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How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

texashighways.com

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Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#91

As soon as Covid was viewed as a serious threat in the US, they immediately put up plexiglass barriers to protect their cashiers. Immediately and not just half assed barriers. They did as good of a job as I would have done if I were the cashier. Then they transformed their stores to have more warehouse space and ran a free curbside pickup service. All of this and they are still the best grocery store in TX if you car…

H-E-B stared preparing for the pandemic some time before it started. Texas Monthly wrote about it and I thought it was pretty interesting:

https://www.texasmonthly.com/food/heb-prepared-coronavirus-p...

> The grocer started communicating with Chinese counterparts in January and was running tabletop simulations a few weeks later. (But nothing prepared it for the rush on toilet paper.)

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It has been more than a century since the American legal system told publicly-owned companies "Don't Be Good" The American legal system did no such thing in the Dodge ruling: as stated in the Wikipedia article itself, the 'pay shareholders' idea was in the obiter dictum (non-binding remark) portion. And as recently as Burwell v Hobby Lobby , the Supreme Court said: > While it is certainly true that a central object…

Literally, you are kinda correct about Dodge . Practically, not so much. The court's judgement quite effectively ordered to Ford to abandon his rather pro-social plan, the keystone of which was dramatic corporate growth , in favor of giving his minority shareholders a big hunk of the money (needed for that plan) ASAP. The difference between that decision and "Don't be Good" is that if you have zero greedy shareholder…

Dodge was in 1919, and shareholder primacy didn't really get going until the late-1970s or early-1980s:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedman_doctrine

So there's several decades between the two where it wasn't really a thing. The late Lynn Stout (amongst others) has written extensively on this:

> The Shareholder Value Myth: How Putting Shareholders First Harms Investors, Corporations, and the Public (Berrett Keohler Publications, 2012) challenges the ideology of shareholder value. Part I, “Debunking the Shareholder Value Myth,” traces the intellectual origins of shareholder-primacy thinking. It shows how the ideology of shareholder value maximization lacks any solid foundation in corporate law, corporate economics, or the empirical evidence. Contrary to what many believe, U.S. corporate law does not impose any enforceable legal duty on corporate directors or executives of public corporations to maximize profits or share price. The economic case for shareholder-value maximization similarly rests on incorrect factual claims about the structure of corporations, including the mistaken claims that shareholders “own” corporations, that they have the only residual claim on the firm’s profits, and that they are principals who hire and control directors to act as their agents. Finally, there is a notable lack of persuasive empirical evidence demonstrating that individual corporations run according to the principles of shareholder value maximization perform better over time than those that are not. Worse, when we look at macroeconomic data—overall investment returns, numbers of firms choosing to go or remain public, relative economic performance of “shareholder-friendly” jurisdictions—it suggests shareholder value dogma may be economically counterproductive. Part I concludes shareholder-value ideology is based on wishful thinking, not reality. As a theory of corporate purpose, it is poised for intellectual collapse.

* https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2012/06/26/the-shareholder-v...

Managerialism, which was the predominant theory before Friedman kind of took over, seemed to do relatively well:

> The system was hardly perfect.11 But the proof of the pudding is thetasting. Judged by that standard, managerial capitalism seemed to generate good results. American corporations dominated the global economy, producing innovative products for their consumers, secure jobs for their employees, and corporate tax revenues for their government. And-especially notable-they produced outstanding investment results for public shareholders. Between 1933 and 1976 (a period that includes the infamous bear market of 1973-1974),12 shareholders who invested in the S&P 500 enjoyed inflation-adjusted compound average annual returns of 7.5%. 13This compares very favorably indeed with the sorts of returns shareholders have received more recently.14

* https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?arti...

There have been multiple ideas about the purpose and responsibility of corporations and their management over the decades, all under the same legal regime.

Further, even talking about "shareholders" brings up issues: what is meant by "shareholder"? The pension fund that wants steady dividend payments for 3 decades? The hedge fund that wants a meteoric rise in share prices in 3 years? The day trader that's trying to cash in on a meme in 3 days? There is no (single) Platonic "shareholder" that a company's directors can aim to be best at: there are a variety of people holding stock for different reasons. See concept of "shareholder heterogeneity".

Was John Sculley doing the right thing by going for maximum profits and shares prices when he was CEO of Apple (and kicked Steve Jobs out)? How that'd work out for AAPL in the 1990s? How has focusing on financials gone for Boeing (since they bought out McDonnel–Douglas)? How did all the stuff that Jack Welch did at GE work out?

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s interesting that the private supermarkets (TJs, HEB) seem to both follow this happy and overstaffed model, and the public ones (Kroger, Albertsons/Safeway) do the opposite. Albertson’s adds insult to injury by overcharging for everything. Tomato? $4.99/lb please.

Publix is also on that first list, of happy and overstaffed and privately owned. I do most of my shopping there and it's much more pleasurable than Kroger or Walmart.

While the employees might be happy at Publix, they are in, in my experience, poorly trained. Also, the rest of the shopping experience is utter crap compared to H-E-B. Publix of 2026 is a far cry from Publix of ~2000. This is especially evident in their Produce and Meat departments.

I had to argue with a Meat Department Manager at a Publix in Central Florida who told me that "Top Round Roast" did not exist. I told him I could walk 50 feet to the Deli and get some slices of the Boar's Head Top Round Roast Beef if he'd like to try this non-existent cut. He did not have an answer and I had to show him images of the cut I wanted and he said they don't sell that cut.

This was great given it was a 20-mile round trip to that store for me...

Having spent most of my life in the south, I thought Publix was a great grocery store. But then I spent some time traveling the US and discovered stores like H-E-B, Hy-Vee, Wegmans, and Harmons and realized that Publix was just clean version of a low-end grocery store.

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#94

There are lots feel-good things to say about how HEB runs its business and what it does for the communities and local areas they are in. Not to mention their "generic" store branded foods are usually healthier and made with simple ingredients. And locally sourced. But this story[0] is the one that I think sums up the love people have for HEB pretty well. During the 2021 "Great Texas Freeze" [1] (where 4+million homes…

This is the centerpiece of TFA:

> When it was their turn at the register, the Hennessys started loading their groceries on the conveyor belt but were told to put the groceries back in the cart. The woman at the register asked if they had alcohol. They didn’t. Then she waved them toward the exits.

> “Go home and be safe,” she said.

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#95
Every time I move away from Texas, it's not the BBQ or any of the other things that might come to mind I miss, it's HEB. There's no other grocery store like it. HEB legitimately has everything I need and more, even in the normal stores, and when I want something really special its available through Central Market or an HEB Plus. The way they treat their employees and exist in the community far exceeds the expectations most people have of a grocery chain.

I'll never forget that they were one of the first on site after the recent flooding in South Texas to feed first responders and employees paid to volunteer in the search party, they provided food at no cost when their stores lost power to thousands of households during Snowpocalypse and worked tirelessly to restock and restore power via generator to ensure folks could get what they needed even as the city went dark, and during Katrina they set up mobile kitchens and kept them stocked to feed emergency workers and storm refugees throughout the Houston metro area, as well as many many many other examples of them stepping up when our own state government has failed us.

As someone who's lived in Texas off an on for more than two decades and lives here now, I would trust HEB ten times before I'd trust anyone in the state government here.

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#96
post #59

I lived closer to WinCo in DFW area and could walk to a grocery store to buy bread or some random grocery item. It was really nice. I don't think Europeans will ever understand how much of a flex it is to be able to walk to a grocery store in Texas.

I don't think you realize how boringly normal it is in Europe for people to never have a car and take public transit to the hypermarket, the same Cathedral of Consumerist Capitalism with a combined supermarket, shopping mall, movie theater, often a stadium for concerts and sports... And you can go with a granny hand cart multiple times a week because it's just a few stops on public transit, where it is also often a hub. La Defense and Forum des Halles in Paris, Stratford City in London, Mall of Tripla in Helsinki, Vasco de Gama in Lisbon

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#97

As soon as Covid was viewed as a serious threat in the US, they immediately put up plexiglass barriers to protect their cashiers. Immediately and not just half assed barriers. They did as good of a job as I would have done if I were the cashier. Then they transformed their stores to have more warehouse space and ran a free curbside pickup service. All of this and they are still the best grocery store in TX if you car…

[flagged]

How are respiratory infections transmitted?

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#98

There are lots feel-good things to say about how HEB runs its business and what it does for the communities and local areas they are in. Not to mention their "generic" store branded foods are usually healthier and made with simple ingredients. And locally sourced. But this story[0] is the one that I think sums up the love people have for HEB pretty well. During the 2021 "Great Texas Freeze" [1] (where 4+million homes…

[flagged]

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#99

HEB operates a similar model to Costco in being more expensive to the customer in a subtle way, through desirability. Their products are so interesting and appetizing that I go in with the intention of buying $30 of groceries and leave with a $100 load. Many of these products end up as local memes (tortillas, brisket queso, green sauce) they are so desirable. Wal-Mart is the opposite. I go in to buy groceries and am…

In Canada WalMart super centers (the ones with groceries) are low quality and have prices as high as (or higher) than other stores. Everything is prepackaged and shipped to the store so meat, dairy and bakery is the worst in town.

Yeah grocery at Walmart is ONLY for shelf stables and some frozens (even that is rare with their freezer operating practices) for me bc the quality of the "outside" is so poor.

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#100

The biggest difference I’ve noticed is HEB has plenty of employees who don’t seem depressed to be there. When I’ve been to HEB I see plenty of cashier lanes open, each with a cashier and bagger, people stocking aisles, a team behind the butcher and bakery counters, etc. By comparison, Kroger seems to try and have a skeleton crew at all times. Usually a single cashier, a self checkout supervisor, and a couple of peopl…

I've experienced the same thing except sed 's/HEB/Publix/g' This is probably just a 'Kroger vs nice supermarket' thing.

Kroger can and does run nice stores. Kroger Signature, Harris Teeter are two I've been in relatively recently.

You're also only going to find those in the same kinds of places you'd find a Trader Joe's or Costco - only in the nicest parts of town unless it's very densely populated or a small but rich enclave.

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