SAN ANTONIO — H-E-B recently opened a new e-commerce fulfillment center in Plano, Texas, a project that expands the retailer’s commitment to integrate innovative technologies that drive omnichannel growth and provide a better shopping experience for Texans. 

The 55,000-square-foot facility supports H-E-B’s curbside pickup and home delivery services throughout a fast-growing region of the state. The fulfillment center serves stores in Plano as well as outlets in the Texas cities of McKinney and Allen that are slated to open later this year.

“At H-E-B, we’re always looking for ways to offer Texans a better shopping experience and more options to choose how they shop, pay for and receive their products,” says Kedar Patel, H-E-B group vice president of e-commerce. “Across our business we are adopting innovative technologies that give our partners the tools they need to provide top-quality service to our customers, whether they shop online or in our stores.”

H-E-B says its fulfillment centers support rising demand of online shopping. Each stocks merchandise found in its stores. Deploying various forms of automation, the centers provide more capacity, greater efficiency, less aisle congestion for the in-store shopper and better product availability. Additionally, the centers increase supply chain capacity to help improve and power the expansion of H-E-B’s curbside pickup and home delivery offerings that are available at more than 270 stores in Texas. 

The Plano facility is the sixth fulfillment center the company has opened since 2018. By the end of next year, H-E-B looks to open additional facilities to help support expansion in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The regional supermarket operator is also expanding its retail footprint via openings of stores in various formats.

A recently opened Wolf Lakes Village H-E-B in Georgetown, Texas, is twice the size of the location it replaced and provides customers with an expanded product selection along with more services and features, including a two-story True Texas BBQ restaurant with full-service bar (see photos on page 10).

“We’ve been part of Georgetown for more than 55 years, and we look forward to serving this community with a larger store that offers a wide assortment of products and services,” says Kenny Scott, top store leader for H-E-B. “With an enhanced in-store experience and commitment to top-quality service and selection, this new store is tailored to serve the needs of this growing community.”

H-E-B continues to roll out its H-E-B Fresh Bites brand with the opening of its second location, which is in Lytle, Texas, and includes a True Texas Tacos restaurant. With H-E-B Fresh Bites, the retailer is giving a new look to its convenience stores and providing customers more options, such as fresh produce, chef-inspired prepared meals and convenient snack options.

The second Fresh Bites convenience store is situated next to the Lytle H-E-B, a store that was recently converted from a convenience-store format in a renovation that updated the store and added a True Texas Tacos restaurant. 

H-E-B also announced plans to open two Joe V’s Smart Shop by H-E-B stores in Dallas, the first locations of the format outside of the Houston area.

Joe V’s Smart Shop by H-E-B is an innovative price format that delivers a uniquely curated assortment of community focused products, and the most relevant high-quality, fresh products H-E-B is known for at even lower prices. Joe V’s Smart Shop is committed to delivering the lowest prices in the marketplace with the highest-quality fresh products for its customers, also fondly known as Smart Shoppers. 

The inaugural Joe V’s Smart Shop was opened in 2010, introducing a price-conscious format. To provide quality items at low prices, H-E-B leverages operational efficiencies and adds technologies to enhance the shopping experience.