This location was actually formerly an Albertsons grocery store, but it had been vacant for about 10 years.
Dallas — read This story and more North Texas business news From our partners at the Dallas Business Journal.
HEB executives and community leaders on June 11 celebrated the grocery chain’s value-driven brand’s arrival in North Texas.
Joe V. Smart Shop’s first Dallas-Fort Worth location, and first outside the Houston area, is set to open this week at 4101 W. Wheatland Road, in a Duncanville neighborhood that previously had few fresh food options and was considered a food desert.
The space was actually a former Albertsons grocery store that had been vacant for about 10 years, and the renovation took about six months.
The new store will be Joe V’s 11th location overall and is located near the non-denominational megachurch Inspiring Body of Christ Church. Several members of the IBOC, including Pastor Ricky Rush, attended the grand opening ceremony on June 11. The store will officially open to the public at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, June 12.
“My team knows the expectations of this neighborhood,” Jeremy Chappell, the store’s general manager, said at the opening ceremony. “This neighborhood deserves quality retail and we intend to deliver on that every day.”
The new store will be modeled after a new Joe V’s that opened in Katy in west Houston in late 2023. Joe V’s Smart Shops first opened in Houston in 2010 as a response to the 2008 financial crisis, when many people lost their jobs and shoppers tightened their purse strings. A typical Joe V’s is about 55,000 square feet, about half the size of a HEB.
Merchandise sold at Joe V’s stores is typically 10% to 20% cheaper than in traditional HEB stores, executives have said previously. The stores keep prices down in a few strategic ways, according to HEB Chief Operating Officer Roxanne Orsak, who created the concept. First, they buy merchandise by the truckload and ship it directly to the stores, eliminating warehousing costs.
Low prices mean faster stock turnover, keeping products fresh and attracting suppliers.
“We focus on the products our customers want and we focus on tonnage, which really helps us keep costs low,” Olsak said. “We don’t have to stock product that we can’t sell.”
Items available at the Wheatland store include fresh tortillas, sushi, Asian grilled dishes and bolillos, a popular Mexican-flavored bread that the chain has sold since 2010 for $1, eight pieces.
“This is the base price for our department since its inception,” Chappell said during the event, drawing cheers.
Joe V has also partnered with local family-owned restaurant Smokey John’s BBQ & Home Cooking in Dallas to sell its popular banana pudding, made using a recipe created by the founder’s mother, exclusively at the restaurant.
When HEB LP announced in 2013 that it would build Joe V’s stores in the Dallas area, some residents expressed mixed feelings. Dallas City Council District 3 Councilman Zarin Gracie said some people wondered why a full HEB store couldn’t be built, and even he was somewhat skeptical.
After touring the first Joe V store in Houston, Gracie’s belief in the brand grew even stronger when she saw its commitment to the community, especially the freshness of the produce and meat departments.
The meat is carved in-house daily by certified butchers who are paid at least $20 an hour.
“This is going to be an outstanding grocery store,” Gracie said. “There’s not a lot of choices here, especially at this level. There’s not a lot of experience here.”
Overall, the store will employ about 250 people across all departments, a significant number in an area that hasn’t seen the same investment as other parts of DFW.
“You can see their passion for produce, their passion for food quality, their passion for their employees and their passion for the community,” Gracie said.
As a show of support for local nonprofits, Joe V presented checks for $10,000 each to Harmony Food Pantry & Resource Center, Duncanville ISD Panther Pantry and Duncanville Outreach Ministries.
Construction began in March on a second Joe V’s location at the intersection of Buckner and Samuel Streets in Dallas, scheduled to open in early 2025.
