The year was 1905. Theodore Roosevelt was president, San Antonio was the largest city in Texas, and Albert Einstein published his theory of special relativity. In November of that year, a hard-working family dedicated to community opened a quaint shop in Kerrville that eventually would grow to become a business with more than 400 stores throughout Texas and Mexico and employ more than 120,000 Partners (employees).
Now, 115 years later, H-E-B is back to open another store in the city where it all began.
H-E-B’s new store on Main Street will officially open its doors to the Kerrville community on Wednesday, Nov. 11. At 114,000 square feet, the newest location features an expansive product assortment and several convenient services customers have come to know and expect from H-E-B. The store is located at 300 Main Street and will operate from 6 a.m. – 11 p.m. seven days a week.
While the new location is open for business, some of the store’s additional features will be opened in later phases. The True Texas BBQ restaurant, which was named best barbecue chain in Texas by Texas Monthly, business center, fuel station with car wash, and new parking lot are expected to open in spring 2021. Landscaping and revamping of the old parking lot are expected to be complete by the summer. The former store, which originally opened in 1984, is now closed and will be torn down to make way for additional customer parking.
Along with exciting new services and an enhanced shopping experience, the store will offer fresh, quality food options, expanded departments and innovative services that allow customers to choose how they shop, pay for and receive their products.
Some additional highlights and updated departments include:
- H-E-B Curbside service allowing customers to shop online and pick up their order at the store
- Pharmacy with drive-thru service
- Blooms floral department with certified floral designers and local delivery
- True Texas BBQ restaurant with indoor seating and catering for events
- Large selection of craft and import beers and wines
- One of the company’s largest Meal Simple departments stocked with chef-inspired meals
- Showtime Kitchen featuring live demos and daily samplings using quick and easy recipes
- Sushiya offering handmade sushi selections made in-store daily
- A bakery department featuring handmade artisan breads, cakes and Tortillería for fresh tortillas
- A produce section with expanded organic and Texas-grown selections
- A cheese shop with expanded selection of more than 250 cheeses
- Gas station with car wash
- 22 check stands featuring several self-checkout registers for quick customer service
With more than two decades of service to the Kerrville community, Greg Nichols will continue as the location’s general manager. The 31-year H-E-B Partner has served on numerous local nonprofit boards and has dedicated his time to giving back to the community, including continuing to move the chains at area youth football games. He will lead a team that added 100 positions, growing the store’s workforce to more than 415 Partners. This includes bookkeeper Kathy Tilton, the store’s longest-serving Partner who has spent her entire 46-year career with H-E-B working in Kerrville.
“We are excited this new store will provide the Kerrville community with a world-class shopping experience and the best H-E-B has to offer,” said Nichols. “Along with all our dedicated Partners, we are honored to continue serving Kerrville, the city where it all started for our company, and a community we proudly call home.”
H-E-B is passionately committed to its customers even beyond their stores with an unwavering Spirit of Giving philosophy. This philosophy has deep roots in the company’s history, dating back to the early 1900s when Howard Butt, Sr. and Mary Holdsworth Butt began contributing 5 percent of the company’s pre-tax earnings to charitable causes. In this spirit, H-E-B is proud to make a community donation totaling $15,000, which will benefit the Kerrville VA Hospital, and the Center Point Public School Foundation.
Additionally, H-E-B will make a $500,000 gift to the Friends of the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library, which the H.E. Butt Foundation will match. The $1 million gift will support the creation of The Heart of the Hills Heritage Center, a sustainable history and heritage museum that will interpret the rich history of Kerrville and the surrounding area.
“When we learned that H-E-B was celebrating the new store grand opening with a generous gift to the Hills Heritage Center on the Campus of the Butt-Holdsworth Memorial Library, the H. E. Butt Foundation Board of Directors voted to match the company’s generosity to this project,” David Rogers, President of the H.E. Butt Foundation. “A gift of this nature seemed like an appropriate way for us to support the Butt family history and legacy in Kerrville.”
To complement the look and feel of the surrounding Hill Country community, H-E-B incorporated design elements such as metal shed roofs and limestone materials. The limestone used for the store honors the company’s second location for its store, which opened in 1911 at the rock Masonic Building on Earl Garrett St. in Kerrville. A nod to the company’s roots, part of the design element will include a decorative facade for the Curbside area that resembles the retailer’s original store. Dedicated in 2016, the Texas state historical marker will be located near the Curbside area.
H-E-B’s first store, which opened as C.C. Butt Grocery Store, was located in the 800 block of Main St. The new store is the ninth location where H-E-B has operated a store in Kerrville.
