HEB makes its debut in D-FW

This story is out and will be updated.

HEB is finally bringing its eponymous supermarkets to Dallas-Fort Worth.

The San Antonio-based grocer, who has been buying land in North Texas for more than 20 years, has always said it was a question of when, and not if, he would grow here.

HEB has announced that it will open two stores this summer in Frisco and Plano. They will open in the fall of 2022.

“We are delighted to say that the time has come for us to bring our flagship HEB banner to Dallas-Fort Worth,” said Stephen Butt, president of the Dallas-based HE-B Central Market division.

• The Frisco HEB store will be built on the northeast corner of Legacy Drive and Main Street on land the company purchased in 2016. The site is one mile east of a Kroger on Main.
• The Plano store will be located on land owned by HEB since 2012 at the southwest corner of Preston Road and Spring Creek Parkway. This location is approximately 5 miles from the company’s Central Market store in Plano.

The two stores will be about 9 miles apart, straddling the North Dallas toll freeway and surrounded by skyline in Collin County, one of the fastest growing areas in the country.

Butt declined to say how many stores he plans to open here beyond the first two.

The entry of HE-B will trigger a new level of competition in D-FW. The company occupies a prominent place both with customers and industry performance. Walmart has the largest market share here, and all of the major national grocery chains have significant footprints in D-FW, from Kroger and Albertsons to Aldi, Trader Joe’s, Sprouts Farmers Market, Target, Sam’s Club, Costco, Amazon. and Whole Foods Market.

“This latest push in D-FW indicates that HE-B’s intention is to emerge from the pandemic as a long-term winner,” said Pam Goodfellow, director of retail analytics at Kantar. The grocery store as a whole has performed well during the pandemic, she said, but in the next few years, “we’re going to see the really strong competitors separate themselves from the weak as they fight for sustainable dollars for. food at home. “

Unlike its competitors, HEB is run by Texans for Texans and has gained loyalty over the years as an employer, corporate citizen, and for the flavors it serves in prepared and frozen foods. He regularly adds new private label products, including varieties of salsas and queso. Its Texas-shaped tortilla chips are shipped to Texans across the country.

In 2020, HEB edged out Trader Joe’s to become the top U.S. grocer in data science firm Dunnhumby’s annual Retail Preference Index. He was No. 2 this year as Amazon climbed to the top of the rankings during the pandemic.

Butt said that eventually all of the retailer’s banners will open stores in D-FW.

Besides HEB and Central Market, the company owns the Mi Tienda chain and Joe V’s Smart Shop, a low-cost concept. Its Austin-based Favor delivery service also operates here.

“North Texas is a very important market for our future growth, for all of HEB,” said Butt. “Our plan is to grow here with our multiple formats.”

The company first brought its stores from the central market here.

Central Market, a Dallas-based division, opened its first local store in Fort Worth in 2001 and now has six locations, including stores in Dallas, Plano and Southlake. The other Texas markets with Central Market stores only have one or two of the high-end specialty chain.

Butt said the expansion of the HEB brand here will not affect his plans for the central market. The company reopened the tornado-damaged Preston Hollow Central Market on June 30 and said its plans for stores in Uptown Dallas and Oak Cliff would continue to move forward.

“We have learned over time that customers use both formats. They love the completeness of a trip to our HEB food / drug stores and stock up on specialty items at the Central Market, ”Butt said. “We are finding that clients are using both.”

HEB was already positioned to respond to changing consumer habits and increasing demand during the pandemic and fared better than the competition, said Scott Benedict, director of the Texas A&M Center for Retailing Studies.

“HEB is really good in the stores and really good online,” Benedict said. “The innovations of the past year, everything they have learned and honed, makes them uniquely ready to enter D-FW.”

Bennett has spent much of his career at Walmart and said there were only two companies he had heard compliments of from management – HEB and the Florida-based supermarket chain Publix.

Grocery chains that are having a little trouble now are going to be challenged by the shiny new stores that HEB is going to build, he said.

D-FW is the largest market in Texas that does not have HEB stores in its neighborhoods.

The 116-year-old Texas grocery store has opened stores south and west of Fort Worth in Burleson, Cleburne and Granbury. Its most recent store in the area opened in 2019, just west of Fort Worth in Hudson Oaks.

A store in Waxahachie is 28 miles south of downtown Dallas – close enough that some dedicated shoppers can make the trip.

The retailer believes it can make inroads not only with people who are already familiar with HEB, but also with new transplants in Texas who have come up through the ranks.

“We hear people asking all the time when are we going to bring HEB to market. This recognition makes us proud, but there are many in D-FW who don’t know us, ”Butt said. “There are a lot of new residents in Plano and Frisco. And we will work hard to earn their respect and business. “

While the brand is known in the supermarket industry as a large regional Texas supermarket chain, it is not yet present in all areas of the state. HEB, which operates 420 stores primarily in central, southern and western Texas and Mexico, does not operate in El Paso or the Panhandle. D-FW has the greatest market potential.

Its entry into the Houston market was brutal for the rest of the grocery store operators. HEB began opening stores in Houston in the early 2000s and within 10 to 12 years its market share was neck and neck with Kroger and Walmart. In 2016, he catapulted both operators and has been No. 1 in Houston since then.

A large announcement to HE-B employees was made on Friday morning. “A strong team” has been put together to work on the expansion, Butt said.

Juan-Carlos Rück, executive vice president of HEB, said part of the retailer’s success over the years has come not only from the trust of customers, but also of employees “who go above and beyond to serve them. “.

Kathryn Rohloff, 28, of Dallas grew up in Houston and stocking up whenever she can on her favorite HEB products – sea salt tortilla chips, unflavored sparkling water, and baked breads.

“One of my biggest gripes about the move to Dallas was the lack of HEB. Whenever I see family I have them bring my favorite HEB staples, ”she said. Rohloff moved to Dallas in 2015 and says that when she lived overseas for a while, her parents sent her HEB care packages.

“I love HEB. I can’t wait for them to come to Dallas, ”she said. “I also had friends who worked for H – E – B and who were always treated very well.”

Twitter: @MariaHalkias

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