Dive Brief:

• Supermarkets in Texas continue to impose limits on certain products, restrict the assortment of products on their shelves and curtail operating hours as the state works to recover from severe winter weather that knocked out electricity across much of the state.
• H-E-B is running some of its stores only between 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and one of its stores in Austin is closed, the grocer reported Friday morning. Meanwhile, a number of Walmart locations in Texas remain closed, and some Brookshire Brothers stores opened at 10 a.m. instead of their normal opening times.
• ​Grocers in Texas are struggling to maintain operations amid historic weather conditions that brought the state’s power grid to its knees and reportedly came close to causing blackouts that could have lasted for months.

Dive Insight:

Even as the brutal cold and snow that has gripped Texas for the past week is poised to give way to much warmer temperatures, many of the state’s grocery stores remain in emergency mode.

Much as it had to do when the pandemic spawned a rush on grocery stores last year, H-E-B is scrambling to keep its shelves stocked in response to the weather. The company warned that product selections will be limited “for a few days,” and said it is working to get more supplies to its locations. H-E-B also called on shoppers to bring their own bags when they shop because supplies in some stores are running low.

H-E-B also said it has stopped curbside pickup and home delivery services “because we are not able to fulfill orders the way customers would expect us to.” The company said it would resume those e-commerce services “as soon as possible.”

Walmart posted a map on its website that shows store closures in real time. As of noon EST Friday, 116 of the chain’s stores were listed as closed, many of them in the Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin, Texas, areas.

Brookshire Brother cautioned that even as store hours return to normal, some services might not be available. “We will continue to monitor the forecasts and try to get all of our locations open as soon as it is safely possible. Stay safe and stay warm as we walk through this together,” the grocer said on its website.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees about 90 percent of the state’s electricity supply, said Friday morning that it was ready to return to normal operating conditions after taking emergency measures to conserve energy during the past few days.

Unlike other states, Texas handles its electricity distribution system independently. Richard Glick, chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, on Thursday called on Congress and Texas to rethink that arrangement, Utility Dive reported.