Dive Brief:
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A new 118,000 square foot San Antonio H-E-B store will feature a True Texas BBQ restaurant with a drive-thru, a first for the retail chain, according to My San Antonio. The fast-casual restaurant will serve breakfast, as well as "fresh, natural meat" smoked in-store.
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The new store location will also feature curbside delivery service, allowing shoppers to order their groceries online and pick them up at their leisure.
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H-E-B will also expand its convenience store portfolio at the new store location with its own food offerings, filling station and car wash.
Dive Insight:
H-E-B appears to be making strong strides toward convenience with this new store format. Shoppers have already been able to enjoy True Texas BBQ's food offerings at other store locations, but the combination of a restaurant drive-thru and curbside pickup will allow shoppers to pick up dinner and groceries without ever leaving their car.
This certainly appeals to consumer demand for convenience, especially in Texas, where hot summers can be boiling. But is it taking this trend too far? If shoppers don't have to ever enter the store to buy H-E-B's premium offerings, they also don't have an opportunity to make impulse buys as they wander the grocery aisles. It will be interesting to see if H-E-B makes this new store format a cross-chain staple as it expands, or if it limits its drive-thrus to high traffic shopping centers.
The drive-thru trend is catching on with other grocers, too. Maine-based grocery retailer Hannaford has been experimenting with a quick-service store concept named Hannaford to Go that allows shoppers to order their groceries online, making notes as specific as the thickness of meat cuts to the ripeness of avocados. Shoppers select a time they want to pick up their groceries online and when they arrive, a Hannaford employee has their items bagged and ready to load into their car.
While clearly not a concept for every retailer, the concept does offer serious shopper benefits, and may be a lucrative format for suburban store locations.