08-27-25 @ 9:15 am
I went to the HEB in Portland, a 52 mile round-trip for me since they, at least at one time, had a good variety of products including produce, meats, breads, canned goods etc.
I went in and started at the produce section. I noted people picking up sacks of grapes and putting them back. When it was my turn I found out the grapes were bad/brown in the bottom of the sack. Not one sack but the majority. At the time, I found the best sack I could of a different type of grape and that quality was not saying much.
I continued in the produce section and found some petite carrots and was able to find a bag that didn’t have a lot of water in it. Not too many of them. From there I headed over to get a head of lettuce. Didn’t have many heads of lettuce but what was there was streaked with brown. Not a pretty site.
Checked on the apples and noted they were bruised and banged up pretty bad. For almost $2 bucks apiece, think there may be some freshness or newness to the apples, but there wasn’t
This is the product that is being offered for sale to the Customer?
Next on my list was frozen Corndogs.I was able to find a few of them in front of the bakery or rather a cooler with a few boxes in it, along with numerous bare shelves. Wonder, did we have a run on Corn Dogs? While there I checked on the popsicles and the same held true, just a few boxes of weird popsicles and the rest of the cooler was severely lacking.
I was sort of getting the overall drift and getting frustrated
I turned around and headed over to get a Boston Butt Pork Roast. Where I thought they were, the meat coolers were empty. I looked along the side wall and didn’t see much at all as to selection. Maybe they hid them over in the cosmetics aisle, I don’t know.
I did note several employees chasing a beautiful Siberian Husky through the store. Bet that was a blast.
Short of thinking I was getting pranked, I had had enough. I put the rest of my list up and I just left the cart by the empty meat cooler with what was in it and left the store.
I drove back towards home and ended up stopping by the HEB in Sinton. I bypassed it to begin with as it is a relatively small store in comparison and does not have the selection or product. Strangely enough I was able to get all the items on my list totaling close to $100 bucks.
I called the HEB in Portland and asked to speak to the store manager. A lady by the name of Ashley answered. I explained the above She did say she understands and is sorry, and put it off on renovations. I really don’t think there was a level of understanding in this regard. I am aware of the renovations, which is great, but subpar produce I don’t believe qualifies as renovations. Lack of product inventory in my opinion does not qualify as to renovations as people still need to shop. Maybe signs where the products were could be put up at least helping direct the customer to where they may be stored. I heard later that some of the meats are stored over by the pharmacy. I did not check that out. Not too good regarding planning. This is what causes people to go to Walmart or go elsewhere to spend their money.
A frustrating and disappointing shopping fiasco. Hopefully, things will get better, sooner rather than later.