H-E-B to open 2 Joe V’s Smart Shop stores in Dallas

Amid still-high food prices, H-E-B is reinvigorating its value-focused Joe V’s Smart Shop banner, announcing plans on Tuesday to open two new locations—the first expansion of the brand since 2018.

The two new Joe V’s stores are headed for Dallas, the first time H-E-B has debuted the discount banner outside Houston. The retailer plans to open one at 4104 W. Wheatland Road in late summer 2024 and the other at 5204 S. Buckner Blvd. in spring 2025.

Joe V’s Smart Shop, which launched in 2010 and currently has nine locations, is billed as an “innovative price format” concept by the grocer, one that delivers a curated assortment of fresh foods and other items.

The stores, which average 55,000 square feet—about half the size of a H-E-B store, carry tortillas and sushi made in-house, as well as prepared meals, store-baked breads, fresh-cut fruit, house-cut meat and more. Each store employs about 150 workers.

H-E-B said it keeps prices low by relying on operational efficiencies and new technologies.

“With the introduction of Joe V’s Smart Shop in Dallas, we are excited to build on our longstanding presence in the area and commitment to serve more customers in this dynamic and growing part of Texas,” H-E-B COO Roxanne Orsak said in a statement. “As a multi-format retailer, we have developed a variety of brands and formats to best serve our customers across the state.”

San Antonio, Texas-based H-E-B has been steadily increasing its presence in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

H-E-B opened supermarkets in Plano and Frisco late last year and has locations in McKinney, Allen, Alliance and Mansfield in its new store pipeline. H-E-B-owned Favor Delivery serves 29 cities across the DFW area.

H-E-B last opened a Joe V’s store in December 2018 in Pasadena, Texas.

The grocer has previously said that Joe V’s prices are typically 15% to 20% lower than those of the competition—an important traffic driver amid still-high food-at-home inflation.