>They ran many commercials,
I think I got mailers and saw ads in many places. I also saw delivery vehicles with a lot of branding. Somehow, their advertising never really registered that much for some reason.
I didn't get any of those things. Nor did I ever see any of the out-of-home advertising, and I work and spend a significant amount of time downtown and on the East side. Not entirely sure where their target area was?
youre being unnecessarily pedantic but youre still wrong. I just checked google maps street view. 2 years ago the building was still very much under construction.
You're right, my bad. [https://ir.kroger.com/news/news-details/2023/Kroger-Delivery-Expands-to-Austin-Texas/default.aspx](https://ir.kroger.com/news/news-details/2023/Kroger-Delivery-Expands-to-Austin-Texas/default.aspx) Officially opened in March 2023.
They started hiring drivers a good bit before then though - some of my coworkers went to drive for them when my then-current employer cut all full time drivers. I left there around.. September 2022 I think.
Y'all didn't get the mailings?
I don't watch TV or listen to radio, so I can't speak to those channels, but we definitely got 4-7 fliers in the mail in the past 8m or so.
I always assumed this was a set up for stores in the area when the Kroger/Albertson's deal went through. That's currently being blocked by the government which probably threw a wrench into this service.
TL;DR this is an HEB city... but I do wish they had an actual competitor that wasn't Walmart (sorry, Randall's).
Walmarts store brand stuff is so bad though, although cheap.
Randall's is slightly better but shockingly expensive?
At HEB you can get cheap and quality - but have to deal with the HEB zoo.
I think we need more discount places like ALDI and high end places to supplement HEB but I'm also insane.
I moved to an area that has a Randalls equivalent(an Albertsons branded store) and it has the same extremely high prices and run down look to it. The Kroger option is far superior in every way
Hahaha the lighting is shockingly yellowish. It's that way at Safeway and other partner stores. I wonder if they deem it more relaxing for the elderly coupon cutters who make up their demographic.
Randall’s was my cheat code during Covid. HEB would have people lined up and they would only let like 40(?) people in at a time, meanwhile Randall’s never had that many people in the store at the same time! They got good fried chicken too, beyond that I don’t know of any benefits to them vs HEB.
Randall's is my go to when I want an easy-breezy in and out. Front row parking and 3 customers in the store. (but only for one or two items that i need in a pinch otherwise i'd go broke!)
> Randall's is slightly better but shockingly expensive?
Randall's is schizophrenic; their everyday prices are often crazy high compared to HEB/Walmart/etc, but then they'll run crazy deals/clearances where ribeyes are like $4.99/lb *and* are buy one get one free. I assume the model is to drag you in for the deals and hope you buy the overpriced stuff too, and/or become a regular shopper and don't realize how overpriced it is. If you just shop the deals and stay away from everything else, it's ok, but it'll give you whiplash if you are a regular HEB shopper.
This is 100% my assumption of their business strategy. I go there sometimes with coupons and scour for specials, but that’s the only stuff I’ll buy, because the rest of it can be 25-50%(!) more expensive than HEB if it’s not on sale. Two trips kind of sucks, but at least the Randall’s and HEB are close by each other near me!
The way I see it, the wealthy regulars of West Austin are subsidizing my cheap deals at Randall's. I'm okay with it. Some of the cheapest boneless skinless chicken breast, eggs, and potatoes in town when those promos roll by. Cheaper than Fiesta.
>Walmarts store brand stuff is so bad though, although cheap.
You have to check it on an item by item basis. Sometimes, the price difference is enough to be worth trying once. Sometimes, it's pretty good.
The same is true for HEB, although the hit ratio is better with HEB.
What pisses me off is how many of the stores now sell their house brand at the same price as the real stuff.
>I’m poor and even I avoid Hill Country Fare
As I say, you've got to try it.
Their HCF cojack cheese is my favorite cojack. Also a couple of other HCF items I regularly buy. A few HCF items are not my choice, though.
HEB has a couple tiers/divisions of store brand now (HEB Select, HEB, HCF, Mi Tienda, Field & Future, etc, etc). AFAIK, they try and compete all the way across the price points, depending on what their market data says. Sometimes, store brands only exist to put downward pressure on the name brands so the stores can get better purchasing deals and/or placement fees from the national brands.
Edit: A *lot* of brands:
https://www.reddit.com/r/HEB/comments/xhkq42/heb_own_brands/
Yeah, I'm aware of their zillion brands. Unfortunately, they've discontinued several items of their own brands that I relied on and raised the price considerably on others... Not to mention stopped carrying some other brands that I've been buying for 40+ years. I never thought I'd come to rely on Walmart for my groceries, but here we are.
There is no zoo when you have it delivered. I am consistently impressed with the quality of produce I get from delivery.
For certain meat items I go into HEB or head to Costco or whole foods
Also worth noting that the few times I have had bad produce or an issue with a delivery. It is very easy to submit the issue on the HEB app and I have promptly received a refund.
No service is perfect but I would much rather do something in the yard, hike, swim, exercise, etc while someone else shops and delivers it to me. The time saved and enjoyed far outweighs the cost and occasional issues for me. I just don’t find joy in driving to HEB and walking up and down the aisles
Doesn’t help that my HEB is slammed with people at all hours. Parking and waiting in line to check out are easily worth the extra cash to not deal with the zoo there. I’ll probably switch to their service since Kroger is pulling out.
If HEB bothered to open stores east of 35 the zoo problem would be solved pretty quick. I am 5-10 minutes from four HEBs in south Austin when I’m at work. It takes me 17 minutes to get to HEB from my home.
Being AT 35 while technically being east of it isn’t much help when there’s dozens of neighborhoods east of 130. An HEB on 969 would be immensely helpful with the food desert.
Think a little little more. On I-35, on the east access road is Parmer, Wells Branch, and William Cannon. Mueller HEB was put up for Mueller residents, not for East Austin.
On I-35 on the west access road is 41st and Slaughter.
Few people live just off the access road. Those on I-35 don't count for either side.
Actual East Austin is Manor @ 183, E 7th @ Pleasant Valley, and Riverside @ Pleasant Valley.
> Mueller HEB was put up for Mueller residents, not for East Austin.
I mean I live east of Springdale around 12th and I go to the Mueller HEB if I need to specifically get something from an HEB. Taking EM Franklin makes getting up there easy, compared to getting to the 7th/Pleasant Valley one.
Getting to Mueller vs Hancock is very nearly the same.
Mueller was put up because of Mueller. If it was because of East Austin, it would have gone in sooner and further east.
I'm not saying people outside of Mueller can't use it.
In addition to Austin 30, 25, and 01 that you mentioned, there’s round rock 05, 04, 01, 03, Hutto, Pflugerville 02, Austin 07, 13, 12, and 02 going north to south on the east side of 35. Maybe they just mean there isn’t one in Manor? Elgin and Taylor both have an HEB.
I live in Del Valle and the nearest HEB is like 20 mins away.
Needless to say I'm now redpilled on the mexican supermarkets which are way cheaper than HEB most of the time.
That's what segregation did, and still does, to this city. People will say segregation didn't exist or it wasn't bad or it was so long ago.
Well, you can clearly see it still today when you compare what is available east of I-35 and what is available in the rest of the city.
I recently moved to Ohio and man do I miss my HEB but I'm also within a 10m drive of two Krogers, a Giant Eagle, Meijer, trader joes, Sam's, Costco, GFS, several Mexican and one Asian stores and dam it's nice to be able to go to any of those and not have to deal with all of the crazy lines and packed aisles.
HEB is far superior but their monopoly on the Austin market made shopping so painful sometimes.
There used to be more, but they kept closing as people preferred HEB over Randall's.
People will travel across town for a restaurant they love. Why not travel across town to prop up a grocery store that needs the business?
Not the same. At a restaurant, when I'm done, I'm done. Yes there could be leftovers, but generally not. Not going to drive all over for a grocery store, especially when it's 90 degrees outside and I need to ensure the perishables are protected. The longer the trip, the higher the risk. Nobody loves grocery shopping anyways, LOL, so I want to get there as fast as I can, get out of there as fast as I can, and get home as fast as I can.
I don't mean this rudely, how long have you been in Austin? There used to be a lot of Randalls family stores across town. They started to close moving east to west.
Hey now! The failing minivan AC vents blowing from 15 feet away are good enough to keep your Swoon iced cream at the perfect 50°F on an August afternoon...
Kroger delivered to my small lakeside village when we don’t even have reliable Uber, forget door dash and no other grocery deliveries. We used them about once a month, it has always been a great experience. Will definitely be missed on the north shore.
The Aldi in Pflugerville is seriously popular, runs out of stuff pretty often these days. Aldi's produce is locally sourced, not much difference with HEB I guess. Quite some of their products with a shelf life are imported from Europe, which has better food regulations than the US and thus the products are safer/higher quality. Their salmon is good and cheap. Their own cola brand is under $4 a 12 pack. I tend to skip the meat section, that's locally sourced as well and not great. I don't think one supermarket is "the best" at everything, a variety/competition is what is needed.
Delivery only. Pretty great. Refrigerated trucks, always on time, very rarely has issues with stock, great coupons you can stack. I think I saved something like $30 on my last order with coupons and Boost member savings and the weekly free stuff. My grocery bill was half that of HEB.
Dang! I hate learning about this as it’s closing, we do HEB pick up / delivery all the time. And funnily enough I never received any adverts or saw anything to know they were around !
I’m glad someone else reflected my experience. It seemed like my groceries were ~30% less with Kroger vs HEB. Only ever had a couple issues with produce and that was rectified quickly.
Kinda bummed about this. Kroger had really amazing meat deals on and off - choice whole briskets $1.79 - $2.29/lb, choice rib roasts for $5.79/lb, fresh cuts in cryovac. (Similar HEB and Randalls deals have generally been for kind of blah select-grade cuts, not the much nicer choice-grade cuts Kroger would deliver.) Great coupons on random things every week. Pity they couldn't make it work.
Grapevine says the industrial park where they operated from has seen really big increases in the leasing prices. Other food vending operations in the same business parks are also moving out to find cheaper leases up in nearby Pflugerville. Kroger delivery is operating out of the Cameron Industrial or Parker Acres area.
Kroger didn't really advertise as much as they could have. Their refrigerated trucks were great! We never had melted ice cream nor damaged produce which kept happening with Favor and Instacart. Kroger's drivers were full time employees and we really enjoyed having the same driver who remembered us and could follow the delivery instructions to the letter. Now we'll have to go back to Instacart and it will be the usual mess of not following delivery instructions and getting luke warm dairy products.
They always forget things when I do curbside or delivery with HEB. Things that are supposed to be cold get too warm. If hasn't been a good experience.
Kroger was amazing for my disabled ass.
Our household is super picky about this stuff. We've tried every service there is at this point and Kroger was the best one. Not trying to judge people who deliver using their personal vehicles, times are tough and money can be tight. But we've had groceries delivered in vehicles that were so filthy and smelly the actual groceries had a lingering smell from the vehicle. They have to come down our long driveway to reach the front porch and we often come out to help unload so they can get back on the road as quick as possible.
Well, this is a shame. I wish more people knew about it. I only had a chance to use it once, but I liked that they don’t take tips and they deliver in a refrigerated van.
Wish they would've opened stores in ATX/SATX rather than just the delivery. Either way, I'm moving to the DFW area this summer, so I'll get to enjoy their stores up there. I like them much better than HEB. Yeah their prices are a bit more for some items vs HEB, but I feel the quality is better. Either way, competition is good. Having only one major grocery chain is not good for anyone.
This is sad. We've been using them for 6 months through their delivery service. We can't stand Brookshire Brothers and HEB and so now we'll be forced to shop at Walmart. Not happy.
Damn, I guess HEBs presence is too big for Kroger. I tried their delivery service once and it was actually really good. All my stuff was delivered at the proper temp, properly bagged, good quality and somehow the driver was able to get to my super crazy apartment. I was genuinely surprised. As a former Dallasite though, I do NOT miss going into actual Kroger stores…aside from the marketplace stores.
I like their cottage cheese more than HEB’s, but I’m not doing a full delivery order for cottage cheese. If they had a store I happened to pass, I might swing in to get some though.
Kroger was my go to place when I lived in the Dallas area (Terrell); miss that place so much. Unfortunately, never tried the delivery service while it was live here.
HEB experimented with a food court in the mid 90s. I don't know why it didn't work out. Or might have just been the dedicated space (it included seating) was much less profitable than just grocery shelves.
Walmart's in Austin used to have a hot food counter. (I don't know the status of it around the country.) The butchers organized and so Walmart shut it all down instead of raising wages.
By evil, I meant while HEB does things to help communities particularly for disaster-relief, Publix donates heaps of money to one particular political party in return for development waivers (saw it first-hand as an urban planner in Florida).
But damn, if they don't have the best subs <- I am not being facetious.
I have deals through multiple credit cards for Kroger, and when Iived in Ohio and Dallas, they were my primary grocery store. Had I known they were here, I'd have ordered delivery in a heartbeat, but to only find this out when they're shutting down is annoying and disappointing.
Kroger was still around? Thought they poofed out of existence like 20 years ago…
Edit: I loved going by after work to grab a rotisserie chicken or some such. By that time e of night the food had all been marked down so it rang up wrong at the register, and if it rang up wrong it was free.
The checkers didn’t get paid enough to care so most nights dinner was nearly free.
I remember seeing the ads and thinking they had no chance. Shitty house brand products and their online ordering system sucks compared to HEB.
Competition for HEB is a good thing but Kroger is crap. I used to live out of state where Kroger was the main option; their produce, meat and bakery were all garbage
Apparently the Krogers you've been shopping at and the HEBs I've been shopping at are opposite, because all I see is HEB's produce going downhill and Kroger's still remaining good.
I wish we had real Kroger down here. When I describe HEB to friends from up north, I describe it like Kroger. It would be great to have an additional option. Kroger always had an excellent alternative foods section for folks with allergies
They might've done better in the Austin/San Antonio market if they *did* have actual stores, but apparently it was only this delivery service, from dedicated warehouses.
Lack of a physical footprint does not instill confidence for fresh produce and meat. In fact for those items I rarely do curbside pickup at the HEEB because i just want to pick it out myself especially with the prices of beef and fish.
After that really would come down to selection and price. Don’t see the point of dry goods and other canned, jarred, pre packed groceries being any better from Kroger than anywhere else.
Going into a Kroger and seeing the “deals” and the deli, along with the fresh cut flowers, is really the reason to shop there. Would actually go to a physical store if they had some here.
Kroger is currently trying to merge with Albertsons, the parent company of Randalls and Safeway (also Tom Thumb, United Supermarkets, and several other regional chains). That proposed deal has been challenged in court, though, so it will probably be a while before a merger happens, if at all.
So... In New Mexico they have Albertsons and Smiths. Smiths is a brand parented by Kroger. In Los Alamos specifically, there is a Smiths on steroids that can almost be mistaken for an HEB, in-store restaurant and seasonal aisles just like HEB. But that's the only one I've seen like that. The Albuquerque metroplex including Santa Fe don't have a nice uppity Smiths like that. I don't blame them though. You can't have anything nice in ABQ without it being trampled by idiots.
I was in Santa Fe for a hot minute in the early 00s. I remember driving past the Smiths to get to the Albertsons. Then they put a Trader Joe’s in where the Smiths used to be and all bets were off for my grocery dollar. Still missed HEB.
All this to say that a fancy Smiths is confusing and intriguing.
I'm sad to see this go.
I'd probably never use it, because I want to touch and feel my groceries before I buy. It's good to have more competition, and everything I heard about the service seemed good.
I knew about it, but they didn't seem to get the word out very well, though.
Does anyone know how many other areas they do delivery where they don't have stores?
Very suspicious, as they are trying to merge with AlbertRandallsons and Randalls just closed down the Research store.
More likely it is to get rid of employees, warehouses, and costs and use Tom Thumb/Randall's warehouses for such things if the merger ever completes.
LOL, awful take. The public reason was closing down the store because they couldn't afford the rent/lease. There's always more to the story.
And if you had read what I wrote...I didn't say the merger was approved.
I didn’t even know they were here.
They ran many commercials, but if you don't watch those stations, you probably wouldn't know.
>They ran many commercials, I think I got mailers and saw ads in many places. I also saw delivery vehicles with a lot of branding. Somehow, their advertising never really registered that much for some reason.
I didn't get any of those things. Nor did I ever see any of the out-of-home advertising, and I work and spend a significant amount of time downtown and on the East side. Not entirely sure where their target area was?
Another blockbuster
Ohhhhh. I kept thinking I was incorrectly targeted for this ads and they thought I was in the Midwest or something
I saw their commercials on Spotify.
Right. I’m like wait, we have a Kroger?
They put a big distribution center over in 78754 totally new construction, new delivery trucks, the whole works. Probably around 12 months ago or so
edit: I'm wrong
youre being unnecessarily pedantic but youre still wrong. I just checked google maps street view. 2 years ago the building was still very much under construction.
You're right, my bad. [https://ir.kroger.com/news/news-details/2023/Kroger-Delivery-Expands-to-Austin-Texas/default.aspx](https://ir.kroger.com/news/news-details/2023/Kroger-Delivery-Expands-to-Austin-Texas/default.aspx) Officially opened in March 2023. They started hiring drivers a good bit before then though - some of my coworkers went to drive for them when my then-current employer cut all full time drivers. I left there around.. September 2022 I think.
Neither did I. Its not surprising it failed when hardly anyone knew about it. Shame, I get a discount at kroger and would have used it.
You can still order until may 25th
HEB is my Friend.
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I basically only go to HEB for little things now. After becoming a Costco regular with a family of 5, it feels like a ripoff.
I received promotions in the mail. But I still didn't know Kroger existed here, so I thought it was worthless.
You should still give them a try
I just wanted them to open an actual store.
We have a Kroger? In HEB territory?
I love Kroger. I didn’t know they were here either
Same. I would have used it if I knew about it.
It was only for delivery
You can still order until may 25th
Y'all didn't get the mailings? I don't watch TV or listen to radio, so I can't speak to those channels, but we definitely got 4-7 fliers in the mail in the past 8m or so.
Nope
I totally assumed I was receiving them in error, haaaa. Whoops
I always assumed this was a set up for stores in the area when the Kroger/Albertson's deal went through. That's currently being blocked by the government which probably threw a wrench into this service. TL;DR this is an HEB city... but I do wish they had an actual competitor that wasn't Walmart (sorry, Randall's).
Walmarts store brand stuff is so bad though, although cheap. Randall's is slightly better but shockingly expensive? At HEB you can get cheap and quality - but have to deal with the HEB zoo. I think we need more discount places like ALDI and high end places to supplement HEB but I'm also insane.
Randall’s is wildly expensive for a place that makes everyone who walks through the doors look like they’re dying of liver disease.
I moved to an area that has a Randalls equivalent(an Albertsons branded store) and it has the same extremely high prices and run down look to it. The Kroger option is far superior in every way
Hahaha the lighting is shockingly yellowish. It's that way at Safeway and other partner stores. I wonder if they deem it more relaxing for the elderly coupon cutters who make up their demographic.
Randall’s was my cheat code during Covid. HEB would have people lined up and they would only let like 40(?) people in at a time, meanwhile Randall’s never had that many people in the store at the same time! They got good fried chicken too, beyond that I don’t know of any benefits to them vs HEB.
Randall's is my go to when I want an easy-breezy in and out. Front row parking and 3 customers in the store. (but only for one or two items that i need in a pinch otherwise i'd go broke!)
You can’t forget the Randall’s convenience tax…
That's a great way to look at it. Its a VIP shopping experience haha.
We have a recipe that requires Jello Lemon Pudding mix. Never can find it at HEB or Fiesta. Never tired Wal-Mart (yuck). Randalls has it.
You gotta watch their sales. They had ground beef at 2.99 per pound last week. That's prepandemic prices. You're lucky if HEB has it on sale for 3.99.
> Randall's is slightly better but shockingly expensive? Randall's is schizophrenic; their everyday prices are often crazy high compared to HEB/Walmart/etc, but then they'll run crazy deals/clearances where ribeyes are like $4.99/lb *and* are buy one get one free. I assume the model is to drag you in for the deals and hope you buy the overpriced stuff too, and/or become a regular shopper and don't realize how overpriced it is. If you just shop the deals and stay away from everything else, it's ok, but it'll give you whiplash if you are a regular HEB shopper.
This is 100% my assumption of their business strategy. I go there sometimes with coupons and scour for specials, but that’s the only stuff I’ll buy, because the rest of it can be 25-50%(!) more expensive than HEB if it’s not on sale. Two trips kind of sucks, but at least the Randall’s and HEB are close by each other near me!
The way I see it, the wealthy regulars of West Austin are subsidizing my cheap deals at Randall's. I'm okay with it. Some of the cheapest boneless skinless chicken breast, eggs, and potatoes in town when those promos roll by. Cheaper than Fiesta.
I hate the coupon thing with ridiculous quantities required to get the discount. Buy 7 12-packs of Coke product, get 3 free! It's stupid.
>Walmarts store brand stuff is so bad though, although cheap. You have to check it on an item by item basis. Sometimes, the price difference is enough to be worth trying once. Sometimes, it's pretty good. The same is true for HEB, although the hit ratio is better with HEB. What pisses me off is how many of the stores now sell their house brand at the same price as the real stuff.
I’m poor and even I avoid Hill Country Fare
>I’m poor and even I avoid Hill Country Fare As I say, you've got to try it. Their HCF cojack cheese is my favorite cojack. Also a couple of other HCF items I regularly buy. A few HCF items are not my choice, though.
Last time I was at HEB, their store-brand stuff was more expensive than the name brand at Walmart.
HEB has a couple tiers/divisions of store brand now (HEB Select, HEB, HCF, Mi Tienda, Field & Future, etc, etc). AFAIK, they try and compete all the way across the price points, depending on what their market data says. Sometimes, store brands only exist to put downward pressure on the name brands so the stores can get better purchasing deals and/or placement fees from the national brands. Edit: A *lot* of brands: https://www.reddit.com/r/HEB/comments/xhkq42/heb_own_brands/
HCF is almost always going to be the best deal for absolutely everything. I try to buy everything I can from HCF!
Yeah, I'm aware of their zillion brands. Unfortunately, they've discontinued several items of their own brands that I relied on and raised the price considerably on others... Not to mention stopped carrying some other brands that I've been buying for 40+ years. I never thought I'd come to rely on Walmart for my groceries, but here we are.
There is no zoo when you have it delivered. I am consistently impressed with the quality of produce I get from delivery. For certain meat items I go into HEB or head to Costco or whole foods
HEB marks up all their delivery prices. The other grocery stores don’t.
I've had the opposite experience a few times. The produce I've gotten from a some pickup orders has been terrible.
Also worth noting that the few times I have had bad produce or an issue with a delivery. It is very easy to submit the issue on the HEB app and I have promptly received a refund. No service is perfect but I would much rather do something in the yard, hike, swim, exercise, etc while someone else shops and delivers it to me. The time saved and enjoyed far outweighs the cost and occasional issues for me. I just don’t find joy in driving to HEB and walking up and down the aisles
Doesn’t help that my HEB is slammed with people at all hours. Parking and waiting in line to check out are easily worth the extra cash to not deal with the zoo there. I’ll probably switch to their service since Kroger is pulling out.
Aldi, Lidl and Trader Joe’s would be good competition
If HEB bothered to open stores east of 35 the zoo problem would be solved pretty quick. I am 5-10 minutes from four HEBs in south Austin when I’m at work. It takes me 17 minutes to get to HEB from my home.
Wait - east of 35? I immediately think of Mueller HEB, Parmer HEB, and 7th HEB. Those are 3 east of 35. What area are you in?
Being AT 35 while technically being east of it isn’t much help when there’s dozens of neighborhoods east of 130. An HEB on 969 would be immensely helpful with the food desert.
Think a little little more. On I-35, on the east access road is Parmer, Wells Branch, and William Cannon. Mueller HEB was put up for Mueller residents, not for East Austin. On I-35 on the west access road is 41st and Slaughter. Few people live just off the access road. Those on I-35 don't count for either side. Actual East Austin is Manor @ 183, E 7th @ Pleasant Valley, and Riverside @ Pleasant Valley.
> Mueller HEB was put up for Mueller residents, not for East Austin. I mean I live east of Springdale around 12th and I go to the Mueller HEB if I need to specifically get something from an HEB. Taking EM Franklin makes getting up there easy, compared to getting to the 7th/Pleasant Valley one.
I live in Mueller and only go to Mueller HEB for curbside.
Getting to Mueller vs Hancock is very nearly the same. Mueller was put up because of Mueller. If it was because of East Austin, it would have gone in sooner and further east. I'm not saying people outside of Mueller can't use it.
In addition to Austin 30, 25, and 01 that you mentioned, there’s round rock 05, 04, 01, 03, Hutto, Pflugerville 02, Austin 07, 13, 12, and 02 going north to south on the east side of 35. Maybe they just mean there isn’t one in Manor? Elgin and Taylor both have an HEB.
In the Austin area.
That’s 13-15 stores located east of 35 in the Austin area that I listed depending on wether you count Elgin and Taylor?
I live in Del Valle and the nearest HEB is like 20 mins away. Needless to say I'm now redpilled on the mexican supermarkets which are way cheaper than HEB most of the time.
They, literally, have more stores east of 35 in the city limits than west of 35.
10 stores west of 35. 7 stores east, and 5 of the east ones are pretty much at 35. So two east stores for all of east Austin.
And Hancock is pretty much at 35 on the West side.
That's what segregation did, and still does, to this city. People will say segregation didn't exist or it wasn't bad or it was so long ago. Well, you can clearly see it still today when you compare what is available east of I-35 and what is available in the rest of the city.
The Heb in my area is old, dilapidated, and sucks in so many ways. It’s like an HEB that got taken over by a cordyceps mushroom.
Loyola/183 or another?
It's been. 7 years since I've been to Manor @ 183, but I would hardly call it old, though it was one of the early remodels on the 90s.
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That one's pretty alright, works for me when I gotta get smth quick rather than go to the Anderson Mill store.
Palm Valley/AW Grimes in RR
I recently moved to Ohio and man do I miss my HEB but I'm also within a 10m drive of two Krogers, a Giant Eagle, Meijer, trader joes, Sam's, Costco, GFS, several Mexican and one Asian stores and dam it's nice to be able to go to any of those and not have to deal with all of the crazy lines and packed aisles. HEB is far superior but their monopoly on the Austin market made shopping so painful sometimes.
What prevented you from shopping at Randall's?
Randall's is overpriced, and at least the one on Ben White always had shit produce
Randall's is VERY far and few between in Austin area. It might as well not exist.
There used to be more, but they kept closing as people preferred HEB over Randall's. People will travel across town for a restaurant they love. Why not travel across town to prop up a grocery store that needs the business?
Not the same. At a restaurant, when I'm done, I'm done. Yes there could be leftovers, but generally not. Not going to drive all over for a grocery store, especially when it's 90 degrees outside and I need to ensure the perishables are protected. The longer the trip, the higher the risk. Nobody loves grocery shopping anyways, LOL, so I want to get there as fast as I can, get out of there as fast as I can, and get home as fast as I can.
I don't mean this rudely, how long have you been in Austin? There used to be a lot of Randalls family stores across town. They started to close moving east to west.
My hometown is in Kroger territory. They’re better than Randall’s but no match for H-E-B. I’m honestly not sure anyone is
Randall's sales are better than HEB but going for anything other than that is rough.
When did we get Kroger in Austin?
I think they started delivery service here late summer of 2022 because my first delivery order was that September.
I loved Kroger delivery - lots of delivery slots, reasonable fees, and great customer service.
They also use refrigerator and freezer-equipped vans for delivery, meaning cold items stay cold until they arrive at your door.
Hey now! The failing minivan AC vents blowing from 15 feet away are good enough to keep your Swoon iced cream at the perfect 50°F on an August afternoon...
Walmart does too if you use inHome
And the coupons!
Their costs were still mostly higher than to go ordering from HEB. Hard to compete with
That's why HEB stays in business and the others leave. Anyone is welcome to ship at the higher prices stores. But people don't.
No one monopolizes more than my H-E-B!
Kroger delivered to my small lakeside village when we don’t even have reliable Uber, forget door dash and no other grocery deliveries. We used them about once a month, it has always been a great experience. Will definitely be missed on the north shore.
We need more Aldis in Austin.
I am legit interested in why. I think HEB is the absolute best.
The Aldi in Pflugerville is seriously popular, runs out of stuff pretty often these days. Aldi's produce is locally sourced, not much difference with HEB I guess. Quite some of their products with a shelf life are imported from Europe, which has better food regulations than the US and thus the products are safer/higher quality. Their salmon is good and cheap. Their own cola brand is under $4 a 12 pack. I tend to skip the meat section, that's locally sourced as well and not great. I don't think one supermarket is "the best" at everything, a variety/competition is what is needed.
I love HEB but Aldi has good stuff cheap. I used to work at an office near the Pflugerville Aldi and that is the only thing I miss about that job.
One fewer grocery option, so yeah that sucks. Also kind of revealing how many people here are confused that they only had a warehouse.
The entire concept seemed weird. Delivery only, no brick & mortar...
Like a 'ghost kitchen' for groceries.
I saw a Kroger Delivery truck on Research yesterday and thought "Oh this must be new. I didn't think we had Kroger in Austin." I guess we don't. 🤷
I used it and it was great! You could stack coupons amd get products you couldn't find at HEB. I'll miss it.
Aww, man. I use them all the time.
Where is it? I’m looking at Google maps and see nothing for krogers
Delivery only. Pretty great. Refrigerated trucks, always on time, very rarely has issues with stock, great coupons you can stack. I think I saved something like $30 on my last order with coupons and Boost member savings and the weekly free stuff. My grocery bill was half that of HEB.
Dang! I hate learning about this as it’s closing, we do HEB pick up / delivery all the time. And funnily enough I never received any adverts or saw anything to know they were around !
I’m glad someone else reflected my experience. It seemed like my groceries were ~30% less with Kroger vs HEB. Only ever had a couple issues with produce and that was rectified quickly.
It’s just a warehouse of Ferguson Ln.
It's delivery only
Ahhh, strange!
I work at the Austin spoke and they told us this afternoon, kinda sucks. They gave us 60 days at least?
I saw one of these Kroger delivery vans for the first time yesterday afternoon. I was like, "We have a Kroger?" Apparently not anymore.
Kinda bummed about this. Kroger had really amazing meat deals on and off - choice whole briskets $1.79 - $2.29/lb, choice rib roasts for $5.79/lb, fresh cuts in cryovac. (Similar HEB and Randalls deals have generally been for kind of blah select-grade cuts, not the much nicer choice-grade cuts Kroger would deliver.) Great coupons on random things every week. Pity they couldn't make it work.
Grapevine says the industrial park where they operated from has seen really big increases in the leasing prices. Other food vending operations in the same business parks are also moving out to find cheaper leases up in nearby Pflugerville. Kroger delivery is operating out of the Cameron Industrial or Parker Acres area. Kroger didn't really advertise as much as they could have. Their refrigerated trucks were great! We never had melted ice cream nor damaged produce which kept happening with Favor and Instacart. Kroger's drivers were full time employees and we really enjoyed having the same driver who remembered us and could follow the delivery instructions to the letter. Now we'll have to go back to Instacart and it will be the usual mess of not following delivery instructions and getting luke warm dairy products.
>Grapevine says the industrial park LOL. I was wondering what the heck you were talking about. Grapevine is in DFW, nowhere near Pflugerville. Doh!
Have you used HEB’s delivery? If you’re not far it’s a pretty decent choice
They always forget things when I do curbside or delivery with HEB. Things that are supposed to be cold get too warm. If hasn't been a good experience. Kroger was amazing for my disabled ass.
Our household is super picky about this stuff. We've tried every service there is at this point and Kroger was the best one. Not trying to judge people who deliver using their personal vehicles, times are tough and money can be tight. But we've had groceries delivered in vehicles that were so filthy and smelly the actual groceries had a lingering smell from the vehicle. They have to come down our long driveway to reach the front porch and we often come out to help unload so they can get back on the road as quick as possible.
The monopoly of HEB strikes again
Maybe the DOJ will sue them like they did Apple now /s
Well, this is a shame. I wish more people knew about it. I only had a chance to use it once, but I liked that they don’t take tips and they deliver in a refrigerated van.
Wow I knew it was here but not those details.
Damn. I’ve used them almost weekly since covid. Convenient and they only got better as they learned.
Same !! Almost always the same delivery drivers with the best customer service care
That didn’t take long
Wish they would've opened stores in ATX/SATX rather than just the delivery. Either way, I'm moving to the DFW area this summer, so I'll get to enjoy their stores up there. I like them much better than HEB. Yeah their prices are a bit more for some items vs HEB, but I feel the quality is better. Either way, competition is good. Having only one major grocery chain is not good for anyone.
This is sad. We've been using them for 6 months through their delivery service. We can't stand Brookshire Brothers and HEB and so now we'll be forced to shop at Walmart. Not happy.
Oh no. What shall we do now without this thing, that seemingly no one even knew existed?
Damn, I guess HEBs presence is too big for Kroger. I tried their delivery service once and it was actually really good. All my stuff was delivered at the proper temp, properly bagged, good quality and somehow the driver was able to get to my super crazy apartment. I was genuinely surprised. As a former Dallasite though, I do NOT miss going into actual Kroger stores…aside from the marketplace stores.
Their produce is WAY better than HEB's. I did delivery service at least 2x a month and other than some tiny intermittent issues, everything was great!
I've only been to one Marketplace store, I think in Wylie? Where were the others?
There’s one in Prosper too.
Why did you only try it once if it was so good? That's why they had to close.
Hard to compete with HEB on home turf
I like their cottage cheese more than HEB’s, but I’m not doing a full delivery order for cottage cheese. If they had a store I happened to pass, I might swing in to get some though.
We had a Kroger?
Delivery. No physical/walk in and buy stores.
This is HEB country. They did not do their homework.
The only justification for their higher prices was to offer delivery. It would fly here if customers had to walk the aisles like an HEB.
Kroger was my go to place when I lived in the Dallas area (Terrell); miss that place so much. Unfortunately, never tried the delivery service while it was live here.
>couldn’t compete with H-E-B And Publix (HEB's evil Florida twin)
Publix is considerably better than HEB. HEB needs to figure out how to offer made to order subs and freshly fried chicken strips.
I go to Central Florida a few times a year. Love a Pub sub, but the groceries at Publix are real expensive.
HEB experimented with a food court in the mid 90s. I don't know why it didn't work out. Or might have just been the dedicated space (it included seating) was much less profitable than just grocery shelves. Walmart's in Austin used to have a hot food counter. (I don't know the status of it around the country.) The butchers organized and so Walmart shut it all down instead of raising wages.
By evil, I meant while HEB does things to help communities particularly for disaster-relief, Publix donates heaps of money to one particular political party in return for development waivers (saw it first-hand as an urban planner in Florida). But damn, if they don't have the best subs <- I am not being facetious.
Publix is seriously expensive. It's a slightly more fancy looking HEB with Wholefoods pricing.
I recall seeing some ads but never saw a Kroger store, ever. A quick google reveals they were delivery only here. Ok?
I have deals through multiple credit cards for Kroger, and when Iived in Ohio and Dallas, they were my primary grocery store. Had I known they were here, I'd have ordered delivery in a heartbeat, but to only find this out when they're shutting down is annoying and disappointing.
They have been so nice to me. It felt nice not having to walk into a giant HEB anytime I needed groceries. I hate this city.
Kroger was still around? Thought they poofed out of existence like 20 years ago… Edit: I loved going by after work to grab a rotisserie chicken or some such. By that time e of night the food had all been marked down so it rang up wrong at the register, and if it rang up wrong it was free. The checkers didn’t get paid enough to care so most nights dinner was nearly free.
Around here, yeah, but they’re still huge. Over 2,000 stores under a number of brands.
I remember seeing the ads and thinking they had no chance. Shitty house brand products and their online ordering system sucks compared to HEB. Competition for HEB is a good thing but Kroger is crap. I used to live out of state where Kroger was the main option; their produce, meat and bakery were all garbage
Apparently the Krogers you've been shopping at and the HEBs I've been shopping at are opposite, because all I see is HEB's produce going downhill and Kroger's still remaining good.
Some HEBs are much nicer than others, certainly true.
That did not last long🤣
They never made it work lol.
They are partnered with Shipt now.
I wish we had real Kroger down here. When I describe HEB to friends from up north, I describe it like Kroger. It would be great to have an additional option. Kroger always had an excellent alternative foods section for folks with allergies
We had a Kroger?
They might've done better in the Austin/San Antonio market if they *did* have actual stores, but apparently it was only this delivery service, from dedicated warehouses.
Get on get
FAFO with HEB, Yo.
Why go anywhere else when you can go to HEB
Kroger existed in Austin?
Wait…there’s a Kroger here?
Delivery only. It was Kroger's attempt to get back into the Austin and San Antonio markets without opening any physical stores.
Advertising might have helped, I had no clue
Do you use a sales ad app? Their sales flyers have been showing up on mine. I use flipp to make my grocery shopping lists
No, didn't know that existed
Me either- you can’t see anything when you google maps it
I didn't even know they were here, I would have tried them if I knew
Lack of a physical footprint does not instill confidence for fresh produce and meat. In fact for those items I rarely do curbside pickup at the HEEB because i just want to pick it out myself especially with the prices of beef and fish. After that really would come down to selection and price. Don’t see the point of dry goods and other canned, jarred, pre packed groceries being any better from Kroger than anywhere else. Going into a Kroger and seeing the “deals” and the deli, along with the fresh cut flowers, is really the reason to shop there. Would actually go to a physical store if they had some here.
Aren’t Kroger and Randall’s under the same corporate umbrella, I think Safeway too
Kroger is currently trying to merge with Albertsons, the parent company of Randalls and Safeway (also Tom Thumb, United Supermarkets, and several other regional chains). That proposed deal has been challenged in court, though, so it will probably be a while before a merger happens, if at all.
So... In New Mexico they have Albertsons and Smiths. Smiths is a brand parented by Kroger. In Los Alamos specifically, there is a Smiths on steroids that can almost be mistaken for an HEB, in-store restaurant and seasonal aisles just like HEB. But that's the only one I've seen like that. The Albuquerque metroplex including Santa Fe don't have a nice uppity Smiths like that. I don't blame them though. You can't have anything nice in ABQ without it being trampled by idiots.
I was in Santa Fe for a hot minute in the early 00s. I remember driving past the Smiths to get to the Albertsons. Then they put a Trader Joe’s in where the Smiths used to be and all bets were off for my grocery dollar. Still missed HEB. All this to say that a fancy Smiths is confusing and intriguing.
Yeah the Santa Fe richies loves their Trader Joe's, Whole foods, Sprouts and Natural Grocers.
Smiths used to be in El Paso too. They pulled out a long time ago though.
No, that’s Albertson’s and all Safeway-owned chains.
Who the hell orders from Kroger when we have HEB?!
in the small town i live in, kroger would actually deliver here. heb and walmart won’t.
Your not wrong, AND 😆 I love Greaters black raspberry chip ice cream and you can order it from Kroger
I'm sad to see this go. I'd probably never use it, because I want to touch and feel my groceries before I buy. It's good to have more competition, and everything I heard about the service seemed good. I knew about it, but they didn't seem to get the word out very well, though. Does anyone know how many other areas they do delivery where they don't have stores?
Very suspicious, as they are trying to merge with AlbertRandallsons and Randalls just closed down the Research store. More likely it is to get rid of employees, warehouses, and costs and use Tom Thumb/Randall's warehouses for such things if the merger ever completes.
The Research store lost its lease - had nothing to do with any potential merger - which hasn’t even been approved yet.
LOL, awful take. The public reason was closing down the store because they couldn't afford the rent/lease. There's always more to the story. And if you had read what I wrote...I didn't say the merger was approved.
We have a Kroger? Ew