Supermarket construction in Texas follows years of population gains

Traffic zooms by on Highway 287 from the parking lot of a brand new Kroger grocery store – about the size of two football fields. Yomaira Funes wheels her groceries to her car. She came in for water, but ended up with a cart full of broccoli, eggs, and stuff for her dog.

“You come in for one thing, and you always come out with more,” she said.

Since this store opened in October, it’s become her supermarket of choice.

“It's closer to my home. I live over here, like a mile away,” she said. “This Kroger… I like it because the aisles are big.”

She moved from up north to Fort Worth about a decade ago. It’s newcomers like her who have spurred new supermarket construction in Texas metro areas.

“This is a classic example of Kroger catching up in a growth corridor,” said Bob Young, executive managing director for real estate firm Weitzman. He helped develop the new Kroger Marketplace store on Bonds Ranch Road in north Fort Worth.

Since 2020, millions of people have moved to Sun Belt states like Florida, Arizona, and Texas, chasing jobs and affordability. While much of that migration happened during and after the pandemic, construction lagged in one critical sector: grocery stores.

Now, southern cities are seeing a flurry of supermarket construction. One of the most active markets is Dallas/Fort Worth, where dozens of new stores are in the works, according to analysis by Weitzman.

“Last year in 2025, when we built almost 2.5 million square feet of new retail space, based on our survey, [around] 80% was grocers,” Young said. “That tells you that the grocers are now absolutely catching up with the unbelievable growth in the metroplex.”

The rule goes like this: retail follows rooftops. But despite the substantial migration to Texas metro areas in recent years, Young said grocery store construction had been lagging. That’s because pre-pandemic grocers were focused on improving store technology.

Then COVID hit, further pausing investment in new brick and mortar stores.

“But it was a catalyst for rethinking in cleaning up bad real estate and bad customer treatment. So now, where are we? Demand has not stopped in North Texas,” he said.

Grocers like H Mart, H-E-B, and Costco are building to meet that pent-up demand. His firm estimates 34 new stores will open over the next two years in the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area.

“Fort Worth is truly having a moment in terms of our growth,” said Steve Montgomery, Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce CEO. “We've just crested a million people.”

Fort Worth’s population has grown 24% in the last decade, according to government data.

Montgomery said it’s nice to see all this new development in his hometown, which has become the 11th largest city in the country. And unlike many major cities, Montgomery said Fort Worth still has undeveloped land.

“We have room to grow,” he said.

But will the growth last? Now, fewer people are moving to Texas than before.

“In prior years, you saw maybe higher migration, domestic migration to Texas, and you're starting to see that … level out a bit,” he said.

Federal immigration policies are capping international migration to Texas, which has historically been a significant contribution to population growth, especially in Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston.

But perhaps a slowdown could allow for construction – supermarket or otherwise – to catch up.

“Traffic … mobility often ranks very high in terms of a challenge,” Montgomery said.

At the new Kroger in north Fort Worth, shopper Yomaira Funes said while she was pleased with the store, she was less enthused by the new traffic.

“Off of 287, the roundabout is, it's a nightmare,” Funes said.

Like any growth spurt, Fort Worth is not without its growing pains.

“It is getting very populated. That is a little concerning,” she said. “But it’s also nice to have everything close by.”