YET ANOTHER SIGN OF A COMING RANDALLS HOUSTON PULLOUT 
Just in: this market-fresh, unconfirmed grocery-store tip. “Randalls just laid off their entire Houston corporate office. Houston stores will be managed from Dallas.” [Swamplot inbox; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Randalls Woodlake Square, 9660 Westheimer Rd.: AmREIT
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Now this is shocking news! It’s about time they shut these lousy stores down.
I’m not buying the “pulling out of Houston” claim. Other chains are debasing themselves to get into the Houston/DFW/Austin markets. Why would an incumbent, distressed or not, just completely pull out? doesn’t pass logical test, IMO.
Reducing cost by eliminating regional mgmt and failing to renew a lease aren’t the same thing as a wholesale abandonment of Houston.
I know for a fact Safeway is closing underperforming stores and selling the rest to a 3rd party as a whole.
And just in time for Christmas. Ho, ho, ho.
They’ve been making a slow retreat for years, this sort of doesn’t come as a surprise.
No surprise here. We ran Safeway out once before, we can do it again.
Randall’s and Kroger need to up their game to HEB, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Fresh Market standards. Old style grocery stores are getting squeezed out.
HEB perhaps but the others are completely different market, they’re geared to either the affluent or naive hipsters that spend their entire paycheck on better marketed food, not necessarily healthier food.
Has Randall’s always been headquartered in Dallas? I thought Randall’s was from Houston and they bought out Tom Thumb in Dallas…
Please….. Fresh Market will probably not even make it here in Houston. Have you seen their parking lots in the Galleria &River Oaks stores? They are a joke. When you shop Randall’s, Kroger, Fiesta, &HEB, they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Whole Foods and Central Market are great stores but not everyone can afford to shop there. You can get a great deal at any of these stores but not one stands out in the crowd. And don’t even get me started on Walmart.
Ho hum…. Flagship Randall’s at Shepherd and Westheimer…. lets run in and get something….ah nice! clean store, no crowd, apples polished!! really nice looking produce, but look at the prices! twice as much as HEB or Kroger! hmmm….looking for something, but the aisles are really arranged differently from other grocery stores and I can’t find anything….okay, got my two items….time to check out…. one register open??? and its a manager running it….. This store is not going to make it…. this would be a great location for a Fiesta to make a comeback to the Montrose area!
Speaking of the grocery wars… I was in Trader Joe’s on Voss two days ago and overheard one employee telling another employee that last week was their biggest week in sales ever at that location. Said they did $365,000 for the week. Hopefully things are just picking up for that TJs.
Amen MarkH! I’m also hoping Fiesta comes back to that location. I have heard (second hand) that Fiesta execs actually covet that spot, but that the Randall’s folks are saying they’ll have to pry that particular location from their dying, bloody hands. If Randalls’ falls, the Shepherd/Westheimer store will be the last to go.
Houston’s grocery store business consists of a tough, competitive market. And this was a few years ago before Trader Joes and ALDI came into town. Houston is growing, as well as the number of grocery stores. Dozens are to be built in the coming year.
Randalls has slowly retreated from the market, closing a handful of longtime stores. They may just cut their loses or nominal profits and fully exit the Houston market. Just like the original Safeway, Appletree, Rice Epicurean, Gerlands, etc. have already done.
Randall’s perception is high prices, a semi- luxury grocery store. Why shop there when HEB’s are clean, fresh and seemingly reasonable prices?
Appletree was the name applied to the “Safegartens” – the last remaining Weingartens after they got taken over by Safeway. If nothing else, Safeway is familiar with leaving the Houston market.
Randalls is my least favorite store for groceries. Always overprice and lousy music.
Dominick’s (Safeway) just pulled out of the Chicagoland market and sold all stores to rivals
We need all the grocery competition we can get in Houston–so hopefully Safeway can turn their business around. As to the comments about how nice HEB is…go to Gulf Gate HEB…it is less than ‘nice and clean’…
Agreed, HEB and Walmart are nasty. I have shopped at Randalls my entire life and while it is a little expensive, it is clean, organized and the produce is great.
HEB has three types of stores, the really nice Central Market/upscale stores, the really crappy stores like the one on 18th, and the one at Gulfgate, and the decent but limited stores that are in small towns all across South Texas. I try not to go to the crappy ones, but the other two are fine, depending on your needs.