H.B.B. Moving on to DFW

This story is breaking down and will be updated.

HEB is finally bringing its name to the supermarket for Dublas-Fort Worth.

The San Antonio-based grocery store, which has been buying land in North Texas for more than 20 years, has always said it doesn’t matter when it expands.

HB said it will break into two stores in Frisco and Plano this summer. They will open in the fall of 2022.

“We’re excited to say that it’s time to bring our flagship HBB banner to Dallas-Fort Worth,” said Stephen Butt, president of the Dallas-based Hatch-B’s Central Market division.

• Frisco H.B. The store will be built on the land purchased by the company in 2016, on the north-east corner of Company Legacy Drive and Main Street. The place is one mile east of Kroger on Maine.
• The Plane store will be on HBA-owned land since 2012 in the southwest corner of Preston Road and Spring Creek Parkway. The location is about 5 miles from the company’s Central Market store in Plano.

The two stores will be about 9 miles apart, along the Dallas North Tollway, and will be surrounded by a roof in Colin County, the fastest-growing area in the country.

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

H-B’s entry will bring a new level of competition to the D-FW. The company ranks high in both customer and industry performance. Walmart has the largest market share here, and all major national grocery chains, from Kroger and Albertson in D-FW to Aldi, Trader J’s, Sprouts Farmers Market, Target, Sam Club, Costco, Amazon and the whole Foods Market have significant foothold.

Pam Goodfellow, director of retail insights at Kantar, said the latest push from D-FW signals is that Hatch-B aims to come out of the epidemic as a long-term winner. Large quantities of groceries did well during the epidemic, but in the years that followed, “we will continue to see really strong competitors as isolated from the weak because they jockey for survival in the domestic food market.”

Unlike its competitors, HB is run by Texans and has gained loyalty over the years as an employer, corporate citizen and for the taste and flavor that is served in prepared and frozen foods. It regularly adds new private-label products, including varieties of salsa and quoco. Its Texas-shaped tortilla chips are shipped to Texans scattered across the country.

In 2020, in the annual retail preference index from data science firm Dunhambi, H.E.B. Going forward, the U.S. It was No. 2 this year as Amazon topped the rankings during the epidemic.

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

In addition to HEB and Central Markets, the company owns the smart shops of Me Tianda Chain and Jo V, which are low cost concepts. Its Austin-based favor delivery service also operates here.

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

The company brings its Central Market stores here first.

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. Other Texas markets with Central Market stores have a chain of only one or two upscale specialties.

Butt said the expansion of the Hatchby brand here will not affect its plans for the central market. The company is reopening Preston Hollow Central Market, which was damaged by a tornado on June 30, and said it will advance its plans for stores in Uptown Dallas and Oak Cliff.

“We have learned over time that consumers use both formats. Give them our food / drug H.B. I like the completeness of the trip to the stores and fill the specialty items in the Central Market, ”Butt said. “We see customers using both.”

Scott Benedict, director of the Texas A&M Center for Retailing Studies, said HBB’s focus is on changing consumer habits and increasing demand during epidemics. Was already located and pulled it better than the competition.

“HBB is really good in stores and really good online,” Benedict said. “The innovations of the past year, which they have learned and refined, prepare them specifically to come to D-FW.”

Bennett spent most of his career at Walmart, noting that there are only two companies that have heard management praise – HEB and Florida-based supermarket chain Public.

He said the grocery chains that are now struggling a bit are being challenged by the brilliant new stores, the construction of which is being handled by HBB. Will, he said.

D-FW is Texas’ largest market without HBB stores dotting its neighbors.

The 116-year-old Texas grocery has opened stores south and west of Fort Worth in Berlson, Kleburn and Granbury. Hudson opened its latest store in the area in 2019, just west of Fort Worth in Oaks.

A store in Waxxhachi is 28 miles south of downtown Dallas – close enough for some dedicated shoppers to make the track.

The retailer believes it knows HEB not only with people but also with new transplants in gravitational Texas in the suburbs.

“We hear that whenever people market HBB. Asking every time we bring. That belief makes us proud, but there are many in D-FW who don’t know us, “Butt said. “Plane and Frisco have a lot of new residents. And we will work hard to earn their respect and their business. ‘

While the brand is known in the supermarket industry as one of the largest Texas regional supermarket chains, it is not yet in all parts of the state. HB, which operates 2,050 stores in central, south and west Texas and Mexico, does not operate in El Paso or Pahandhal. D-FW has the greatest potential in the market.

Its entry into the Houston market was harsh for the rest of the grocery managers. HB began opening stores in Houston in the early 2000s and in 10 to 12 years its market share was close to that of Kroger and Walmart. By 2016, it had been culled on both tors operators and has been No. 1 in Houston ever since.

An extensive announcement is being made to H-B employees on Friday morning. Butt said a strong team has been assembled to work on the expansion.

Jun-Carlos Reck, executive vice president of HBB, said that over the years part of the retailer’s success has been due not only to customer confidence, but also to employees “who are moving forward to serve them.”

Catherine Rohloff, 28, of Dallas, grew up in Houston, and whenever she could, she stocked up on her favorite HBB products – sea salt, hot chips, non-flavored bubbly water and in-house baked breads.

My biggest grip on going to Dallas was the lack of H-E-B. Whenever I see the family I prepare to bring them my favorite HHE-B staples, ‘he said. Rohloff moved to Dallas in 2015 and says that while she was living abroad for a while, her parents gave her H.B. Were sending care packages.

I like H-E-B. I can’t wait for them to come to Dallas. “I also had friends who worked for H-E-B and always behaved so well.”

Twitter: MariaHalkias

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