Best Grocery Store: H-E-B
The late, great John Nova Lomax once wrote an impossibly entertaining piece about Houston-area grocery stores and predicted H-E-B would soon run its competitors out of town. That hasn’t happened but the San Antonio-based grocer is clearly the city’s favorite. Don’t take our word for it. A simple Google search will show that H-E-B and its diverse offshoots (Central Market, Mi Tienda, Joe V’s Smart Shop) have the largest market share in Houston, nearly 25 percent of the grocery business here.
Their acronym has frequently been read as “Here Everything’s Better,” but it really should be “Here Everything’s Business.” The reason H-E-B rules Houston has everything to do with its corporate leadership and their partners-first business model. Sure, H-E-B has fair prices and yeah, we all love their “own brand” products and their proudly-Texas theme. In times of crisis (every few weeks weather-wise in H-town) they step up for their communities.
But at the top of the blueprint is treating its associates with respect and supplanting expectations and employee guidelines with hopes and dreams for the people who work in their locations. H-E-B is a huge and growing company and has ample room within its ranks to bring even the newest “partner” (their vernacular for their employees) up the ladder. All those good vibes turn into the thing shoppers call “customer service” and H-E-B does that better than anyone else in town.
Multiple locations
heb.com
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
