H-E-B's Joe V's Smart Shop, at 12035 Antoine Drive, Houston, Texas. The Joe V's format is everyday-low-price focused, limited assortment and fairly no-frills. The flagship store, which opened on May 5 of this year, is about 50,000 square-feet and stocks approximately 9,000 SKUs. It offers all the traditional supermarket departments, from meat, produce and deli, to perishables, grocery and non-foods. [Photo credit: Vicky Pink for Houston Style Magazine. Photo courtesy of Houston Style Magazine. The photograph was taken on may 26, 2010.]On August 26, 2010 we wrote and published this piece - What's Up With Joe? Texas Grocer H-E-B Planning 'Major Announcement' About its Joe V's Smart Shop Soon - about a 'major announcement' we learned Texas food and grocery retailer H-E-B was soon to make about its start up Joe V's Smart Shop discount grocery chain.
Currently there's one Joe V's store, located at 12035 Antoine Drive in Houston, Texas, which opened on May 5, 2010. But that's about to change.
In the August 26 piece linked above we offered five predictions about what the major announcement might be. The five predictions, in rank order are:
1. H-E-B will announce it plans to open a second Joe V's Smart Shop store in the Houston, Texas region.
2. H-E-B will announce it's settled the trademark law suit filed by grocer Trader Joe's - in which TJ's argues the Joe V's Smart Shop name is an infringement on the Trader Joe's name, asking a court to order H-E-B to cease from using the Joe V's name for the store - and therefore can continue using the Joe V's Smart Shop name for the chain.
[See: Say it Ain't So Joe: Trader Joe's Tells H-E-B's Joe V's Smart Shop to Change its Name. The case is still in court. The court has permitted H-E-B to continue using the Joe V's Smart Shop name until the case is settled or a decision ordered by the court.]
3. H-E-B will announce it will change the name from Joe' V's Smart Shop to something else. See number two.
4. H-E-B will announce it plans to open a second Joe V's Smart Shop store in Texas, but outside of the Houston Metro region.
5. Jose (Joe) Villarreal will announce (perhaps at a "Major" press conference) that he is indeed the "Joe" behind the Joe V's Smart Shop name. An executive of Trader Joe's, attending the press conference, will shout: "Say it ain't so - Joe," over and over again, following Joe Villarreal's announcement.
We suggest you read the full August 26 piece here.
A look at a portion of the produce department in the flagship Joe V's Smart Shop store, at 12035 Antoine Drive, Houston, Texas. [Photo credit: Vicky Pink for Houston Style Magazine. Photo courtesy of Houston Style Magazine. The photograph was taken on May 26, 2010.]The 'major announcement'
Drum roll please... We've now learned what H-E-B's major announcement about its Joe V's Smart Shop is - and we got it right in prediction number one.
H-E-B plans to open a second Joe V's Smart Shop discount grocery store in Houston, Texas.
Joe V's unit number two will be on Wallisville and Uvalde Road in East Houston. H-E-B's Joe V's Smart Shop has confirmed the 'major announcement' for Fresh & Easy Buzz.
The grocer plans to open the East Houston Joe V's Smart Shop unit before the end of this year.
Shout it out loud...Joe
It appears Fresh & Easy Buzz not only is the only publication, including the local Houston newspapers, we can find, based on doing a number of different google keyword searches moments ago, that reported on Joe V's upcoming announcement in our August 26 piece, we also to appear to be the first publication to report on what that 'major announcement' is.
Prior to publishing this piece we conducted Google searches under 'Joe V's Smart Shop,' 'Joe V's', 'H-E-B,' 'HEB,' 'H.E. Butt Grocery Company,' and a couple others, and can't find any reports of the announcement, including in the local Houston, Texas online newspaper sites, or in the major mainstream supermarket industry trade publications. We may have missed such reports. If you find a story published prior to today - Sunday, September 12, at 11:01 am - about H-E-B's second Joe V's Smart Shop store, please let us know using the comments box at the end of this piece.
We don't care all that much about being the first (or even the only) publication we can find to report this significant news.
Instead, we're just surprised to be unable to find any other coverage of the second store of a new format- Joe V's Smart Shop - from one of America's largest family-owned - over $15 billion in annual sales, over 300 stores in Texas and Mexico, and about 75,000 employees - and best merchandised-operated food and grocery chains, San Antonio, Texas-based H-E-B.
H-E-B , which is celebrating its 105th birthday this year, was founded in 1905 by Florence Butt, who opened a small grocery market called C.C. Butt Grocery Store in the Texas Hill Country town of Kerrville. In the 1920's, Florence Butt's youngest son, Howard, started to grow the company and store-count. Later on the company name was changed to the Butt Grocery Company and then to H.E. Butt Grocery Company, as in Howard Butt. The family has used the name H-E-B since the 1940's, however.
105 years, 300-plus more stores, numerous banners and formats, multiple private brands, and about $15-plus billion in annual sales later, Texas born, bred and based H-E-B is still owned by the Butt family, which continues to grow the food and grocery retailing company not only in size but in multiple formats - ranging from the flagship H-E-B banner and the very successful upscale Central Market, to its newest, the price-impact Joe V's Smart Shop chain, the second store of which opens in East Houston later this year.
Related Stories:
August 26, 2010: What's Up With Joe? Texas Grocer H-E-B Planning 'Major Announcement' About its Joe V's Smart Shop Soon
May 5, 2010: H-E-B Opens Joe V's Smart Shop Discount Prototype Grocery Store in Houston TX ... But Where's Joe?
May 6, 2010: Say it Ain't So Joe: Trader Joe's Tells H-E-B's Joe V's Smart Shop to Change its Name
May 20, 2010: H-E-B Tweaking Product Assortment at Joe V's Smart Shop Discount Grocery Store in Texas Opened May 5
May 20, 2010: 'The Insider': Welcome to Discountopia USA
I have to agree with the comments on swamplot website - it is like HEB Pantry making a comeback. ALDI is unique in itself - it may appear to be a cousin of Trader Joe's, but it can differentiate from other grocers in terms of store delivery. Looking at the pictures of Joe V's is like a downsized version of HEB - same products, but maybe cheaper; I don't know.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, posters on city-data forum, specifically, San Antonio is complaining about HEB downgrading their stores.
HEB may be a textbook example of class warfare - the good stores (Buffalo Market) are on the west and northwest side, while the not-so-good stores are on the east and south side.
Same with Austin (west/east divide) and San Antonio (north/rest of the city).
Do they accept coupons?
ReplyDeleteYes, Joe V's accepts coupons.
ReplyDelete