As of October 29, 2026, H-E-B has opened a store of more than 125,000 square feet at Interstate 10 East and Loop 1604 in San Antonio, serving the far East Side along with Converse, Seguin, La Vernia and other outlying communities. For brands selling through regional grocers, the opening is less about one door and more about a trade area that is being formally defined: a store this size, with curbside capacity and one-hour delivery, changes where shoppers on the eastern edge of the metro will buy.
What the new store actually adds
The store includes a True Texas BBQ restaurant with indoor seating and a drive-thru, a pharmacy with drive-thru service, more than 30 curbside pickup spaces and home delivery, including H-E-B Now one-hour delivery for 9.95 dollars. It is open daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. A convenience store with a 10-pump fuel station and car wash is under construction on the Loop 1604 frontage road and is expected to open in summer 2027.
H-E-B also donated 40,000 dollars to mark the opening, giving 10,000 dollars each to the education foundations of the Judson, East Central, Marion and Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City school districts. That detail matters for store selection: a retailer that invests in local school foundations is signaling a long hold on the trade area rather than a short pilot.
Why trade area beats store count
Format decisions follow the catchment
The store is designed around a growing suburban catchment rather than a dense urban one, which is why it carries a barbecue restaurant, a fuel station and a car wash alongside groceries. For a brand, the practical question is whether the assortment was built for stock-up trips or for fill-in trips, because the two formats reward very different pack sizes and price points.
Curbside capacity is a distribution signal
More than 30 curbside spaces plus one-hour delivery at a fixed fee means the retailer expects a meaningful online order flow from day one. That has a direct consequence for suppliers: if an item is not set up for e-commerce content, images and unit specs, it may be listed in the store but effectively invisible in the pickup and delivery channel.
Two openings, two different bets
The same week, Publix opened two stores on a single day: a 46,791-square-foot location in Calabash, North Carolina, and a 48,397-square-foot location in Independence, Kentucky, the latter with an adjacent Publix Liquors. Both offer Instacart delivery and a deli with more than 150 artisan cheeses.
| Retailer | Store size | Format signal |
|---|---|---|
| H-E-B, San Antonio | 125,000+ sq ft | Stock-up plus restaurant and fuel |
| Publix, Calabash | 46,791 sq ft | Coastal community store |
| Publix, Independence | 48,397 sq ft | Suburban store with liquor adjacent |
| FMI benchmark | 54% always in-store | Physical store still the anchor |
The table is a reminder that store size is a strategy statement. A 125,000-square-foot store can carry a deep assortment and a restaurant; a 47,000-square-foot store has to choose. For suppliers, the same item may be a core line in one format and a marginal listing in the other, and the planogram review should treat them separately.
How to verify a new-door opportunity
Store openings generate press releases faster than they generate shelf space, and the gap between the two is where most listing reviews go wrong. The five steps below keep the review evidence-based, with a named owner and a retained document for each step. Each step should produce a file that another team could audit without asking questions.
The point of the checklist is to separate a trade area signal from a listing win. A new store can expand distribution on paper while the item sits on a bottom shelf or is missing from the delivery catalog. Only the store walk and the online check tell you which happened.
FAQ
What did H-E-B open and where?
H-E-B opened a store of more than 125,000 square feet at Interstate 10 East and Loop 1604 in San Antonio, serving the city's far East Side along with Converse, Seguin and La Vernia.
Why does this matter for consumer brands?
A store of this size resets the trade area for the eastern edge of the metro. Brands that track distribution should check whether their items are ranged at this door and whether curbside and delivery capacity is live from day one.
How much delivery and pickup capacity does it have?
The store has more than 30 curbside pickup spaces, home delivery including H-E-B Now one-hour delivery at 9.95 dollars, and is open daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Is in-store still the main channel in the U.S.?
FMI's 2026 trends report finds 54 percent of shoppers always shop in-store at their primary store, while 77 percent are digitally engaged before they shop and 71 percent while shopping.
