Dive Brief:
- H-E-B plans to begin construction on a Joe V’s Smart Shop in Garland, Texas, according to a Tuesday announcement. It did not specify when the store will open.
- The store will mark the fourth location for the discount format in North Texas, a market where H-E-B operates other store formats, including its main banner and Central Market specialty stores.
- H-E-B continues to expand its discount format as price concerns drive shoppers to low-price retailers.
Dive Insight:
Since launching Joe V’s in 2010, H-E-B has accelerated development of the discount format as consumers embrace value-priced grocery stores and sour on traditional grocery promotions.
The format currently has 11 locations in Houston, where it got its start. In recent years, H-E-B has extended the Joe V’s brand into the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where the grocery company is also opening stores under its main banner. In November, the grocer opened a Joe V’s store in Irving, Texas, marking the 14th location for the discount brand.
Low prices and low-price messaging take center stage at Joe V’s. The recently opened Irving store touted eye-catching prices on a variety of goods, including three pounds of bananas for a dollar and bundles of fresh meat and seafood for $20. Stores feature signage with phrases such as “Because we buy a lot, you save a lot,” and “Low prices today, low prices tomorrow.”
H-E-B operates several store formats ranging from its specialty Central Market banner to its Mi Tienda Hispanic grocery stores. This makes it unique among other regional grocers, many of which have tested alternative store formats only to fold them.
H-E-B’s growing focus on Joe V’s underscores the limits traditional grocers face in reaching price-conscious consumers. The long-used “high-low” pricing schemes these retailers employ are struggling to connect with shoppers, according to research by AlixPartners.
