It's not exactly a hard sales figure, but when H-E-B spokesperson Dya Campos was asked by the San Antonio Express-News to compare the difference between the sales of a new H-E-B Plus store on the South Side of the city to the conventional H-E-B it replaced, she said it was "huge."
The Plus store format, H-E-B's direct response to supercenters is proving to be a big hit with consumers and the supermarket chain is looking to build up to 12 more over the next couple of years.
The store on San Antonio's South Side is 170,000 square-feet and it offers furniture, entertainment and gaming products, expanded party, beauty and baby sections and a coffee shop. The store also leases space to a RediClinic, a jeweler and a nail and pedicure shop.
Outside in the lot, the store pumps gas and has a car wash.
H-E-B continues to tinker with the Plus format with a new store opening in San Antonio at the intersection of Loop 1604 and Potranco Road. That store, scheduled to open on Nov. 1, will feature more lawn and garden products.
Discussion Questions: H-E-B created its Plus concept to take supercenters head on and win. Will H-E-B achieve its goal with this format? What makes H-E-B Plus different from other big box stores that sell groceries?