Texas grocery chain H-E-B plans to open a new store in Southwest Houston, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
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The filing proposes a 99K SF Mi Tienda store at 7140 Southwest Freeway to open around March 2028, according to Realty News Report, though such filings are often preliminary and subject to change.
Mi Tienda is the San Antonio-based H-E-B’s Latino-focused grocery store. The proposed new location would be its third. The first Mi Tienda opened in the Pasadena area in 2006, and the second opened in Northeast Houston in 2011, per Realty News Report.
The new Mi Tienda store would add to PlazAmericas Mall, the 850K SF Baker Katz-owned marketplace and shopping center formerly known as Sharpstown Mall. The filing indicates construction will start in February and cost about $24M.
Meanwhile, H-E-B confirmed to the Houston Chronicle it is under contract for a 6-acre site near 2600 Canal St. in Houston’s East End, though the company said it does not have specific plans for the site.
It is working through the due diligence process, though, and looking for growth opportunities throughout the Houston area.
H-E-B now operates 455 stores throughout Texas and Mexico under the H-E-B, Central Market, Mi Tienda and Joe V’s Smart Shop brands.
The chain’s arrival in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2022 set off a chain reaction, with stores now in or planned for well over a dozen suburbs, plus North Dallas. H-E-B also confirmed in January it plans to open a second store in Lubbock.
Last week, the company announced it would invest $700M to expand its supply chain operations, creating 720 jobs by 2028 and more than 1,200 full-time jobs over the next decade.
The chain is also shuttering at least one store. The smaller, older Spicewood Springs H-E-B will close after its lease expires at the end of July, the company confirmed.
The grocer’s growth plans seem to mirror Texas-based travel center chain Buc-ee’s, which is expanding to a half-dozen new states while shuttering its older, small-format gas stations.
