H-E-B is finally bringing its main banner to the Dallas-Fort Worth area

Dive Brief:

H-E-B plans to open stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area under its flagship banner after years of serving the market through its Central Market brand.
The grocer will open stores in Frisco and Plano, located north of the city, in fall 2022, according to an announcement issued Friday. Construction is scheduled to begin this summer.
With this move, H-E-B makes good on a longtime promise and adds a new competitive dynamic in one of the country’s fastest-growth metropolitan areas.

Dive Insight:

H-E-B has built more than 300 stores in Texas during its 116 years in business, but its flagship brand stores have — until now — managed to skirt one of the state’s largest metropolitan areas.

The grocer hasn’t ignored the Dallas-Fort Worth area altogether. It opened its first Central Market store there in 2001 and has since built five other locations. The stores are popular, but serve a more affluent consumer base than its H-E-B brand stores. A Dallas location opened in 2018 with 2,500 wine labels and an 80-foot seafood case.

H-E-B has said for years that it would eventually open legacy stores in the market, and now, with population growth continuing to surge and the grocer enjoying an influx of pandemic-fueled profits and customer goodwill, it’s finally making good on that promise. The company didn’t offer any details on what would be inside the stores, which will be located at the northeast corner of Legacy Drive and Main Street in Frisco and at the southwest corner of Preston Road and Spring Creek Parkway in Plano, saying it will reveal more this summer around the time construction begins.

H-E-B has a reputation for providing products and services laser-targeted to local shoppers. It has also won plaudits from customers and local media for its customer service and supply chain response to the pandemic. That should turn up the heat on other grocers in the area, including Walmart, Albertsons and Kroger.

Shoppers on social media weighed in on the announcement, with some expressing delight while others said they couldn’t believe H-E-B hadn’t yet opened a store in the Metroplex. Texas Monthly summed up the response in a Friday headline: "H-E-B is coming to DFW, and people are like OMG." Others, meanwhile, expressed disappointment that the grocer isn’t planting stores closer to the city or in underserved south Dallas neighborhoods.