H-E-B expands presence in Houston

Just before the new year, H-E-B added to its Houston market footprint with the opening of its El Dorado store in Webster, Texas.

The 107,000-square-foot supermarket, located at 18611 Eastfield Dr., near the intersection of Interstate-45 and El Dorado Boulevard, replaces the former El Camino Real H-E-B store in Clear Lake. The new store — opened on Dec. 29 with a Times Square-style ball-drop celebration — honors neighboring NASA with a metal shingle design resembling the underside of the Space Shuttle, San Antonio-based H-E-B said.

“I look forward to serving the Clear Lake community and ensuring that our longtime customers from the previous store continue to enjoy the best of what H-E-B has to offer,” commented Jim Doxakis, the El Dorado store’s general manager and a 15-year H-E-B employee.

H-E-B noted that the new location centers on convenience, whether customers want to shop in-store to cook at home, order online for curbside pickup or home delivery, or check out grab-and-go and H-E-B Meal Simple meal solutions, which range from salads to casseroles to entrees and are designed to provide a restaurant-quality meal without the high cost of going out.

The El Dorado H-E-B’s curbside pickup site is one of the chain’s largest, with 26 parking spaces. The store also has a full-service pharmacy with a drive-thru window plus an H-E-B Fuel station.

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Highlights of the store include in-store fresh squeezed juices and freshly made guacamole; a fresh sushi station that also offers fried rice, noodle and poke bowls; a cheese department with over 300 specialty, local and imported cheeses plus an assortment of cheese platters and boards; and a full-service scratch bakery and tortilleria offering artisan breads baked fresh daily, fresh tortillas, desserts, pastries and custom cakes.

Customers also will find the Fresh Meat Market shop, offering natural, prime and wagyu meat cut in-store by certified meat cutters, as well as 100% pure beef ground in-store daily. Meanwhile, the store’s wine and beer department houses more than 2,000 bottles of wine and over 300 beers and is staffed by two Certified WSET II Partners for customer tastings and pairings.

Other features include a large assortment of Texas-made products; a Healthy Living department offering bulk foods (such as nuts, grains, dried fruits and snack mixes), vitamins and supplements, and natural beauty products; the Fish Market shop serving up fresh seafood from around the world; a Texas Backyard garden center; and H-E-B Organics and H-E-B Select Ingredients, a line of H-E-B-brand products excluding unwanted ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors.

The El Dorado H-E-B, too, has a team of registered dietitians and culinary experts who, in tandem with Healthy Living product options, offer on-site and telehealth nutrition services to customers. Services include nutrition counseling, nutrition diagnostics testing, dietitian-led shopping support and meal planning services.

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