Groceries stores offer curbside, delivery service in Houston

Thursday, February 11, 2016
Stretch Your Dollar: Putting Houston grocery delivery, pickup services to the test
ABC13's Patricia Lopez tested three top grocery services

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Whether it's curbside pick up or delivery for your groceries, you have some options in the Houston area.

HEB Curbside

The Bunker Hill Road location is the only HEB in our area that offers curbside service. You purchase your groceries from HEB.com and then pick up at your convenience. The fee is $4.95.

We didn't find the site as user-friendly as the other two services we tried. Once we picked up our groceries, that part was easy, but when we got back from our pick up, we noticed the order of butter was wrong and the avocados were too ripe.

HEB responded swiftly with a refund on my items that were incorrect and gave me a $10 credit to try the service again.

Putting Walmart pick up service to the test

Patricia Lopez tries out grocery pickup at Walmart

Next, Walmart.com's new pick up service. This is available at 7 different suburban Walmarts in the Houston area. There is no fee for curbside pick up, and we found the website was a breeze to navigate.

With this service, communication is key. Walmart will call you to confirm the order is ready within your requested hour, then you call them when you are five minutes away from your pick-up. We were in and out in five minutes with no problem.

Instacart

And finally, Instacart.com grocery delivery. Choose from several houston retailers like Whole Foods, Costco and HEB.

Instacart was the easiest of all the sites to navigate. The only thing you should watch for: you might be charged more money than the grocery store for your items. Also, there is a fee of $5.99 for deliveries over $35, and $9.99 for groceries under $35. Also, you need to consider a tip, which is customary with this type of service.

Instacart got high marks for ease of service and convenience.

The winner for value and convenience was Walmart.com. Here you don't have to tip either, and while there are only seven Walmarts in our area that offer this service, expect more coming to a neighborhood near you this year.