Howdy, folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today, we’re still in New Caney, taking a visit to what may be the cheapest place to get groceries in town. This is Grocery Warehouse, located at 17844 US-59, New Caney, TX 77357. Grocery Warehouse is what is commonly referred to as a salvage grocer. They sell items acquired from non-traditional sources at a discount, and yes, sometimes the items are close to or past their expiration/best-by date. They feature a large mix of non-perishable groceries and a moderate amount of frozen and refrigerated food, but nothing perishable during my visit. We’ll get to product specifics at the end; first, let’s talk about the history of this company. This lone location is the last in what was formerly a chain of four stores. They were initially founded by Jim Anderson, who had previously tried the discount market via a concept named Bargain Mart. Due to the nature of the chain, they did not rely on advertising, so I’m unsure if these stores sold groceries, but I do know there was a location on Homestead in Houston and one in Cleveland. These stores operated from 1969-1976, after which Anderson would seemingly take a break from retail.
In 1984, the first Grocery Warehouse was established in New Caney. While it was far from being the first salvage grocer in Houston, the concept would be a hit in the rural community. The stores would expand to Livingston, Kilgore, and Liberty over the next 20 years. The Kilgore location, much closer to DFW than Houston, would be the shortest-lived location, closing in 1993. However, the rest of the chain would make it into the 2000s, with Livingston closing in 2003. Mr. Anderson would sell the two remaining stores to separate owners. The Liberty location, which was only about a year old at the time of the sale, would make it to 2013, while the New Caney location has changed hands a few times but remains essentially the same concept. So, what is that concept? Well, selling rejected groceries! As previously mentioned, some of these groceries are past date and purchased from other retailers and wholesalers at a steep discount. However, not everything is expired merchandise. For example, the pallet of Strawberry Dr. Pepper was all in date; it’s just that Dr. Pepper had moved to the next flavor, and this was leftover merchandise. Other items were redesigned or repackaged, and the retailer wanted matching stock. Overall, the product mix was interesting enough that I bought a bag of Ruffles that was in seasonal rotation. If you’ve never visited a salvage grocery store before, well, this is a pretty good place to start!
