Kroger Challenges H-E-B for DFW With $160M Investment

As H-E-B makes a play for Metroplex growth zones, Kroger is signaling its own North Texas expansion plans with four new stores.

The Cincinnati-based grocer is spending $160 million on two stores in Fort Worth, one in Anna and one in Little Elm, the Dallas Business Journal reported.

In Fort Worth, Kroger has started construction on a store at 113 East Bonds Ranch Road that’s expected to open this fall. The company is building a second Fort Worth store at Sendera Ranch Boulevard and Rancho Canyon Way with a 2026 opening date. These two stores will serve Haslet and southeast Wise County.

The company also started construction in April on a store in Little Elm at U.S. Highway 380 and FM 2931. It’s slated to start building a store in Anna at Rosamond Parkway and U.S. Highway 75 this fall.

In total, the four stores will span more than 120,000 square feet and the grocer estimates each will cost about $40 million. Kroger’s John Votava told the outlet that the new stores will create 1,200 jobs.

Kroger is the second-largest grocery chain in the Metroplex behind Walmart. The region’s rapid population growth has set off a competition for market share.

San Antonio-based H-E-B entered the Metroplex in 2022 with a Frisco location and now operates 14 stores throughout the region, with seven more in the works. In addition, the company operates six Central Market stores and two Joe V’s Smart Shops with one on the way.

Beyond stores officially on deck, H-E-B continues to make land plays in the area’s growth corridors, like Pilot Point, where it recently bought 95 acres, and Sherman, where it purchased 20 acres.

Meanwhile, Kroger is recovering from the meltdown of a potential merger with Alberson’s. The $25 billion deal was blocked by a federal judge in December. As a result, Kroger has contracted, closing 60 stores across the country including one in McKinney at 1707 West University Drive.

Kroger entered the Metroplex in 1958 and has about 100 stores in Dallas-Fort Worth. According to CoStar, the retailer ranks eighth in retail property ownership in the region.

— Eric Weilbacher