I reported last week about my first experience with on-line shopping and curbside pickup at HEB. This week I tried Kroger, with pickup at their Atascosita store.
The on-line portion of the experience was very much the same - both websites are, generally speaking, user friendly. If there is an edge, it is very subtle, but probably goes to HEB. Kroger more than makes up for it with a day or two shorter lag time between order and pickup. HEB does let you modify or add to your order closer to pick up time, Kroger has a 24 hour cutoff.
Pick up at both stores was painless and went without a hitch, so I'll rate that as a tie.
Both stores warn that items ordered may not be available by the time your order is processed, and each gives you the option of allowing substitutions. I'll give the edge here to HEB, mostly because two of the items I ordered from Kroger (Kroger brand zip lock freezer bags in quart and gallon sizes) were not available even though they were listed as sale items on the front page of their website at the time I placed my order. No substitutions were offered on either size - have freezer bags become the new toilet paper?
I had no serious complaints about the quality of the fresh items from either store, but the overall feel was that the items from HEB were generally fresher. That corresponds to my past experience when I was actually shopping in their stores.
The bottom line - when going head-to-head, neither store scored a knockout, but, in a split decision, HEB wins on points.
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