As retailers like Kroger, H-E-B, and Costco build up their brick-and-mortar footprint to meet pent up demand from population growth, they\u2019re strategizing on how to attract and retain new customers. <\/p>\n
\u201cDevelopment jumped,\u201d said Bob Young, who helped develop the new Kroger and other Texas grocery stores for the real estate firm Weitzman. \u201cCan it be competitive? Yes.\u201d<\/p>\n
That competition has taken on a unique Texas flavor. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a strong competitive set here in DFW: Walmart, H-E-B, the Albertsons group has Tom Thumb,\u201d said Rudy DiPietro, president of Kroger Texas. \u201c(It\u2019s) maybe the most competitive grocery retail dynamic in the country.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said Kroger is running a new Texas playbook, which includes a restructure and leans into state pride, authenticity and local store customization.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey (Texans) are proud of the brands. They want to support the brands locally here, the flavors that they desire are different,\u201d he said. \u201cIn that restructure process \u2026 we put people experts behind local, we put experts behind multicultural.\u201d <\/p>\n
At the new Fort Worth Kroger, Texas is represented throughout the store. Signage features the shape of Texas and local brands and producers. <\/p>\n
Young said it\u2019s not a coincidence that the vibe feels reflective of one of Kroger\u2019s biggest competitors: Texas\u2019s own grocery chain H-E-B. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe identity of H-E-B is preeminent in the grocery space,\u201d Young said. <\/p>\n
![\"hebbags\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/e987bc-20260309-hebbags-600.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Bluebonnet themed reusable grocery bags are one example of the large number of specialty merchandise Texas grocer H-E-B sells to tap into state pride. <\/p>\n
Elizabeth Trovall\/Marketplace<\/p>\n
Grocers aspire to be like H-E-B because its following in Texas is cult-like. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey have people camping out at night to go into their store<\/a>,\u201d he said. \u201cTalk about customer loyalty!\u201d <\/p>\n One French TikTok creator recently compared H-E-B to a mega-church, emphasizing the Texas iconography in its stores. <\/p>\n \u201cThe branding\u2026 my God, everything in that store is shaped like Texas,\u201d he said in the viral video. \u201cThey even have Texas-shaped pasta<\/a>, because apparently, your digestive system won’t recognize a carbohydrate unless it looks like a map of the panhandle.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n H-E-B declined to be interviewed for this story, but the store is also expanding its North Texas footprint<\/a>. And directly across the street from the shiny new Kroger, H-E-B owns a vacant lot<\/a>. <\/p>\n One day H-E-B will likely compete directly with the new north Fort Worth Kroger for customers. <\/p>\n If that happens, Fort Worth Kroger shopper Brandon Millard said he would likely shop at H-E-B over the new Kroger. <\/p>\n \u201cThey have a lot more selection and I like how they make a lot of their stuff in store,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s really nice,\u201d Millard said. <\/p>\n But Bob Young wouldn\u2019t count out Kroger either, despite all of H-E-B\u2019s Texas devotees.<\/p>\n \u201cSome competitors die off and some competitors play up. Kroger is in a position to play up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n And while these grocer rivalries may keep stores on their toes, Young said it\u2019s the customers in these growing, competitive markets who reap the benefits.<\/p>\n Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Not a cucumber or cereal box is out of place at a spacious new Kroger store that opened…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":645440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5138],"tags":[157370,5229,1596,7371,7372,274375,583,4701,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-645439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-worth","tag-albertsons","tag-america","tag-dallas","tag-fort-worth","tag-fortworth","tag-grocery-chains","tag-kroger","tag-supermarket","tag-texas","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116204639855530525","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}