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What happened to Randalls?

12,275 Views | 125 Replies | Last: 1 mo ago by cj774
TheWoodlandsTxAg
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It seems like many of the Randalls in the Houston area have shut down.

Did a much larger presence from Costco, HEB, and Whole Foods over the last 2 decades in the Houston area lead to their decline?

I see just 10 Randalls in Houston, 1 in Pearland, 1 in Galveston, 1 in Katy, 1 in Pecan Grove, and 1 in League City is all that is left in the Houston area.
Al Bula
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TheWoodlandsTxAg said:

Did a much larger presence from Costco, HEB, and Whole Foods over the last 2 decades in the Houston area lead to their decline?
.
how much do you get paid per word to answer your own questions?
FarmerJohn
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Prices of Whole Foods and quality of Kroger.
Diggity
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FarmerJohn said:

Prices of Safeway and quality of Safeway


FIFY
TheWoodlandsTxAg
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FarmerJohn said:

Prices of Whole Foods and quality of Kroger.
Yes. Whole Foods has become more competitive in regards to price because of the acquisition by Amazon.

Almost everyone has Prime. So you can use Prime to get Prime sales in store to save money.

Sad about Randalls though. Had so many good memories there.
TXAG 05
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I preferred Randall's to Kroger, but once we started getting real HEBs in town, their days were numbered. Kroger too. Don't know why anyone would shop at those dumps.
Milwaukees Best Light
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The old people who actually shopped in Randalls all died.
TX04Aggie
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The HEB's by me are on crack 24/7 and the parking garages are full and it is a cluster with road construction too. I like HEB, but not worth the hassle most times, so Kroger it is for a quick in and out. I never got the Randalls hate. I never found it that much more expensive than Kroger with the card and their deli/prepared things are actually very good.
84AGEC
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When Safeway bought them they declined. When Albertsons bought Safeway they declined even more.

Sea Speed
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When we lived by the Randall's in league city they were constantly giving away free stuff to get us to shop there, which usually worked.

Now we live by a Kroger and they are constantly giving us free stuff to shop there, which generally works.

The Randall's was pretty garbage but I couldn't turn down the constant barrage of free and hyper discounted food so we kept going there. I'm really hoping Kroger isn't going down the same path because the free stuff sure seems like a somewhat recent phenomenon and a last desperate hope to retain customers.

We don't go to heb because it is always a complete madhouse. We do however use Walmart delivery pretty frequently because it's free with our Amex. Probably cut back about 50% on Kroger simply for the convenience of delivery.
cajunaggie08
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My Father-in-law worked for Randalls/Safeway for many years until Albertsons bought/merged with Safeway. Essentially Safeway did jack squat with the Texas market. They assumed the market share that Randalls and Tom Thumb had in Houston, Dallas, and Austin was a permanent fixture. HEB and Kroger were building newer and better stores in the areas Houston was growing while Safeway management was content keeping their stores in what were aging parts of town. Then once Albertsons took over Safeway operations, I assume Albertsons remembers their expensive failed attempt to enter the Houston market in the late 90s/early 2000s and just decided it wasnt worth throwing more money at it.
84AGEC
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And I'll add. United market street stores in Amarillo and Lubbock were great stores until Albertsons bought United out.
sts7049
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HEB > everyone else
YellAg2004
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We'll run into Randalls when we just need one or two items in a hurry and don't want to drive to and deal with the HEB crowd. However, they are more expensive on pretty much everything. As the Memorial blue hairs continue to die out, I expect the two stores on Memorial will eventually close.
jetch17
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i havent been to a Randalls since I was a kid and they used to hand out free cookies at the bakery counter
RustyBV
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On that note, we need a new HEB in 77079, it's crazy there is not one...wish HEB wasn't so picky on sites and would just pick one ha.
jamesf
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The Randalls near me was closed and rebranded as a different Albertsons-owned store (El Rancho).
Tswizsle
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Westbury randalls is nice but seems like only local black people shop there
cajunaggie08
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RustyBV said:

On that note, we need a new HEB in 77079, it's crazy there is not one...wish HEB wasn't so picky on sites and would just pick one ha.
They're probably waiting for Randalls to finally pull the plug on the Dairy Ashford location. While an HEB would become the lead option, they prefer to build their stores so they need to find a place with a large enough parking lot to handle the traffic. I don't see them sinking that kind of expense into an area that already has 2 major grocery stores less than 1/2 mile from each other with an HEB already existing just 3 miles south of there.
hijakeroo123
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As others have mentioned, Randalls and Tom Thumb were purchased by Safeway in the early 2000's, which almost immediately stripped out many of the upscale/prepared foods which originally set the chains apart. Safeway was banking on brand reputation alone, while essentially forcing their west coast store model on Texas. Meanwhile, HEB was in the early stages of upgrading their first-gen Pantry stores to full line HEB locations, and they were able to take the crown for "local" grocer from the watered down Randalls. This all happened amazingly quickly, as Safeway went through a massive round of store closures in both Houston and DFW in 2005 (I believe 26 stores in total). Under Safeway management, Randalls was at least able to maintain an upscale-feeling shopping environment in most of their remaining stores (mostly due to Safeway's Lifestyle store program), but overall the Randalls/Tom Thumb banners were badly mismanaged.

Then, when Safeway was acquired by Albertsons in the mid 2010's, they stripped out even more store features and replaced the soft mood lighting with dollar store bare fluorescent fixtures, taking away the little brand distinction that Randalls still had. Meanwhile, HEB and Kroger have both continued their respective market buildouts, growing into newer suburbs while leaving Randalls' footprint mostly concentrated in established upscale areas of Houston where there is little open real estate for competition.

Now, up the road in DFW, the same trend is starting to take hold in DFW, with HEB quickly expanding within the market while many longtime Tom Thumb/Albertsons locations stagnate. It will be interesting to see what Albertsons' long term plans for the market are if the proposed merger with Kroger fails (which is highly likely). Tom Thumb does continue to grow and open new stores in DFW, so maybe they are doing better than expected?
Diggity
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Randall's and Kroger tend to have much better meat specials (depending on the week), so if i'm going to buy a crap ton of meat to smoke, I'm usually looking there first. HEB has good meat, but they rarely seem to have sales on it anymore.

As someone else mentioned, we usually have our weekly staples delivered for free from Walmart and use HEB to supplement some of the stuff that Walmart doesn't do as well.

If you play the special/coupon game both Kroger and Randall's are going to end up cheaper than HEB.

I love HEB, but it's crazy what they charge for certain things now. I think they realize they now own the market so not as worried about competing on price.
Diggity
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good summary
cajunaggie08
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Diggity said:

Randall's and Kroger tend to have much better meat specials (depending on the week), so if i'm going to buy a crap ton of meat to smoke, I'm usually looking there first. HEB has good meat, but they rarely seem to have sales on it anymore.

As someone else mentioned, we usually have our weekly staples delivered for free from Walmart and use HEB to supplement some of the stuff that Walmart doesn't do as well.

If you play the special/coupon game both Kroger and Randall's are going to end up cheaper than HEB.

I love HEB, but it's crazy what they charge for certain things now. I think they realize they now own the market so not as worried about competing on price.
Not only does HEB realize they own the market, they have the market trained to buy HEB generic items. The Hill Country Fare stuff is usually still very low cost, but the HEB branded items are just slightly below name brand which makes the name brand stuff cost more than what you would find at Kroger. Now, the HEB brand stuff is pretty good but its getting harder to do an apples to apples comparison with Kroger.
YellAg2004
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cajunaggie08 said:

RustyBV said:

On that note, we need a new HEB in 77079, it's crazy there is not one...wish HEB wasn't so picky on sites and would just pick one ha.
They're probably waiting for Randalls to finally pull the plug on the Dairy Ashford location. While an HEB would become the lead option, they prefer to build their stores so they need to find a place with a large enough parking lot to handle the traffic. I don't see them sinking that kind of expense into an area that already has 2 major grocery stores less than 1/2 mile from each other with an HEB already existing just 3 miles south of there.
If I remember correctly, HEB had a (small) location at the NE corner of Dairy Ashford & Memorial, but they closed it a few years ago. I think they use it now as somewhat of a warehouse to help fill curbside orders for non-perishable goods that then go to the specific stores for the rest of the order to be filled. There are always a bunch of HEB box trucks there.
Diggity
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correct. That was one of the original HEB Pantry Foods locations.
YellAg2004
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cajunaggie08 said:

Diggity said:

Randall's and Kroger tend to have much better meat specials (depending on the week), so if i'm going to buy a crap ton of meat to smoke, I'm usually looking there first. HEB has good meat, but they rarely seem to have sales on it anymore.

As someone else mentioned, we usually have our weekly staples delivered for free from Walmart and use HEB to supplement some of the stuff that Walmart doesn't do as well.

If you play the special/coupon game both Kroger and Randall's are going to end up cheaper than HEB.

I love HEB, but it's crazy what they charge for certain things now. I think they realize they now own the market so not as worried about competing on price.
Not only does HEB realize they own the market, they have the market trained to buy HEB generic items. The Hill Country Fare stuff is usually still very low cost, but the HEB branded items are just slightly below name brand which makes the name brand stuff cost more than what you would find at Kroger. Now, the HEB brand stuff is pretty good but its getting harder to do an apples to apples comparison with Kroger.
This is one area that has been a source of growing frustration. It seems like sometime in the past 1-2 years, HEB has shifted from providing name brand alongside the HEB/HCF brand options. Now we have come across several items where the name brand is gone and you only have the HEB/HCF option. There are some items that we have no issue buying the "value" brand on, but there are some items where we want the name brand and it isn't available anymore at HEB.
Diggity
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it's a brilliant marketing scheme. Build up your white label brand to where you can get nearly the same sales price as the branded item, give it better shelf space, and don't discount the branded items as much. Your margins will go through the roof.

I'm guessing the major brands don't love it, but what choice do they have? HEB is so dominant in Texas that you play their games and are happy for any shelf space.
EclipseAg
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I worked at a Rice Food Market back in high school/first couple of years of college.

Traditional old-school store. No floral, no drugstore, no film developing (that's how long ago it was), etc. Small strip center footprint.

A few years into my tenure, Kroger built a gigantic superstore a couple of miles from us. They had their grand opening on a Saturday I was working.

We had like three customers that day. It absolutely killed the store.

All that to say, it's a highly competitive business and people have little brand loyalty.

After our store was shut down, it became a bingo parlor. Now it's an event center, I believe.

Diggity
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The HEB Pantry in Meyerland was a Rice Food Market.

Sadly it now sits empty.
Captain Winky
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Randall's is ok to pop in for a few items and their mango habanero grilled chicken is pretty legit. Although, despite how busy they are there is always only one checkout person working.

Krogers are usually gross and feel unsafe. Baskets and trash all over the parking lot and I don't care what kind of sale they have, their meat is garbage.
Ferris Wheel Allstar
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hijakeroo123 said:

As others have mentioned, Randalls and Tom Thumb were purchased by Safeway in the early 2000's, which almost immediately stripped out many of the upscale/prepared foods which originally set the chains apart. Safeway was banking on brand reputation alone, while essentially forcing their west coast store model on Texas. Meanwhile, HEB was in the early stages of upgrading their first-gen Pantry stores to full line HEB locations, and they were able to take the crown for "local" grocer from the watered down Randalls. This all happened amazingly quickly, as Safeway went through a massive round of store closures in both Houston and DFW in 2005 (I believe 26 stores in total). Under Safeway management, Randalls was at least able to maintain an upscale-feeling shopping environment in most of their remaining stores (mostly due to Safeway's Lifestyle store program), but overall the Randalls/Tom Thumb banners were badly mismanaged.

Then, when Safeway was acquired by Albertsons in the mid 2010's, they stripped out even more store features and replaced the soft mood lighting with dollar store bare fluorescent fixtures, taking away the little brand distinction that Randalls still had. Meanwhile, HEB and Kroger have both continued their respective market buildouts, growing into newer suburbs while leaving Randalls' footprint mostly concentrated in established upscale areas of Houston where there is little open real estate for competition.

Now, up the road in DFW, the same trend is starting to take hold in DFW, with HEB quickly expanding within the market while many longtime Tom Thumb/Albertsons locations stagnate. It will be interesting to see what Albertsons' long term plans for the market are if the proposed merger with Kroger fails (which is highly likely). Tom Thumb does continue to grow and open new stores in DFW, so maybe they are doing better than expected?
Reads like someone related to the family who sold Randalls in early 2000s.......
Diggity
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My first job in high school was at the Randall's Flagship in Katy. That store was the **** back in the day.

Drove by there not long ago and was surprised at how nasty Mason had gotten. Guess Cinco gets all the nice stores now.
Marauder Blue 6
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Randall's on San Felipe sells some bomb-ass fried chicken, 4 pieces for $5 or somesuch. When I want a cheap lunch, it's where I go.
Jugstore Cowboy
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Diggity said:

The HEB Pantry in Meyerland was a Rice Food Market.

Sadly it now sits empty.
The Walmart grocery on Hillcroft was Rice way back, I guess after they left the Braeswood location.

I liked the pantry; I don't have the patience for the new megalopolis HEB's unless I'm ordering delivery.
sts7049
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my first job was at Gerland's in cypress. later on i worked at Albertsons (on Fallbrook i think?) and it was amazing how much nicer a store it was
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