This Midwest-based grocery store says they’re staying away from Texas due to competition

An Iowa-based grocery store said they’re planning to expand outside the Midwestern U.S. by heading south, but they’re avoiding the Lone Star State.

Hy-Vee, an Iowa-based grocery chain announced plans to expand its business to three southern states for the first time since 2009, KPRC’s sister station KSAT and the San Antonio Business-Journal reported.

However, CEO Randy Edelker announced in a video to employees obtained by local newspaper The Des Moines Register that the company cited H-E-B’s “phenomenal” dominance in Texas, according to San Antonio Business-Journal.

“They’re a phenomenal competitor,” he said in the video. “There are lots of weak competitors out there that we just don’t need to go poke that bear. So we won’t.”

Although H-E-B remains popular in Texas, according to Metro Market Studies, Walmart continues to be the top competitor for the San Antonio-based grocery chain.