This Texas Chain Is the Best Grocery Store in America (2023)

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What is the number 1 grocery store in America? ›

Top grocery in every state: H-E-B No. 1 in Texas.

H-E-B was named the second-best grocery chain in the nation, according to a study from dunnhumby. H-E-B has done it again. The San Antonio-based company was named the second-best grocery retailer in the nation – just behind Amazon in a recent study from Dunnhumby, a UK-based global consumer research company.

The produce section includes over 900 varieties of fruits and vegetables. HEB's beer selection has an extensive array of traditional, craft and Texas brews, not to mention that they're the largest wine retailer in Texas.

RELATED: H-E-B named one of the nation's best grocers

1 WalMart, $374.80 billion; 2. Kroger, $115.89 billion; 3. Amazon, $102.96 billion), but they are within striking distance of national brands Aldi, Macy's and Dollar General. H-E-B spent the last couple years at No.

The story of H‑E‑B began in 1905 in a small, family‑owned store in Kerrville in the Texas Hill Country. Today H‑E‑B serves families all over Texas and Mexico with more than 420 stores and over 145,000 Partners (employees).

Publix was rated the best grocery store in the country for customer service in 2021 (via Supermarket News).

H-E-B was listed as the number 6 largest private company in the United States, as published by Forbes. With $38.9 billion in revenue this year, the grocery chain is listed as employing about 145,000 employees.

H-E-B came second place to Amazon in a global survey taken by shoppers. HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- H-E-B was ranked second in an annual consumer survey by UK global customer data science company, DunnHumby.

In parts of Texas, Walmart is clearly the big player. In Dallas–Fort Worth, where H-E-B has a minimal presence, with just five of its Central Market–branded stores, Walmart controls 27 percent of the market, almost twice as much as the next biggest competitor, Kroger.

Why is H-E-B so successful? ›

In fact, even Wal-Mart has acknowledged that H-E-B is one of the most efficient distributors around. H-E-B also has the Central Market format, which is the gourmet, high-end format that enables them to pull in some new ideas and move them into their standard format, which gives their stores a more upscale feel."

That's H-E-B; you pronounce the letters. They stand for Howard E. Butt, which sounds like a playground taunt but was the actual name of the supermarket chain's founder. Nowadays, the initials also stand for "Here Everything's Better," the store's slogan.

The extended Butt family owns approximately 90% of the San Antonio-based firm, which Forbes currently values H-E-B at just over $17 billion. The rest is owned by employees through an ownership program the company created in 2015.

The Butt family owns the Texas-based H.E.B. grocery store chain, which started in 1905 when Florence Butt opened a small grocery store with just $60. Her son Howard Butt took over in the 1920s and expanded it across Texas, renaming it the H.E. Butt Grocery Company in 1928.

Although the company headquarters are not open to the public, H-E-B's smallest store is a 12,500-square-foot store next to the historic Arsenal property and is open to the public. H-E-B has a supersize, 11-foot-tall grocery cart on wheels, hand-built by partner Carroll Wesch in San Antonio in 2011.

H E B competitors include Costco, Whole Foods Market, Amazon, Trader Joe's and Walmart. H E B ranks 1st in CEO Score on Comparably vs its competitors.

Through the chain's expansion across Texas, H-E-B established trust and brand resonance with new customers by tailoring product offerings specific to the geographic area. This means no two H-E-B locations are exactly the same, setting the chain apart from nationwide competitors like Walmart and Kroger.

17, 2022 Updated: Nov. 17, 2022 4:32 p.m. H-E-B broke ground on another Dallas-Fort Worth store. Not long after the opening of its first two Dallas-Fort Worth-area stores in Frisco and Plano, both having huge lines outside its doors, San Antonio-based H-E-B set its sights on yet another store north of DFW.

A panel of nutritionists ranked Whole Foods Market as the top grocery store for healthy foods.

What is a popular US grocery store? ›

H-E-B at 20935 US Highway 281 N near Evans Road was the most visited H-E-B in 2022 based on the data with more than 122,000 visitors. The H-E-B at 3323 SE Military Drive came in at No. 2 with more than 115,000 visitors.

H-E-B's Religious Roots

Even though those business practices changed almost 40 years ago, H-E-B is still considered to be a religious-based business primarily because it donates 5% of its pre-tax profits to charity.

The Georgetown store is expected to be completed sometime in spring 2023 and will replace the former 67,000-square-foot H-E-B store, which opened in 1989. At 121,000 square feet, the new store will be 54,000 square feet larger. Thanks!

Texas has culture, traditions, and sayings that are uniquely its own. Chains like Whataburger, Buc-ee's, and H-E-B are Texan businesses.

The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. U.S.

Kroger stores are predominant in the Midwestern and Southern United States.

That made H-E-B the perfect stop because it only exists in two places around the world: Texas and Mexico. The first store opened south of the border in Monterrey in 1997, and they've since expanded through the country.

Is H-E-B in states other than Texas? ›

7. H-E-B is an international chain. While Texas is currently the only state in the U.S. where you can find an H-E-B store, there are locations in Mexico too. The first international location opened in Monterrey, Mexico in 1997.

H-E-B stands for the name Howard E. Butts. The first H-E-B opened in Kerrville in 1905 by Florence Butt. 15 years later her youngest son Howard took over the operations of their grocery store business.

Wal-Mart closing 269 stores, 29 in Texas, as it streamlines operations. Wal-Mart Stores plans to close 269 stores including 154 in the U.S. Among the closings are the company's 102 smallest stores called Wal-Mart Express. Awesome! Maybe mom and pop shops will open up again.

During the 1980s, H-E-B stores began offering bulk foods and fresh flowers. The Company headquarters moved to the renovated army arsenal on the San Antonio River in 1985. In 1988 Forbes named H-E-B the thirty-sixth largest private company in the United States, with annual sales of $2 billion.

The Mexican venture comes about seven years after H-E-B executives began toying with the idea of entering the growing market, De La Garza said. He noted that the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico plus the recent devaluation of Mexican peso fueled the company's decision.

H-E-B revenue is $21.0B annually. After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found the following key financial metrics. H-E-B has 100,000 employees, and the revenue per employee ratio is $210,000. H-E-B peak revenue was $21.0B in 2021.

The San Antonio-based grocery chain was Texas' sole top-10 entry on Forbes' Largest Private Companies List for 2022, ranking at No. 6 with $38.9 billion in revenue for the fiscal year. H-E-B is also the third-largest employer on the list, with 145,000 employees.

7.5 billion USD (2023)

Charles Butt / Net worth

Is H-E-B Mexican? ›

Supermercados Internacionales HEB, S.A. de C.V. is the Mexican division of H-E-B, a private supermarket chain based in San Antonio, Texas, U.S. It competes mainly with Soriana, Walmart México, S-Mart, Chedraui and Casa Ley.

Florence Butt, the founder of what became the HEB grocery stores, behind the counter of her very first store in Kerrville, circa 1910. I see Kellog's Corn Flakes, National Oats, some kind of biscuits etc... Florence started the store with a nest egg of exactly $60, which was a tidy sum in 1905.

The relationship between the Butt family and Piggly Wiggly was only a franchise arrangement. The Butt family owned and operated the stores. In 1944 the company dropped the Piggly Wiggly name and began operating as HEB Food Stores. The company moved its headquarters from Harlingen to Corpus Christi in 1940.

Walmart is by far the largest and most well-known food retailer in the world, consuming over a fourth of the entire grocery industry's annual sales.

That's H-E-B; you pronounce the letters. They stand for Howard E. Butt, which sounds like a playground taunt but was the actual name of the supermarket chain's founder. Nowadays, the initials also stand for "Here Everything's Better," the store's slogan.

Kroger is the largest supermarket operator in the U.S., with 420,000 employees and more than 2,700 stores, including Ralphs, Harris Teeter, Fred Meyer, and King Soopers.

The food retail market has traditionally been dominanted by the 'big four' supermarkets -Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons - who made up over three quarters of sector market share in 2010. Tesco is the largest retailer in Great Britain, with a market share of 27.5% at the end of 2022.

Known across the United States for its grocery chains and branded products, Kroger is the oldest supermarket chain in North America. It began over 100 years ago in 1883 when Barney Kroger used $372 to open a store in Cincinnati, Ohio.

What supermarket has the best customer service? ›

Keeping within these guidelines, Walmart continues to be the world's largest retailer, both domestically and internationally, with a significant commitment to a new online marketplace and fulfillment model.

Family Dollar, Family Dollar and Dollar Tree are the largest grocery chains in Texas in 2022 based on the number of locations. Family Dollar has the most number of locations with 1,128 locations across 463 cities. Family Dollar has 1,128 and Dollar Tree has 666 locations in Texas.