Jump to content

Is Randall's Grocery Stores Going To Go Away?


Recommended Posts

I guess i have lots of extra money to blow but yeah still dont see it haha! I do go to HEB periodically and nope...still dont see a difference if any on what i buy (remember i go out to eat 5 to 7 nights a week)...so hey if you are wanting me to save money I am all for it if necessary...get HEB to take over the Randall's on San Felipe and Sage...I am all for it ;) 

Edited by gene
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll tell you what, I'm not a huge fan of HEB, either, their cavernous stores with the one-way maze you have to go through in the produce aisle, they're kind of a nightmare to shop at, if they are at all busy. Also, no matter what time of day you go, there will be multiple aisle partially or even fully blocked by restocking activities. Sometimes it is an employee actively restocking, and they act annoyed if you dare reach around them to get the item you need that they are blocking, but just as often, they will have a big cart sitting there unattended blocking an aisle. It can even be a Saturday afternoon, the busiest time for the Bunker Hill store, and there will still be massive restocking activity going on, to the detriment of shoppers actually trying to move through the store to get what they need. Below is an excerpt of an email exchange I had with the manager of the Bunker Hill store:

 

Quote

 

I appreciate the fact that the HEB Bunker Hill store isn’t like a neighborhood Randall’s in terms of customer traffic or breadth of inventory, but the daytime stocking activity still seems excessive and inefficient. Last Thursday in a ten minute period around 9:45 I documented twenty-five (25) separate instances of stocking activity at the same time in the store, and of those instances, fifteen (15) were carts or forklift pallets left unattended in shopping areas with no employees around them. Several of these were empty or simply filled with empty cardboard boxes. It would be one thing if employees were swiftly moving merchandise in and rapidly stocking, and then just as rapidly moving their now-empty carts, trollies, etc. and empty cardboard boxes back into the back of the store, but shopping areas are being used as storage areas for to-be-stocked merchandise and stocking carts that are either empty or filled with refuse from stocking activities.

Attachment limitations prevent me from sending you all twenty-five photos I took during last Thursday’s visit, but I would like to call your attention to three. The first, titled “card aisle.jpg” shows a massive fork lift hand cart blocking the greeting card aisle. I guess your employees decided no one needed to purchase greeting cards just then, because it would have been virtually impossible for a customer to get in there. When I told my wife about it, she said “oh, yeah, there seems to always be something in there, they use the card aisle for storage.”

Next I’d like to call your attention to “sitting marshmallows.jpg” which shows an employee leisurely sitting down on the floor while she stocks. It’s unprofessional looking, and there is also no chance she’s going to be able or want to swiftly get out of customers’ way if they need to get an item she’s sitting in front of. You can also see one bag of marshmallows sitting directly on the store floor, but I assure you behind her were multiple bags directly on the floor. “On Floor.jpg” shows another instance where merchandise is being rested on the floor during stocking. Customers don’t want to see the food they intend to buy and eat so cavalierly set on the floors where hundreds of people a day walk in, tracking in dirt and bacteria.

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, dbigtex56 said:

Have you been to the Midtown Randall's? The majority of its customers appear to be white collar workers in their 20's or 30's.
The selection and prices reflect this demographic as well. The term "comparison shopping" is probably not in the typical customer's vocabulary, and there's an emphasis on convenience foods, sports drinks, and the more expensive name brands. Some items in the produce aisle can be double the price of Kroger, and triple that of Fiesta.
IMO, this Randall's greatest asset is people-watching.

 

Actually I haven't. I probably should go scope it out. However, this still actually supports my argument. I would imagine that this is one of their better performing stores because it understands who has the money and who doesn't. It wouldn't surprise me though if this was an outlier. There is always a "but" and "exception to the rule" in any case. The oddball in the group. If this store is successful and is doing well then hopefully this is a store that the higher ups at Randells are taking a look at. My earlier post was never to indicate that I hope the brand should burn in hell or anything like that. Not at all. More business competition is always better. My argument was that Randells has for a long time been resistant to the change thats been happening in the market place and if you do not change then you die. Plain and simple.

Edited by Luminare
  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Luminare said:

 

. . . if you do not change then you die. Plain and simple.

Truer words were never written. I started shopping at HEB when I went away to college. There were no HEB stores in the Houston area at the time and Randall's was in its ascendancy in the late 1970's and early 1980's in Houston.

 

HEB has adapted to the changes in the market better than Randall's. Note too that HEB does not have a single model. The new super store at 1604 and Bulverde in San Antonio is quite different from the store at Buffalo Speedway and Bissonnet as is the store at El Camino Real and Bay Area Blvd. in the Clear Lake area. I picked those three because I am most familiar with them.

 

I do hope that Randall's survives. I remember how much my mother favored it over other grocery stores in our neighborhood back in the day. But, as one Randall's store manager told me when I asked about the availability of a certain item, "We are now part of Safeway/Albertson's and pretty much have to take what we are given." :(

  • Like 3
  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/30/2019 at 3:44 PM, Luminare said:

 

Actually I haven't. I probably should go scope it out. However, this still actually supports my argument. I would imagine that this is one of their better performing stores because it understands who has the money and who doesn't. It wouldn't surprise me though if this was an outlier. There is always a "but" and "exception to the rule" in any case. The oddball in the group. If this store is successful and is doing well then hopefully this is a store that the higher ups at Randells are taking a look at. My earlier post was never to indicate that I hope the brand should burn in hell or anything like that. Not at all. More business competition is always better. My argument was that Randells has for a long time been resistant to the change thats been happening in the market place and if you do not change then you die. Plain and simple.

 

This Randall's is an outlier just because of its location - its within actual walking distance of hundreds of people, on the way home for a lot of people who go South and Southwest from downtown, and is one of the two grocery stores serving the whole downtown area

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went to both Kingwood Randall's today looking for Plated meals since Plated was bought by Albertson's/Randall's.  Both stores were dead.  I tried to pick up some flour as well and luckily I checked the date, because the "best buy" date was January 2019.  There was a large aisle of Christmas and Thanksgiving supplies and food for 50% off.  I thought they would have dumped this stuff at 90% off months ago.  They just don't seem to have enough business to move any inventory.  To top it off, these stores do not have Plated.  I since learned from the website that only the Memorial Drive and W Holcombe stores carry it.  

 

I worked at Randall's in high school and it was always a family favorite.  I hate to see it go, but I can't imagine these stores staying open with one new HEB and another on the way.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 11 months later...

I think the answer to the OP's question is increasingly clear.  Yes, Randall's is actively dying and no, no one cares, not even Albertson's (the owner of Randalls). They apparently decided some years ago that they could not compete in Houston, so why even try?

 

Randalls to Close Five (more) Grocery Stores in Houston

 

This will leave them with 17 stores, down from 51 in 2005 (and 28 just a year ago).

Edited by Houston19514
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/13/2020 at 3:59 PM, cspwal said:

I think I would understand closing the other stores more if they were focusing on upgrading the remaining ones, but the evidence for that isn't really there.

 

They did update the store at 12850 Memorial Dr. recently.

 

On 1/13/2020 at 1:35 PM, Houston19514 said:

I think the answer to the OP's question is increasingly clear.  Yes, Randall's is actively dying and no, no one cares, not even Albertson's (the owner of Randalls). They apparently decided some years ago that they could not compete in Houston, so why even try?

 

Randalls to Close Five (more) Grocery Stores in Houston

 

This will leave them with 17 stores, down from 51 in 2005 (and 28 just a year ago).

 

Damnit!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/13/2020 at 4:21 PM, dbigtex56 said:

 

Aw come on. WTF. So Albertson's is even more of a pu--- err, wimp than Safeway was. Geez.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder who would possibly take over the Midtown Randalls when it closes? Great location for whoever. I shop there infrequently but I go by it on my commute home after work and it's great for getting a few things needed for cooking dinner. Kroger, Whole Foods, Fiesta and HEB have nearby stores, so Sprouts or Trader Joes seem likely candidates to me.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/18/2020 at 2:29 PM, hindesky said:

I wonder who would possibly take over the Midtown Randalls when it closes?


I'm still wondering what's going to take over the Shepherd Square (2075 Westheimer) location (unless something has slipped in there without my or HAIF's knowledge).

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Target should do well there.  The problem with that Randall's wasn't the location - once upon a time it was busy - but Safeway's insistence on doing just about everything exactly the opposite way from previous management, with the exception of higher prices.

Edited by mollusk
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, mollusk said:

Target should do well there.  The problem with that Randall's wasn't the location - once upon a time it was busy - but Safeway's insistence on doing just about everything exactly the opposite way from previous management, with the exception of higher prices.

 

Totally right.  Not only did Safeway do everything exactly the opposite way from previous management, they seem to do everything exactly the opposite way one would do if one wanted to stay in business. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

 

Totally right.  Not only did Safeway do everything exactly the opposite way from previous management, they seem to do everything exactly the opposite way one would do if one wanted to stay in business. 

 

Thus demonstrating why they failed in this market at least twice, if not three times.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, LBC2HTX said:

whoa!!!! good for all the montrose folks! 

this was the smartest decision they could have made in my opinion! 

Edited by gene
fixed wording
  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • The title was changed to Is Randall's going to go away?
  • 1 month later...

Aren't Safeways in other parts of the country usually pretty nice? They succeed in Northern California which must be really tough(high labor costs, unions, an affluent discerning clientele that probably wants to order everything for pickup, etc). Maybe there's something wrong with the expansion model they had or the division they grafted all the Houston stores onto.

 

I went to a Safeway in Denver once and it was pretty nice inside. Albertsons in contrast tend to be moo, I've never seen a "fancy" Albertsons store in the vein of a large H-E-B or Kroger Marketplace, they are always small, windowless beige boxes from the 1970s.

 

Albertsons-Safeway also owns United which is the dominant grocery chain in the Panhandle and those tend to be really great stores.

 

I just have a thing for grocery diversity. I hate to see chains back out of an area. Its too bad they couldn't make it. Hopefully a few stores last a few more years.

Edited by zaphod
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/26/2020 at 4:47 PM, zaphod said:

I went to a Safeway in Denver once and it was pretty nice inside. Albertsons in contrast tend to be moo, I've never seen a "fancy" Albertsons store in the vein of a large H-E-B or Kroger Marketplace, they are always small, windowless beige boxes from the 1970s.

 

Albertson's opened several new stores in Houston in 2000 that only lasted a couple of years before they pulled out of the market in 2002. I can't speak for all of them, but the one on TC Jester was quite large and nice, comparable to a current large H-E-B (but maybe not as "fancy"). 

 

https://houstonhistoricretail.com/grocery/albertsons/

 

My point of reference for Safeway stores is stuck in the 1970s, as that's when I frequented a couple of their stores here. I've never been to any of the newer, nicer Safeways in other cities. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I totally forgot about those Albertsons stores. I wasn't living in Houston at that time, I just remember seeing them sometimes when visiting family here. That explains the unusual design of a number of places around here.

Edited by zaphod
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

the Randall's at San Felipe and Sage isn't going anywhere anytime soon. they are in the process of completely redoing all their floors and should be done probably by the end of July. It actually looks really great too (looks to be vinyl flooring planks to simulate wood). i spoke to a manager on duty and he said he was aware of this thread and just laughed it off. 

(and again, i go this location often, mainly out of convenience since my condo is a block away and with my Randall's card i personally am happy with the pricing of the things i personally buy...plus i have been going here for 24 years so i just like the familiarity of it (and yes i love and do go to HEB and Central Market in Uptown area at times as well))

 

 

Edited by gene
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Oddly enough, I think the Coronavirus has been the saving grace of Randalls for 2020.

 

My friends mostly live in the suburbs and go to Kroger and HEB. Whereas I live off Westheimer and S. Gessner within walking distance of a Randalls, and driving distance of several other stores.

 

At least among the informal discussions with my friends: I was the first one to find Hand Sanitizer for sale, at Randalls (9660 Westheimer). Later I was the first to find Isopropyl Alcohol (rubbing alcohol) for sale, again at Randalls (12850 Memorial). I shop at both stores consistently.

 

I remember after Harvey too. I was living in the same area back then as well (Westchase). I drove first to the Kroger at 9919 Westheimer. The line literally snaked around behind the building, just to get inside. So I drove just a bit further to the Randalls. There, I could get inside right away, and they had fresh meat there, and some vegetables. I was able to pick some stuff up and then make the long awkward ~2.5 hour trek out to my mom's house. (She's around Beltway 8 and 1960, but I had to drive all the way out to the Grand Parkway just to cross the reservoirs).

 

I really do hope Randalls sticks around at least in some form. Reduction of competition has shown to be universally bad for the consumer.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

Randalls to close another Houston-area grocery store

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2021/01/14/randalls-bellaire-grocery-store-to-close.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_27&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s

Quote

 

Longtime local grocer Randalls will close its Bellaire store next month.

The Houston Chronicle reports that the store's liquidation process began Jan. 13, and the closure is slated for Feb. 20. The Bellaire store, at 5130 Bellaire, is the only one affected.

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/15/2021 at 8:10 PM, Highrise Tower said:

 

Not really surprising. Still sucks though. My old office was in that area so I was usually in that Randalls at least twice a week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

image.thumb.png.fc8ff4d0d5f74e7e6fabd75d677c3aea.pngSaw this on Facebook today. At least Randalls is advertising ***somewhere*** still. Pretty smart too I'd say since they could target zip codes in Houston where they still have actual goddamned stores...

Randalls now has more Austin area stores than Houston which is quite "Remarkable" when you think about it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/17/2021 at 4:20 AM, MikeRichardson said:

Saw this on Facebook today. At least Randalls is advertising ***somewhere*** still. Pretty smart too I'd say since they could target zip codes in Houston where they still have actual goddamned stores...

Randalls now has more Austin area stores than Houston which is quite "Remarkable" when you think about it.

I get their mail ads every week since I live close to the Midtown Randalls

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...