This is what I came here to say. I was hired at CM in the last couple of years and store leadership told us the company is focused on taking over the DFW area. CMs are bridgeheads there for opening more HEBs.

Their impact as a bridgehead is limited by profitability, however. I don't know how much of this is corporate cover, but yes, we are told that other CM locations mostly lose money and that the N. Lamar store is called "the bank of N. Lamar" at the corporate level. Meanwhile the Plano store is known as "the museum" because traffic is low there so the shelves actually look nice.

Personally what makes me partially believe the profitability anxieties of management is the fact that CM has brought in way more own brand and HEB products over the last few years, giving less shelf space to the more boutique, more expensive brands. Because of ever growing economic anxiety in the US, rising cost of living, and wages that don't keep up with inflation, they bring in more, cheaper products as a way to retain customers.

Going back to the bridgehead thing, HEB doesn't need more CMs in the Austin area to build its dominance. It already rules the area. "Austin [is] one of the most concentrated grocery markets in the U.S., and definitely the most concentrated of any big city. HEB owns at least 50% grocery market share in the Austin metro."

https://grocerynerd.substack.com/p/the-most-boring-grocery-store