Location Confirmed for New Heights HEB

After years of rumors, HEB has finally confirmed the location of a new Heights store! Pending the passage of a vote to allow alcohol sales for take-home consumption, the new HEB will go in on North Shepherd and 23rd Street, in the former Fiesta lot. The vote in November is expected to pass easily, allowing grocery and convenience stores in the “dry zone” of the Heights to sell beer and wine. HEB has waited years to open a bigger, better store in the Heights until alcohol sales were legal, since a “dry” store would enjoy a lower profit margin than one selling alcohol. 

 

While the four-acre Fiesta lot was rumored to be ruled out as a new HEB location due to its small size, HEB has decided there are ways to work around that obstacle in order to better serve the Heights. The proposed 80,000 square foot store will be built on stilts to allow for parking underneath the store, and may even be two stories, although that hasn’t been confirmed. A two-story grocery store on stilts would certainly be a first for the Heights area, although such layouts are not uncommon in other large cities where space is at a premium. HEB has has already done a few two-story stores and is building one in Bellaire to replace an old store, and Houston Region President Scott McClelland informs The Leader that this is no problem for HEB. “We don’t build any two the same,” says McClelland. “We don’t use a cookie cutter. What’s important to me is to build a store people want to shop at. It’s best to put our ear to the ground and listen to what people have to say.” 


Advocates of the new Heights HEB store argue that a new location would provide a great benefit to the economy, allowing Heights residents to walk to the store to do their shopping or to get to work. Assuming the dry laws are amended in November when the vote takes place, the new HEB is scheduled to open for business in January 2018. 

For more information, please visit: http://theleadernews.com/confirmed-heb-picks-heights-spot/