New grocery delivery service launches in Houston

HOUSTON – Finding time to go to the grocery store can be tough for many of us. More and more people are opting for grocery delivery services and now there's a new one in town.

Instacart was just launched in Houston. An Instacart shopper gets an order for groceries, heads to Whole Foods, gets the items and shortly gets her groceries delivered to her doorstep.

"It was great, they came during the delivery window and she called when the item that I ordered wasn't there and replaced it with something that was perfect, so it was easy," said Ede Booth.

Here's how it works: you download the Instacart app, then order what you want from the stores you want, enter your address and pay.

"Houston is our 14th city, we are in 13 other cities. We started in San Francisco," said Seth Bertenthal, city launcher for Instacart.

Right now they're working with H-E-B and Whole Foods, but they're expanding the stores they cover.

"Instacart is the only grocery delivery service that can deliver from multiple stores within one hour. So we have a fleet of personal shoppers," said Bertenthal.

The cost is $3.99 for a two-hour delivery and $5.99 for a one-hour delivery. Your first delivery is free. They also have a $99 a year subscription for unlimited deliveries.

Currently they're inside the Loop, downtown and west of the Loop, but they say they're rapidly expanding over the next few weeks.

With a quick Google search we found Instacart has plenty of competition: The Grocery Station, Memorial Concierge, Greenling, Houston Grocery Delivery Service and others are already delivering groceries in Houston. Amazon has also gotten into the grocery delivery business.


About the Author:

News anchor, Mrs. and happy mommy of four boys.