H.E. Butt Grocery is the grocer in its home market of San Antonio. It's done very well in the Houston market, as well. Now, the company is looking to North Texas and the Dallas/Ft. Worth area as the newest land to conquer.
The chain, which operates four of its high-end Central Market stores in the area (Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano and Southlake), is opening its first H-E-B supermarket in the city of Burleson this Friday.
Jeff Thomas, who manages H.E. Butt's Central Texas region, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that the new 88,000 square-foot store is 15 miles from an H-E-B in Cleburne and 30 from another in Waxahachie, making the Burleson location "a natural progression for growth of our H-E-B Stores in North Texas."
Bradley Ford, Burleson's director of economic development, told the NBC affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth, "I think this is a good entry point from a distribution standpoint. They have a center, a distribution center, in Temple so it's an easy way to service a store in the south end of the Metroplex."
The H-E-B store is moving into a highly competitive market (see yesterday's RetailWire discussion on the milk price war between Aldi and 99c Only stores) that includes Albertsons, Brookshire's, Fiesta, Kroger, Tom Thumb and Wal-Mart.
Eli Daniels, the unit director for the H-E-B in Burleson, said in a statement, "It's the best fresh meat, produce, and seafood by far. It's prices so low that you can fill your cart without emptying your wallet. It's handmade sushi, a tortilleria, bakery, cook 'n grill, and car wash. It's everything you've wished for and some exciting surprises you didn't even know you wanted."
Discussion Questions: Is the Burleson store the entry point for the H-E-B format into the Dallas-Fort Worth area? How successful do you think it will be?