Longtime anchor tenant Randalls is getting ready to retreat from the west side of the Northbrook Shopping Center on 34th St. just off 290 in Oak Forest. A banner hung up on the front of the 54,806-sq-ft. space announces the liquidation sale now underway inside.
The grocery store neighbors GameStop and a Habitat for Humanity resale store in the 174,181-sq.-ft. strip:
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A pad site gas station also fronts 34th St. across the parking lot from the store.
Photos: Beth. Site plan: Weingarten Realty
34th and 290
Divine punishment for selling alcohol
Moved to the area about 4 years ago from the Montrose, and experienced firsthand what it meant to be in a “food desert”… being the only large chain in the area their prices were way too high. I still shop regularly at the Montrose “Disco” Kroger (when I leave work downtown) and only hit Randall’s when I needed to. It’s (or was) that bad.
The new Bellaire HEB opens this summer.
I bet the Randall’s over there doesn’t make to the end of the year.
Myles
In the fierce Houston grocery wars, I often forget that Randalls continues to exist. My logical mind says that someone must still shop there since they have to pay the employees but the question is who?
Randalls is great for people who want to find parking, hate fighting crowds, and are not snooty about mere groceries.
Kind of sad to see a Houston institution like Randalls, once known as a real beacon of supermarket quality and service, fade into oblivion at the hands of Safeway.
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I will say that the one closest to me, on Dairy Ashford, has super-nice folks working there and a good meat counter. But every time I’ve gone in, there’s few enough customers that I wonder how the place stays open. You have to think the prospect of its demise has HEB fantasizing about relocating there from its small-ish store across the street.
The location of this Randalls is hardly a “food desert”. There are a (small) HEB and 2 substantial Kroger stores and a Joe V’s Smary Shop less than 5 miles from there. This particular Randalls tried hard, but couldn’t compete with those other stores. Their prices were higher because they sourced from a middleman instead of having the buying power of dealing directly with manufacturers/vendors. They had a lot of foot-traffic from nearby apartment complexes that have seen better days. The upside was that the store was never crowded, checkout lines were short, and back when 290 wasn’t a cluster(bleep) it was on the way to everything. I am sad to see it go, but I won’t miss it. It has been a long time since Randall’s was my remarkable store.
I still shop at the Randall’s on Shepherd and Westheimer. It has the same products as any other big grocery chain, but the lines are much shorter and the store is less busy. It’s not like there is anything “hood” about it or anything either. Just a normal supermarket. I don’t get it.
This store was fine. It was convenient for me, so I went pretty often. The problem for me was that there never seemed to be more than two cashiers open, even if there were 15+ waiting, and like all Randall’s I’ve seen in Houston, they didn’t trust the customers enough to have self-checkout registers. I hope something better comes in but I’ll probabky be fine with the Kroger on 43rd and the future Heights HEB.
I only shop Randalls when I need to be quick in and out because no one is ever there! You have to be careful and check product expiration dates. They are either not turning over products or have workers that are not paying attention. I’ve also run into the situation where I specifically went to their store for something and it was out of stock. Not a way to keep customers unless they are in survival mode and this is just the beginning of the end.
Randall’s went to hell when they sold out to Safeway. Safeway had the crappiest stores in the city and ended up pulling out of Houston. They got back in disguised as Apple Tree for awhile, then as Randall’s and turned those stores to crap. Good riddens -RIP.
The Randalls nearest me (at Dairy Ashford and Memorial) isn’t dramatically worse than the nearby Kroger or HEB, but all three are kind of meh. We get most of our groceries at the Bunker Hill HEB+Costco, or at the Westheimer “Battle Royale” cluster of grocery stores.
I believe this store has been understaffed for literally as long as I can remember.
It would be great if Safeway plans to sell most of the remaining Randall’s stores over to HEB. I think their main concentration right now is in The DFW Metroplex area where Albertson’s & Tom Thumb still dominate that particular market.
Sorry to see this store close but not surprised, as most. It was the closest store to my home when I lived in Oak Forest until my departure at the end of 2015. Now in Austin, and there’s still a Randall’s presence, but I can’t help but wonder how long they will hold out. As an example, there is both a large Randall’s and HEB across from each other in NW Austin on a busy highway and cross street. The Randall’s store has maybe 15 cars in front of it at any given time, while you have to most times fight to get a parking space at the HEB across the way.
Randalls is not owned by Safeway. Safeway sold to Albertsons Companies over three years ago .
The parent company of Randalls is Albertsons Companies out of Boise , Idaho.
They ( Randalls ) are part of the Dallas Division and receive all product from the Dallas facilities /warehouses.