KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas – Local shoppers may have the opportunity to patron one of Texas’ most iconic brands closer to home as H-E-B continues to grow and receive high accolades.
KAUFMAN COUNTY, Texas – Local shoppers may have the opportunity to patron one of Texas’ most iconic brands closer to home as H-E-B continues to grow and receive high accolades.
The grocery retailer, which operates some 400 stores in Texas and Mexico, is possibly looking to expand its store footprint in Kaufman County inForney.com has confirmed.
According to sources familiar with the company’s real estate holdings and negotiations, H-E-B has met with local elected officials on more than one occasion to discuss up to three potential sites for a new store in Kaufman county. While details and locations on the proposed sites were not disclosed, it appears that both Forney and Terrell have an opportunity to land the flagship H-E-B store in Kaufman county.
State Representative District 4 Keith Bell of Forney, who was reelected to a second term this past week, has reportedly been actively engaged and instrumental in conversations with H-E-B since first elected. While his office declined to elaborate this week, they did provide a comment to inForney.com
“Over the years, Charles Butt has donated millions of dollars to support Texas K-12 public education. Kaufman County and specifically Forney would be fortunate for the opportunity to have a company that invests in the future of Texas children which is our public schools,” the statement said.
In January, H-E-B was named the nation’s top grocer by a global research company. In June the company received the highest customer satisfaction score among grocery store chains for its COVID-19 response and precautions. In July Food & Wine magazine named H-E-B the best supermarket in the country. Just weeks ago it was announced, In a study by market research and mystery shopping firm Ipsos, H-E-B ranked first for grocery delivery among U.S. retailers, with a 99 percent accuracy rate.
Celebrating it’s 115th year in business, H-E-B has grown to over 120,000+ employees and over $28 billion in annual sales. As the largest privately held employer in Texas, new H-E-B stores can employ as many as 500 people, with a company policy that more than 70 percent are hired from the local community according to the company’s website.
If the Kaufman County site does come to fruition, it will be one of the first new stores in the region. There are now only a handful of stores within 50 miles or so of Dallas—in Waxahachie, Ennis, Burleson, Corsicana, Cleburne and Fort Worth.
“While the San Antonio-based chain dominates in Central and South Texas, there’s a significant, Dallas-Fort Worth-shaped hole in the company’s current holdings. The company does operate three locations of its higher-end Central Market concept in Dallas, with another one each in Plano, Southlake, and Fort Worth—but otherwise H-E-B is just a dream that folks in DFW hold in their hearts,” Texas Monthly reported last year.
H-E-B didn’t respond to inForney.com’s request for comment and have been slow to reveal plans around expansion in the past in other markets according to multiple media reports.