converted into full Walmart stores), and Kroger was able to rise to the top otherwise, with Tom Thumb and Albertsons both having to deal with corporate woes (and of course Winn-Dixie, which was never a real threat). With Albertsons on the upswing and Kroger on the downswing, anything can happen with H-E-B's entry, or it could just split the market further by knocking off percentage points from Kroger and Walmart...in Cleburne (south of Dallas), Albertsons, Kroger, and H-E-B all operate stores in a three-way stalemate.
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Re: H-E-B to enter DFW market proper with Plano, Frisco stores

Post by storewanderer »

The first thing Albertsons/Tom Thumb better do is straighten out its pricing because it is a given HEB will enter and have aggressive pricing on key items and fair pricing throughout the store since they aren't so much of a high-low type operator. Move to the United Division's pricing scale and away from the Safeway California style pricing scale (which should be burnt up and buried in every market outside the bay area) immediately. They need to do this immediately and yes I am repeating myself. Do what they need to do to support lower pricing. Cut slower moving SKUs to reduce spoilage. Quit pricing private label so high that people just buy the name brand which has a lower profit margin than private label since there isn't enough price difference. Something.

It is a slow crawl to shake the awful pricing reputation Safeway has had for many years in my market where Safeway implemented a price cut program a year and a half ago that looks like Kroger's program but they check other competitors as well and it isn't really too bad of a pricing scale. And that is why they need to address this now in DFW, not the week before HEB opens.
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Re: H-E-B to enter DFW market proper with Plano, Frisco stores

Post by pseudo3d »

storewanderer wrote: March 27th, 2021, 11:42 am The first thing Albertsons/Tom Thumb better do is straighten out its pricing because it is a given HEB will enter and have aggressive pricing on key items and fair pricing throughout the store since they aren't so much of a high-low type operator. Move to the United Division's pricing scale and away from the Safeway California style pricing scale (which should be burnt up and buried in every market outside the bay area) immediately. They need to do this immediately and yes I am repeating myself. Do what they need to do to support lower pricing. Cut slower moving SKUs to reduce spoilage. Quit pricing private label so high that people just buy the name brand which has a lower profit margin than private label since there isn't enough price difference. Something.

It is a slow crawl to shake the awful pricing reputation Safeway has had for many years in my market where Safeway implemented a price cut program a year and a half ago that looks like Kroger's program but they check other competitors as well and it isn't really too bad of a pricing scale. And that is why they need to address this now in DFW, not the week before HEB opens.
Most definitely. They need to get rid of the card pricing in Tom Thumb as well, at least for the stores in that area (the Safeway stores in Florida never required a card due to their Albertsons conversions), that would undermine a key advantage H-E-B touts in Houston (where Kroger and Randalls require cards).

They also need to try to open a new store prototype that gets closer to H-E-B's size. Both the Randalls-owned "New Generation" stores and H-E-B pioneered 70k+ square foot stores that were admitted clones of Wegmans, including sticking all the perishables on one side. While I believe the Market Street stores do hit that number, few, if any, stores in the main Albertsons/Tom Thumb chain hit that number.
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Re: H-E-B to enter DFW market proper with Plano, Frisco stores

Post by DFWRetaileWatcher »

H-E-B Breaks Ground on Dallas Area Stores This Week

https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2 ... this-week/
When H-E-B announced in March that it was finally building two of its name brand grocery stores in Dallas-Fort Worth, people were excited. You know what? That’s an understatement. People freaked out. The San Antonio-based grocery chain’s reasonable prices, local and Texas-branded products, and socially responsible corporate behavior inspire a potent home state pride. H-E-B is as Texas as bluebonnets, or the Alamo. As Texas as Whataburger or Dr Pepper, at least.

And yet, for years, North Texas had no H-E-B to call its own. So the reaction was understandable. Maybe you pinched yourself.

If you’re still wondering, here’s some news that will clear up the question of whether it was all a dream. H-E-B is officially breaking ground on its two area stores, one in Frisco and the other in Plano, this week. The dirt’s about to start flying, according to the company. This is really happening. (It is not yet happening in Oak Cliff, however, where H-E-B purchased land four years ago ostensibly for a Central Market that has not materialized.)

Until next fall, you’ll have to get your fix at the H-E-B in Waxahachie, or settle for Central Market. In the meantime, you can watch as construction gets underway.

The Frisco store will be at the northeast corner of Legacy Drive and Main Street, the Plano store at the southwest corner of Preston Road and Spring Creek Parkway.
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Re: H-E-B to enter DFW market proper with Plano, Frisco stores

Post by DFWRetaileWatcher »

H-E-B has confirmed a third store is coming to McKinney in 2023.

https://www.wfaa.com/mobile/article/new ... c9040c9ff7
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Re: H-E-B to enter DFW market proper with Plano, Frisco stores

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

DFWRetaileWatcher wrote: June 8th, 2021, 4:52 pm H-E-B has confirmed a third store is coming to McKinney in 2023.

https://www.wfaa.com/mobile/article/new ... c9040c9ff7
This would be across the street from a Kroger Marketplace, 2 miles from a Market Street (a mile west of another Kroger), and 3 miles from a Tom Thumb (converted from Albertsons).
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