Randalls Food Market history

The company's fourth store opened in 1970, and by the end of the decade the company owned 15 stores and had established itself in the market.

Handy Andy had to have come to the Houston market around 1971 or 72.

1980: Four Handy Andy supermarkets are acquired.

By 1985 the company was the second largest grocer in the five-county Greater Houston area, with 17% of the sales in the market.

1986: Randall Onstead, son of the company's founder, is named president.

By 1987, a year after Randall Onstead was appointed president and chief operating officer, the company had expanded into a 39-store chain with a firm hold on the competitive Houston market.

KKR was most widely known for its hostile takeover of RJR Nabisco in 1989, a $25 billion deal that ranked as the largest takeover in business history.

By 1990, the chain had expanded to 42 stores.

In 1991 Randalls earned over a billion dollars in revenue, making it the fastest growing company in Houston.

Expanding into Dallas: 1992

Next, in January 1994, Randalls acquired the Austin, Texas-based AppleTree chain, giving the company a presence in three cities and control over 125 supermarkets.

Though the Simon David would remain open until December 1996, after which it became a Saks Fifth Avenue.

In 1997, the New York investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) purchased a 61 percent stake in Randalls for $225 million.

While Neighborhood Market opened 1998 making it possible that some overlaps existed, it's unlikely that Neighborhood Market was what caused the concept to end.

In the spring of 1999, eight new stores were under construction and five major renovations were underway, excluding the $113 million the company planned to spend during the remainder of the year to add 16 new stores and to complete 53 store renovations.

Armed with a fresh supply of capital, the Onsteads announced that they were pursuing a goal of $3.5 billion in sales by 2000.

Finally the first new full size H-E-B actually predates Central Market which opened in 2001.

Note: the Midtown Randalls opened in 2002.

The store at 9660 Westheimer looks like it was a former Handy Andy that they expanded later, and that was rebuilt several years after 2005.

So what's substantially different about it now? I've been to the Albertsons on Berry near TCU in Fort Worth several times since 2006 since it is the closest grocery store to my in-laws' house, and it still sucks.

It was opened in 2012, and seems to have been a sort of underwhelming grand opening.

In 2017 alone, along with the Albertsons Companies Foundation, the company gave nearly $300 million in food and financial support.