IronTiger Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 When did H-E-B open in Houston proper? The Fountainview H-E-B opened in 2001 according to Yelp and was the first one according to them, but on the bayou (Braes Bayou?) there's a tiny store that was almost certainly an H-E-B Pantry (facade similar), and it IS in Houston. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/stories/2000/07/31/story4.html?page=all <-- this is from 2000 ... states there were only Pantry stores here at the time, starting in 1992. The Fountainview store was the first large-format HEB in Houston according to HEB corporate, too: http://www.heb.com/sectionpage/about-us/company/heb-history/3000002 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 ..and now that store is on the move: http://swamplot.com/h-e-b-to-vacate-fountain-view-store-to-build-store-on-fountain-view/2013-02-27/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iliketurtles Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Anyone remember the HEB Pantry in Webster? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowboybud Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 The HEB Pantry in Mission Bend is now a storage business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbcu Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 There was one on Cartwright Road in Meadowcreek in Missouri City...nothing has came since it left used to be home to Kingsaver before that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purpledevil Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 HEB Pantry came online at W. 18th at W. T.C. Jester in 1993, replacing Food City. It was one of the first ones that opened, but not THE first.Anybody know why it took so long for HEB to appear in Houston? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 I think the Pantry stores came in 1991 or 1992 (I'll have to check the Chron archives). Not sure about Houston, but a professor of mine told me that they were going to open a full line store in BCS but were spooked by a new Randall's and opened a Pantry store instead (there was a full store in Brenham by then). A full HEB did not open in CS until 2002. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsb320 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 The oldest one I can remember is the Bellaire store. I'm pretty sure that store has been there since the 80's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanabi-chan Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I remember there was a HEB Pantry on Queens and Shaver in Pasadena, and I want to say there was one on Southmore and Burke. Wasn't there a store on Center St. in Deer Park too? Not sure if that one is still open. The HEB on Fairmont Parkway & Space Center Blvd has been expanded and remodeled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucesw Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 (edited) I moved into my present home in Aug, 1992. It wasn't long afterwards that I started getting flyers about a new HEB Pantry opening near me at the corner of BIssonnet and S. Gessner but I can't remember for sure when it opened. I was glad to have another grocery store option in the area but I was familiar with HEB from Austin and didn't regard it as a very good option. There was an HEB just 5 blocks from the last place I lived in Austin and I only went in it once, preferring to go to Kash Karry (sp?) or Handy Andy. The latter had a few stores here in the 70s and I regularly went all the way to the one on Voss that later became a Randall's Flagship. HEB also put a store into an existing space at S. Braeswood at Chimney Rock in Meyerland. That store was slightly bigger than the newly constructed one but still small by standards of the day. Since I was new to the neighborhood I'm not sure what was in that space previously. I wouldn't claim that either store was the first in Houston but I think HEB opened multiple stores about the same time. The stores had banners strung across the front proclaiming the slogan H.E.L.P. which stood for Honest Extra Low Prices. They also promised to open a new check-out line anytime there were more than 3 people in line and they were very good about that. They stunted the first few weeks with very good specials on Blue Bell ice cream. I liked the new store; it was a better option than the small, run down Kroger at S. Gessner and S. Braeswood. It was very small with narrow aisles, reminiscent of grocery stores from decades earlier. It carried all the basics but it could be tough to get around in the store when it was crowded because of the narrow aisles and the produce department, the most important part of a grocery store to me, was very small. At about the same time, a Food Lion opened on S. Gessner at Creekbend with much less hoopla and I shopped there too. I read in the Chron at the time that HEB had planned to enter the Houston market but moved up their plans to try to block Food Lions' entry into the market. Both chains were positioned as low price, I think. The FL was a much larger store with wider aisles. FL offered a few items that were new to Houston including Vidalia onions, which I had heard of but never seen, and a Vidalia onion relish. These days you can find the relish products at lots of places but I think at the time no one was carrying them. All of the stores carried only select grade beef. I thought the FL beef was a little better than HEB but they sliced their steaks very thin. One product I really liked at FL was their knockoffs of Pepperidge Farm cookies which were very good and much cheaper than the name brand product. I became addicted to the Chocolate Chunk Macadamia Nut cookies. I had a problem with HEB. I was constantly getting over charged at the checkout, mostly by 'operator error' rather than the wrong information entered in the computer resulting in the wrong price showing up on a scan. This happened at both stores with different checkers and I came to the conclusion it was a company policy to try to do this. One example involved being charged 3 times for the same item. I always caught it but got po'd and gave up shopping at HEB until the FL closed and I had to go back. I hardly ever shop at HEB anymore. The small pantry on Bissonnett is now a private school and the FL is now Valley View Elementary (HISD). The Meyerland HEB is still open but I refuse to go there after repeated frustrations at the checkout. Edited January 9, 2014 by brucesw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bred Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Anyone remember the HEB Pantry in Webster? Where was the one in Webster? I remember one in League City off Hwy 3 and FM 518 that replaced an earlier Food King in the 90's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbcu Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 food lion was killed by 20/20....they actually had good prices though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumber2 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 food lion was killed by 20/20....they actually had good prices thoughFood King and Food Lion are two different animals. Yes 20/20 ruined Food King's reputation so bad that it couldn't recover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumbleweed_Tx Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 it was Food Lion that 20/20 killed... Food King is still going strong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9075 Posted January 12, 2014 Share Posted January 12, 2014 (edited) Food Lion is still around on the East Coast. I shopped at one in South Carolina last year. When did the HEB Pantry on W. 11th open? I remember it being there around 1993 or 1994. Edited January 12, 2014 by 9075 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iliketurtles Posted February 8, 2014 Share Posted February 8, 2014 Where was the one in Webster? I remember one in League City off Hwy 3 and FM 518 that replaced an earlier Food King in the 90's. It's where the Specs is now, situated across the street from the Clear Lake Library. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
technoevil Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Food Lion is still around on the East Coast. I shopped at one in South Carolina last year. I can confirm this. Stopped at one in West Virginia on my way up to New Jersey last summer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatesdisastr Posted February 24, 2014 Share Posted February 24, 2014 It's where the Specs is now, situated across the street from the Clear Lake Library. My mom and I would go there every so often in the 90s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted February 24, 2014 Author Share Posted February 24, 2014 Now I know The Woodlands isn't Houston (unless they eventually annex it, which I guess this will count retroactively), but I've been doing research on 130 Sawdust Road. There's an H-E-B facing Interstate 45. In 2003, this was rebuilt from a Pantry, and was opened in April 1992 according to the Chronicle (article is from October 1992): H.E.B . has edged slowly toward Houston since December 1988, when it opened stores in nearby Cleveland and Columbus. In February, H.E.B . opened a Pantry store in The Woodlands , and the company opened its first Houston store in April. H.E.B .'s expansion plan calls for 65 Pantry stores in the Houston area, and possibly building a few full-sized stores here in the future. The original store ("Woodlands 1" according to H-E-B's site) opened facing Sawdust Road. However, the store was around in 1989 (Google Earth) but it wasn't open yet. It looks like H-E-B may have taken the store's carcass from another retailer. Was there a Safeway there that closed prior to the chain becoming AppleTree? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted February 26, 2014 Share Posted February 26, 2014 Now I know The Woodlands isn't Houston (unless they eventually annex it, which I guess this will count retroactively), but I've been doing research on 130 Sawdust Road. There's an H-E-B facing Interstate 45. In 2003, this was rebuilt from a Pantry, and was opened in April 1992 according to the Chronicle (article is from October 1992):The original store ("Woodlands 1" according to H-E-B's site) opened facing Sawdust Road. However, the store was around in 1989 (Google Earth) but it wasn't open yet. It looks like H-E-B may have taken the store's carcass from another retailer. Was there a Safeway there that closed prior to the chain becoming AppleTree? I've done some research on this in the past and according to Montgomery County's CAD these are the sales dates and sellersDate: Seller09/27/1991 SUNWEST DEVELOPMENT CO08/30/1989 Unknown The record that list those dates has a build year of 2003. There are records that reflect the previous Pantry store notably referring to the property as HEB Pantry Foods #595 There was also a tax reference to HEB BEVERAGE COMPANY LLC. Leading me to wonder if HEB ever had a separate building for Liquor sales similar to what Fiesta does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted February 26, 2014 Author Share Posted February 26, 2014 Incredible! I took a hunch and ran with it, and my efforts were handsomely rewarded. I knew that Galveston's H-E-B Pantry (shuttered 2008 under that name) used to be a Safeway, and I was right! 7 Safeways to be shut here; 9 more possible Houston Chronicle - Wednesday, June 10, 1987 Safeway Stores Inc. will close seven supermarkets in its Houston division, and the head of the union local representing Safeway workers here says as many as nine more store closings are possible. Safeway , which has closed nine stores so far this year in the Houston area, will close another seven on Saturday. The company said the closings are part of its ongoing program to eliminate stores that are not performing well. The stores slated for closing in Houston are at 10902 Scarsdale, 11502 S. Wilcrest and 15440 FM 529 at Highway 6. Two are closing in Spring: 7310 Louetta and 130 Sawdust Road. In addition, Safeway will close one store each in Cleveland and Clute. The stores ranged in size from 27,000 square feet to 51,000 square feet, the largest being at FM 529 and Highway 6. That one was opened within the past year but was closed because the location did not turn out to be as good for business as it looked, said Pamela Morris, public relations manager for Safeway 's Houston division. The closing leaves 104 stores remaining in the Houston division, which covers eastern Texas and extends as far west as Killeen, Morris said. She said there are no other closings the company is ready to announce, but it evaluates all of its stores regularly with an eye on eliminating unprofitable outlets. Neat, huh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 Anyone remember the HEB Pantry in Webster?Yes it's specs liquor now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 I was born in San Antonio and lived there until elementary school so I remember seeing HEB there and was pretty happy to see it here as well. I think we moved before one opened near us here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MirrersTrucking Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 (edited) Old post, but I remember when the HEB in Cleveland opened and I remember when that was a Safeway. Also I remember the Safeways in Kingwood and Humble as well. Edited October 26, 2015 by MirrersTrucking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 It is an old topic, but it's worth mentioning the last store that I know for sure only had the Pantry Foods footprint has closed for remodling. It's the location at 5417 S Braeswood Blvd Houston, TX 77096 aka the Meyerland location. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tumbleweed_Tx Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 the HEB on bissonett in Bellaire was a Pantry store, and it's still open Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpaceGhost Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 the HEB on bissonett in Bellaire was a Pantry store, and it's still open Yeah there are some former Pantry stores still operating but afaik they were all expanded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MirrersTrucking Posted October 26, 2015 Share Posted October 26, 2015 I always thought the Pantry stores were downright nasty looking, smelling etc inside. When they closed the one in Porter and removed the freezers on the back wall, there was a lot of mold behind where they stood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
technoevil Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 the HEB on bissonett in Bellaire was a Pantry store, and it's still open Same with the Memorial and Dairy Ashford location. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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