Nicholas Grubbs

Period 6
12/11/2013

Of the three stores HEB, Whole Foods, and Randalls,
which will have better prices. I think that HEB will have
the best prices because it has the most stores in Texas,
causing it to have better supply connections and better
prices.














HEB: Here Everythings Cheaper?
In todays world the grocery store is where most people get food. It is usually more cost
effective than going out to dinner for every meal. On average, Americans visit the supermarket
1.7 times a week spending on average 35 dollars per consumer. So on average an American will
spend about $3100 a year on groceries. For my project, I wanted to see the difference in prices
for the three major stores near my house. Since in a few short years I will be living on my own
and having to make the food decisions for myself, I wanted to see which of these stores would
give me a better deal. I went to Whole Foods, HEB, and Randalls. I used 24 different products
to determine the differences in prices between the stores. I chose produce, beverages,
household items, and other products and tried to use the same or similar brands to make it as
fair a comparison as possible.
I expect that HEB or Randalls will be the cheapest store because Whole Foods mainly
deals in organic foods which are more expensive to produce. I think that since Randalls and
HEB are basically the same size with a similar customer base that they will be closely related
when it comes to price. HEB has more than 350 stores throughout Texas, while Randalls only
has 109 stores, therefore HEB should have an edge in buying power due to efficiencies. I was
surprised to learn that Whole Foods has 350 stores nationwide, since there are so many fewer
stores in the Austin area, even though the company is headquartered here in Austin. I expect
that HEB and Randalls will be within five dollars in price, with HEB expected to be cheaper, and
that Whole Foods will be within 20 dollars of HEB and Randalls.
To get my data I went to Whole Foods first because I knew that they had a limited base
of products that were offered in the other stores. I walked through out Whole Foods picking
out any products that I knew were going to be at Randalls and HEB. Since most fresh produce
items would be in all the stores and I wouldnt have to worry about brand of the produce, I
choose eight produce items that were common. It was important that I checked how each item
was priced--by unit, or by pound because I could not compare produce that was different from
of measurement. Whole Foods also did not have that many brands that were in the other two
stores. So I had to use store brands for some products because I thought that they would be
comparable since they were produced by their respective stores. The store brands I used were
Safeway for Randalls, 365 for Whole Foods, and Hill Country Fair for HEB. The products that I
used their store brands for are: Cheese Snacks (Cheese Itz), Mac n cheese, Root beer 12 pack,
Cola two liter, paper towels six pack, Frosted Flakes, and Oatmeal. A couple of the products that
I used were local products like Saltlick BBQ sauce and Sweet leaf Tea. Basically the rest of the
products that I used were major brands like Izze, Kettle chips, and Vitamin water that would be
in all three of the stores.
I was correct in think that HEB would end up being one of the cheapest place to shop. It
had a total cost for the 24 items of 46.44 with Randalls behind it at 63.95 and whole Foods in
last with 70.96. That is assuming that I only got one of each item and one pound each of the by
the pound products. HEB had also the most amount of cheaper products. Out of all 24
products that I had chosen, HEB had 19 of the cheaper products with Randalls and Whole
Foods having two and a half products cheaper than HEBs. What I did not expect is that
Randalls was more than seventeen dollars more expensive than HEB. They seem like stores
that would need to be competitive with each other so I thought they would be closer in price. I
also thought that there would only be 20 dollars difference between the lowest cost and the
highest; but HEB and Whole Foods had almost twenty five dollars difference in the two costs.
To be fair to Randalls, their customers are able to get a Remarkable Card and some items
would have been cheaper with the card. There is no cost to the card other than filling out a
short form. This is Randalls plan to create customer loyalty, but I wanted to do the experiment
from the perspective of someone just walking in and not wanting to fill out paperwork to get
the discounted prices. Also, HEB offers many meal deals where you can buy one product and
get another (or several) free or discounted. Im not aware of any special deal or customer
loyalty program offered at Whole Foods. Their marketing niche is towards a high-end, quality
focused consumer.






Works Cited
"H-E-B Home." H-E-B Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013
Company Info | Whole Foods Market." Whole Foods Market. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company-info>.
"Supermarket Facts." FMI. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. <http://www.fmi.org/research-
resources/supermarket-facts>.

Appendix






Limes .39 ea .10 ea .20 ea HEB
Lemons .99 ea .25 ea .59 ea HEB
tomato 1.99 pl 1.98 pl 2.49 pl HEB
honey chrisp apples 3.99 pl 3.48 pl 2.99 pl Randall's
pink lady apples 2.99 pl 3.38 pl 2.99 pl Whole & Randalls
Pineapple 4.99 ea 3.98 ea 4.50 ea HEB
Russet Potatos 1.69 pl .88 pl .99 pl HEB
Stubs 18oz 3.49 2.82 3.59 HEB
Saltlick 12oz 4.99 2.49 3.59 HEB
cheese itz SB 2.69 1.98 2.99 HEB
Macncheese SB 0.99 0.5 0.75 HEB
Rootbeer 12 pac SB 5.49 2.67 5.99 HEB
Izze 4 pack 5.99 4.97 4.99 HEB
Cola 2 L SB 1.99 1 1.89 HEB
Sweetleaf 16oz 1.69 1 1.49 HEB
Kettle brand chips 1.69 2.68 3.49 Whole Foods
Paper towls SB 4.99 2.12 2.99 HEB
Vitamin Water 20oz 1.69 1.25 1.39 HEB
Fuji Water 1 L 1.59 1.94 2.19 Whole Foods
Simply Oarnge original 3.79 3.48 3.99 HEB
Frosted Flakes SB 3.39 1.88 1.99 HEB
Kashi Go Lean cereal 3.99 2.48 4.29 HEB
Oatmeal SB 3.49 1.62 3.59 HEB
Red onion 1.99 pl 1.14 pl 1.09 pl Randall's
Total Cost 70.96 46.44 63.95 Total Cheapest products
HEB 19
SB= Store Brand Whole Foods 2 1/2
PL= Per Pound Randall's 2 1/2
ea= Each