I hope that Yelp won't cut me off here: a lot to say. This HEB SHOULD BE "my" grocery store. It is closest to me and is the area where I can most easily shop, FOR GROCERIES (as in everyday essentials) ESPECIALLY.
Now let me explain why I switched to Walmart nearby (until they closed it recently) shortly after the latter opened up.
Walmart was a variety store with a large, well organized, clean, bright, and well-stocked grocery store as part of it.
THIS HEB "grocery store" as THEY term it, however, is, instead, a small to medium variety store combined with a now-very-inadequate grocery section. In short, in my view, it is a "junk" store with a (now) woefully inadequate grocery section for the area it serves (now). It's a bit like a Dollar General put in a bowl with a "Walmart Neighborhood Market" and thoroughly, and destructively, shaken and stirred.
When it opened (1999?) it was in a developing upscale area and was "the only game" in the area for groceries. It was just about adequate for that task. I believe they went with so much "junk" because the area was too small to support a larger grocery section (I think they claim groceries are a low margin genre). Ok, made good sense in 1999. NOT NOW!
The area has since neared completion in development, plus the number of items popular in "groceries", especially in FROZEN FOODS, has multiplied hugely (a real problem for such stores I know). THEREIN LIES THE PROBLEM WITH THIS STORE. IT IS A 1999, moderate sized grocery store that is otherwise full of junk.
From the point of non-grocery items, I used to buy (very) few small "variety" items from this store, but rarely now. I get most of that stuff "online" now. I'm trying to really paint the whole picture here.
So my analysis is that this store needs very much to update its business model to current conditions. In my view it needs to greatly expand its frozen food section MOST OF ALL. They have (under pressure from new products and the increased use of frozen foods by consumers) had to pare down frozen varieties (by manufacturer) to tiny little "no choice" sections: for example, one reason I stopped shopping there was they trimmed down the decent & reasonable "Michelina's" selections from two whole freezer sections to 1/2 section or so now. The same is true with many manufacturers (in part because they also push their own somewhat pricey HEB selections PLUS the HEB Central Market brand, even more pricey). The store remains stuck with the woefully inadequate small-store 1999 frozen food section.
I could go on, but the bottom line for me is that this is said to be (by HEB) a "grocery store" but fails miserably at being what I need in a grocery store.
And finally, I can't say how much I HATE having the groceries scattered all over "to hell and back" with all the "junk" mixed in. Walmart had a nice compact grocery section where I could get my grocery shopping done quickly and efficiently AFTER I did my "variety shopping" (quickly and efficiently) in the other part of the store, without having to walk the entire store to find my groceries. The groceries are literally scattered wall-to-wall at this HEB, with all the junk all over in between. IT MAKES FINDING ANYTHING, GROCERY OR NOT, VERY DIFFICULT, especially for the first-time or occasional shopper (nightmare!)!
I must say that, in my view and for my purposes, this is an ugly, dark store, both in appearance and layout, that is very badly in need of a makeover, especially with regard to compactness of grocery function and with regard to the frozen food section. Frankly, I want my Walmart back!
(Walmart closed because it was one of four Walmart stores within 8 miles of each other, two of them just two miles apart, and this one, of the four, was in the least favorable location [away from other attractions] for a Walmart store.)
ADDENDUM: another part of why I stopped shopping here, and HEB in general, was a decrease in quality of their store brands (HEB and Hill Country Fare) in particular items I depended on. I reported these to them. The feedback I got from them was tepid at best. It seemed a "That's interesting ........" response. They do seem to have worked on one of the problems (huge variation in quality from different suppliers for their store brand 28 oz organic whole canned tomatoes, from excellent to "throw away") but have not really fixed it (in the past year). Other examples: their canned stewed tomatoes went from excellent to passable over a period of years. Their facial tissues, last year, went from very good (soft and strong) to totally unacceptable (thin and weak, and "dusty").
Every retailer should know: IF you ESTABLISH a brand (of anything) with quality "X", you don't let it just deteriorate. If you have to pay more to get the same quality, raise the price a little bit, or introduce a lower quality item with a different name, but NEVER just let your brand of "whatever" just go to hell. (Nuts: had one more long sentence & Yelp cut me off.) read more
