Ready for the next big concept in grocery shopping? Well, it has arrived in the form of HEB’s Joe V’s Smart Shop stores. Since the third one just opened here in Houston, I am feeling a little behind in what’s new in the wonderful world of grocery store concepts so I dropped by Joe V’s this week to check out the next big thing.
And just what is the next big thing? Joe V’s has discovered a surprisingly wide open niche – the “discount” grocery store. To accomplish this, Joe V’s is a no-frills operation with concrete floors, a lack of intrusive ads, absolutely no samples and a lot less choice of items. In many ways, it looks like a warehouse grocery store, like Costco or Sam’s, but on a smaller scale. Here’s a shot inside the Joe V’s I shopped:
Because I shop at Costco pretty regularly, none of these discount touches scared me off.
The key to offering discount prices is, of course, offering less choice. So, instead of offering the 37,000 items found at a typical grocery store, Joe V’s only offers 6,500. What does that mean? If you want to buy flour, for example, as I did, there is only one kind. You can’t choose between bleached, unbleached or organic. Heck, you can’t choose between all-purpose, bread and cake. There is one kind of flour – the all-purpose store brand flour. And if you don’t want that, then you aren’t buying flour. I personally was fine with the all-purpose store brand (H-E-B was the brand by the way) so I bought it.
This less-choice option holds true throughout Joe V’s but I promise you, you will see plenty of brand names and products that you buy in the big fancy grocery stores. They just cost less at Joe V’s. And there are all kinds of brands aimed at the Hispanic population, brands plenty of Houstonian cooks love no matter what style of cooking they are dishing out.
Despite its discount leanings, Joe V’s includes an on-site bakery and a huge, very well-priced produce section. The meat selection was extensive and also at shopper-friendly prices.
I’m hoping to see more of these stores pop up around Houston as I had to drive 20 miles to get to one. In these recessionary times, this is one grocery store concept that is not just welcome, but I hope is here to stay.
For the locations of the Joe V’s store and info on their prices, check out their web site: joevsmartshop.com.
Kim
lblakner
Hidden Houston 