Is Randall's Grocery Stores Going To Go Away?

[IronTiger]

It looks like that the Randalls division was always one division, even though Randalls had a big distribution center for Tom Thumb in Dallas and a big one in Houston, and the new company will keep it that way, incorporating the DFW Albertsons division into it. There will be the South Region for the new company, which will include the Southwest Division (likely Phoenix and areas around it, as I think Arizona had both), Scott Hayes (Southern Division, this will likely include the Baton Rouge area stores and the Florida stores), the United division (probably will take over the Dallas-Fort Worth market entirely), Southern California (self-explanatory), and the Houston division, led by a United division.

This means, unlike the rather dubious predictions of page 1 of this thread, that they're staying. I'm curious as to what this means as the future of Randalls (and by extension, the new Safeway-Albertsons) means for the Houston supermarket. Safeway and Albertsons have been bumped off the Houston market in separate incidents already, Randalls has closed way more stores than it opened (a bunch in 2005 shuttered), and a reputation working against them, it will be a tough road ahead if Randalls wants to continue making in-roads into the competitive Houston market.

[west20th]

Plumber2, I think it was that way because of the Safeway domination of the store. Safeway was at one time owned by Mormons who, of course, preached against alcohol, tobacco and even caffein at one time. Perhaps that is the reason.

The alcohol prohibition goes back to the Onstead days. They probably changed their policy to make the chain more marketable.

[IronTiger]

The alcohol prohibition goes back to the Onstead days. They probably changed their policy to make the chain more marketable.

The reason was, if the Chron is to be believed, that changed in the mid-1990s when they bought Tom Thumb, they decided to sell alcohol since Tom Thumb already did. 

[IronTiger]

So, with the merger having concluded, are there any little differences that are appearing?

[MikeRichardson]

All I know is that these Dallas area Tom Thumb stores were sold to someone else, to satisfy the FTC:

 

3300 Harwood Road, Bedford

4000 William D. Tate Ave., Grapevine

4836 W. Park Blvd., Plano

3001 Hardin Blvd., McKinney

 

Edited February 11, 2015 by MikeRichardson

[CathyLyn]

As I understand it, Randall's was owned by the Randall family of Houston, and Tom Thumb was owned by the Cullums of Dallas. The two families were friends, and when the Randall's last family member who wanted to stay in that business died, they sold the stores to the Cullums. (Or maybe the other way 'round, my chronology is fuzzy). Then a few years later Tom Thumb was sold to Safeway, and it deteriorated rapidly. 

Pretty sure I read a year or two ago that Albertsons, (neé Skaggs Albertsons) Kroger, and Tom Thumb were merging, or being bought together by a bigger corporation.

 And read yesterday that Warren Buffet was selling nearly a billion dollars of Walmart shares, because...Amazon. With Amazon's Fresh grocery, will brick and board groceries disappear, I wonder...or maybe return to their produce wagon origins origins?

[Houston19514]

5 hours ago, CathyLyn said:

As I understand it, Randall's was owned by the Randall family of Houston, and Tom Thumb was owned by the Cullums of Dallas. The two families were friends, and when the Randall's last family member who wanted to stay in that business died, they sold the stores to the Cullums. (Or maybe the other way 'round, my chronology is fuzzy). Then a few years later Tom Thumb was sold to Safeway, and it deteriorated rapidly. 

Pretty sure I read a year or two ago that Albertsons, (neé Skaggs Albertsons) Kroger, and Tom Thumb were merging, or being bought together by a bigger corporation.

 And read yesterday that Warren Buffet was selling nearly a billion dollars of Walmart shares, because...Amazon. With Amazon's Fresh grocery, will brick and board groceries disappear, I wonder...or maybe return to their produce wagon origins origins?

 

Randall's was owned by the Onstead family, not the Randall family.

In 1992, Randall's (a the time, still owned and operated by the Onstead family) bought Tom Thumb, not vice versa.

Safeway indeed bought Randall's, including its Tom Thumb stores, in 1999.

In 2014, the investment company that owned (owns?) Albertsons bought Safeway, including the Randalls/Tom Thumb chains.

Edited February 15, 2017 by Houston19514

[CathyLyn]

Oof! Houston19514, thank you! I answered without finding the rest of the thread, and I shouldn't have. My only excuse is that I'd been up all reading the whole Defunct Restaurants seent, on my phablet, and I obviously missed some pages. I appreciate the corrections, and I promise not to jump without looking again.

Edited February 15, 2017 by CathyLyn
Typo

[hindesky]

A couple weeks ago on a Monday evening I had to find a Verizon store and the nearest one to me was at the corner of S. Shepard and Westheimer. Decided to pop into the Randall's right there and the place was dead. I think there might have been about 5 shoppers in there. The produce department was garbage but I was there for the cheap Shiner beer on sale. My usual grocery store is the HEB on W. Alabama and that place is always so crowded that I only shop there early on Sunday morning before my bicycle ride. I don't see Randall's lasting much longer. Today's Sunday paper has a huge sale giving from 10-20% off depending on how much you buy. They must be hurting to offer these kinds of discounts.

[Ross]

3 hours ago, hindesky said:

A couple weeks ago on a Monday evening I had to find a Verizon store and the nearest one to me was at the corner of S. Shepard and Westheimer. Decided to pop into the Randall's right there and the place was dead. I think there might have been about 5 shoppers in there. The produce department was garbage but I was there for the cheap Shiner beer on sale. My usual grocery store is the HEB on W. Alabama and that place is always so crowded that I only shop there early on Sunday morning before my bicycle ride. I don't see Randall's lasting much longer. Today's Sunday paper has a huge sale giving from 10-20% off depending on how much you buy. They must be hurting to offer these kinds of discounts.

I go into that Randalls at random times on a reasonably regular basis. I never see more than 5 shoppers in there, and it's been like that for years.

[cspwal]

I mostly go to the Randalls in midtown, which is always busy, but when I've gone to other ones it's been empty like that

[IronTiger]

Since Albertsons took over in January 2015, one new store in Austin was built, another is planned, the Midtown store was renovated, and one of the Katy stores closed.

[gene]

i love that this thread was started almost 4 years ago! haha! I go to uptown Randalls often btw! 

[IronTiger]

On 2/22/2017 at 8:54 AM, gene said:

i love that this thread was started almost 4 years ago! haha! I go to uptown Randalls often btw! 

Might've spoken too soon considering the division office and the distribution center will close. But the stores remain.

[stan the man]

I'm surprised Randalls is still chugging along considering the competition on all fronts is leaving them behind in the dust. Wouldn't be surprised if Albertsons starts converting some of the Randalls stores to Sprouts which they are about to snap up.

 

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/retail/2017/03/20/report-albertsons-talking-sprouts-merger

Edited March 23, 2017 by stan the man

[bajaok]

Randall's/Tom Thumb was amusing to watch. 

 

Randall's (owned on Onsteads) bought the Dallas based Tom Thumb. Onstead's were mormons and kept alcohol out for religious reasons. The most sought after rental at a shopping center that got a new Randall's was next door for a liquor store. 

 

After they bought Tom Thumb after a few months they removed the beer and wine half aisle from stores. Really pissed off the customers and made the Dallas news. At least one (seem to remember more than one) radio personalities in Dallas rabble roused to boycott Randall's. Not only did overall sales drop but profitability dropped. After the bruhaha they looked at the accounting numbers and found the 1/2 aisle of beer and wine generated as much profit as the rest of the store.  Beer and wine aisle reappeared. Shortly thereafter all the Randall's got a beer and wine aisle. 

 

Edited April 3, 2017 by bajaok

[Ross]

18 minutes ago, bajaok said:

Randall's/Tom Thumb was amusing to watch. 

 

Randall's (owned on Onsteads) bought the Dallas based Tom Thumb. Onstead's were mormons and kept alcohol out for religious reasons. The most sought after rental at a shopping center that got a new Randall's was next door for a liquor store. 

 

After they bought Tom Thumb after a few months they removed the beer and wine half aisle from stores. Really pissed off the customers and made the Dallas news. At least one (seem to remember more than one) radio personalities in Dallas rabble roused to boycott Randall's. Not only did overall sales drop but profitability dropped. After the bruhaha they looked at the accounting numbers and found the 1/2 aisle of beer and wine generated as much profit as the rest of the store.  Beer and wine aisle reappeared. Shortly thereafter all the Randall's got a beer and wine aisle. 

 

Bob Onstead was not a Mormon, he was a member of the Church of Christ. He refused to sell alcohol because he thought it was destructive to families.

[MikeRichardson]

Somehow I only heard about this today. I knew about the ones earlier in the year.

https://www.chron.com/business/real-estate/article/Randalls-to-close-Montrose-area-store-13347808.php

 

Those stores are now already closed. While I was confirming that, I found an article about a 7th store!

https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/katy/news/article/Randalls-closing-surprises-some-customers-13472090.php

 

That's 7 freaking stores closed in a single year - 2018.

 

They seem to be doing fine in Austin though, where they somehow actually managed to build a brand new store a couple of years ago. I don't think it was a replacement store or anything either.

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2017/03/23/austin-suburb-lands-new-retail-center-anchored.html

 

I want to slap the people who keep repeating the same garbage about the "high prices". Yes, it was true a long time ago. It is no longer true anymore.

 

I also shop at Kroger regularly. The prices are basically the same as Randalls. They both average out to about the same. 

[gene]

I have lived 2 blocks from the Randalls on San Felipe for 22 years. I love it and hope it never closes haha! (if it was an HEB i would say the same thing as it isn't because i especially love Randalls, i just love the location being so convenient to walk to etc)  

Edited January 16, 2019 by gene

[Texmex1]

The Randalls on Weslayan/Bissonnet is just sad now, produce is always old, the people working there are not happy looking, nowhere near where it was in the heyday....

[Luminare]

Every Randalls I've ever walked in seemed...old. Out dated. Boring. Dark. Generic everything. Bland 80's-90's interiors. Ironically HEB used to be the same. I remember having the same opinion about them until my brother started raving about HEB during our college days. I was like...HEB? really? This was when HEB got new people directing the organization and went full on revamp and started leading the charge with how contemporary grocers are laid out today. I remember finally shopping at an HEB instead of a Kroger and it was like a food wonderland! I couldn't believe it at the time. Randalls simply hasn't kept up with the times. Nothing but old people shop there. Not implying at all that old people are bad, but they simply don't make you money. They always shop with coupons and discounts. Its the younger crowd that makes you money, and I don't ever see a single soul younger than 50 in any Randalls I've ever been too. If they want to survive and rebound then they have to change and adapt to the market.

Edited January 20, 2019 by Luminare

[Reefmonkey]

On 1/16/2019 at 6:49 AM, MikeRichardson said:

 

I want to slap the people who keep repeating the same garbage about the "high prices". Yes, it was true a long time ago. It is no longer true anymore.

 

I also shop at Kroger regularly. The prices are basically the same as Randalls. They both average out to about the same. 

 

I'm sorry, but you're wrong, Randall's higher prices are still a salient issue. I just compared the same "basket" of goods between Randall's and HEB, and Randall's total was 13% higher than HEB - even with the Remarkable Card discounts from Randall's and no discounts of any kind with HEB. Randall's was able to get away with higher prices for decades when the Houston grocery shopping market was smaller and Randall's had a reputation for superior service, selection, and shopping environment, but when HEB repositioned itself in the market, going from "Pantry" to "Central Market" in the 2000s, that was the death knell for an already ailing company. Even Kroger was modernizing its store layouts and inventory starting in the late 90s, while Randall's made little to no changes to layout, and was actually contracting its inventory, reducing choices, like when it stopped carrying Boar's Head so Safeway could push its in-house Primo Taglio brand. On top of contraction of selection, inventory management has gotten worse, as new owner Albertson's has closed the Houston-area Randall's distribution center and is now distributing to Houston out of DFW area. Randall's was able to ride on hometown customer loyalty for about 20 years to justify its higher prices, but when Houston's growth is mostly due to newcomers to the area with no loyalty to the brand, and it's alienating its longtime customers by no longer carrying their favorite items and running out of what it does carry, even long time customers start to notice they are paying a significant amount more and getting less for it. The nearest grocery store to me is a Randall's, though I usually go out of my way to either HEB or Fiesta, and even if I just want to quickly run in for something, I go to the next-nearest store, a Kroger, even though it's an old, small one, I know it doesn't run out of the things I buy regularly, is faster to get in and out of (usually because it has 2 to 3 times the number of checkouts open), and is cheaper. When I do run into Randall's, it's after a workout because it's right next to my gym, and I've noticed the clientele is getting older and older looking, the little old ladies who've shopped at this Randall's for 40 years, and when they die out, I'm sure this Randall's will close, if it doesn't do so before that. Another reason not to shop at a Randall's - they usually only have two checkouts open, and there is a very high probability that whichever one you choose, ahead of you will be a bluehair who waits until the checker has finished ringing up the entire cart, then fumbles in her purse for paper coupons, and then waits until after the checker has credited her for those coupons before fumbling in her purse for her checkbook to write a paper check.

Edited January 23, 2019 by Reefmonkey

[IronTiger]

On 1/23/2019 at 11:45 AM, Reefmonkey said:

 

I'm sorry, but you're wrong, Randall's higher prices are still a salient issue. I just compared the same "basket" of goods between Randall's and HEB, and Randall's total was 13% higher than HEB

He was comparing Randalls to Kroger.

 

There were a number of things that contributed to Randalls' demise. The first thing was Tom Thumb, back in the early 1990s. Randalls and Tom Thumb were comparable in many ways, but Tom Thumb stores were generally smaller and located in more urban areas compared to Randalls in suburban areas. It also carried a lot of debt, which Randalls absorbed. With the acquisition, Randalls was now fighting in Dallas and Austin, all the while during a major grocery battle back home, which saw H-E-B Pantry, Albertsons, and Food Lion enter the market. It killed AppleTree (loaded with debt and old stores) but essentially Randalls as well, with it being sold to KKR, then Safeway within a period of two years.

 

The second thing was Safeway, which was based out of Northern California and had previously been in Houston (along with pretty much everywhere west of the Mississippi) but times had changed and at some point, Safeway had decided to make all their stores more like the Northern California market. This did not, to put it kindly, do well for their acquired stores, like Randalls, Dominick's, or Genuardi's. Meanwhile, Kroger modernized their stores, replacing Greenhouse stores with new Signature stores, and buying up a number of former Albertsons, which were large, almost new, and many of which were in great locations.

 

The third thing was H-E-B, which had finally managed to saturate the suburbs with cheap-to-build H-E-B stores (many of which were located in older grocery markets) and H-E-B was ready to take the market with full-line stores. During the 2000s, H-E-B built or replaced a number of stores, many of which were large and upscale, while Randalls stopped building stores and closed down many in 2005, unable to adapt to changing neighborhoods and tastes.

 

Meanwhile, Albertsons had a long journey to go on its own. Its 2002 pull-out from Houston (and a few other markets) stemmed primarily from an expensive acquisition of American Stores in 1999, which saw Lucky being converted to Albertsons in name and format, which angered customers. Ultimately, Albertsons pulled out of several markets and broke into two companies. By January 2014, Safeway was on the ropes with the Chicago division (Dominick's) being dismantled, while Albertsons had managed to re-form (despite a number of lost stores) and looking to expand again.

 

Unfortunately, Albertsons wasn't able to do a reverse merger of Safeway and ended up acquiring it for more than it was worth, inheriting Safeway's debt. This wasn't able to help Randalls much or get prices down, and the market share by this time was so little it wasn't going to be coming back from Kroger anytime soon, and like in 2005, there were a number of neighborhoods that Randalls wasn't going to work with anymore without some help. Luckily, instead of just closing them outright, Albertsons had made a purchase of a minority (40% I think) of a Texas-based chain, El Rancho Supermercado, which it was able to flip those stores to, so in a way, those "closed" stores are still in partial control of what was Randalls.

[Reefmonkey]

I knew some of that, but appreciate the detail. I do think though that the dismissal of Randall’s higher prices (ie, him wanting to slap anyone who mentions it) is off base. I did a quick comparison of Randall’s prices with HEB because I happen to have an HEB account for curbside ordering, which made it quick for me to be able to compare Randall’s to a competitor and show they are in fact more expensive. I think his “feeling” that Randall’s is no more expensive than Kroger’s is just that, just a feeling, not based on comparing the same products side by side like I did with HEB. 

[gene]

I definitely feel like in regards to the the things that i PERSONALLY buy, Randall's is on par with other places I have visited (when using my Randall's card).

Again, I love the location of the Randall's at San Felipe and Sage and hope it never closes...or IF it ever does, that it gets replaced with an HEB or similar.

[gene]

This morning on Channel 2 news they were talking about Super Bowl BBQ's and how it's time to go to your favorite supermarket to pick up meat....and it listed all the grocers in Houston and Randall's had the best price for various cuts of meat! Thought of this thread of course!

[Reefmonkey]

Alright, so I just shopped at Kroger the same basket of of common staple food items and household goods I had shopped at both HEB and Randall's (remember, Randall's was 13% higher than HEB), and Randall's was 17% higher than Kroger. With all due respect to peoples' feelings (aka gut instincts) about what they personally tend to buy, or cherrypicking a special promotional item, comparing the exact same basket of common staple goods is the only reliable method to determine whether Randall's is actually more expensive, and it is more expensive than both HEB or Kroger. I doubt I need to go through the same process to demonstrate that Randall's is more expensive than Fiesta, Walmart, and SuperTarget.

Edited January 30, 2019 by Reefmonkey

[gene]

While I still haven't seen that to be true from MY experience and with what I buy...I will say that I am guilty of also never being desperate to find the cheapest price on anything I purchase no matter what it is whether it be food, dining out, clothing , home accessories/furnishings etc....so good for anyone that is! I like the convenience of my Randall's...but hey once again i wont complain if it is one day replaced with another grocery store!

[dbigtex56]

On 1/20/2019 at 10:20 AM, Luminare said:

Its the younger crowd that makes you money, and I don't ever see a single soul younger than 50 in any Randalls I've ever been too.

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.

[Reefmonkey]

I'm not desperate to find the cheapest price either, and I think many Houstonians were happy to pay more at Randall's for decades when they felt they were getting a better shopping experience - better shopping environment, better service, better selection, and for years that was the case. But now all that is gone, and all that is left is the higher price, and that does play a significant part in Randall's decline, despite the OP wanting to slap anyone who says so. According to the USDA, a moderate-cost food plan for a family of 4 with kids between 6 and 11 is $1,051.80 per month (low-cost is $843.50 and thrifty is $639.80). With a price difference of ~15%, you're talking almost $2,000 more a year you're spending at Randall's for the same stuff. That's more than pocket change.