San Antonio-based H-E-B long has dominated its regional market, with 339 retail stores in Texas and Mexico, each one carefully calibrated to serve its neighborhood. But now it is preparing to confront an unprecedented onslaught of competitors.
In the 155 Texas communities in which the grocer operates, shoppers will encounter more than 30 new food and drug store offerings in their neighborhoods next year. That's about triple the amount of competitors that opened new storefronts in H-E-B's markets this year, and about four times the number that set up shop in 2011.
In San Antonio, Trader Joe's will open its first store at the Alamo Quarry Market on Friday, about a month after Whole Foods Market opened its second store in the city in the Vineyard shopping center.
The Alamo Heights area recently received a new Target designed with Target Corp.'s fresh grocery concept. And Wal-Mart, the world's biggest private employer and largest retailer, announced an aggressive plan to build four supercenters in San Antonio alone by early 2014.
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