H-E-B Selects ‘Above and Beyond’ Manager to Lead 9th Joe V’s

H-E-B has tapped one of its most seasoned and capable store directors to lead its new Joe V’s Smart Shop, which opened last week at 4203 Red Bluff Road in the Houston-area community of Pasadena. For the regional retailer’s ninth Joe V’s to open since 2010 in the Houston market, store leader and local resident Onofre Rodriguez has hired 150 new partners for the cross-functional store team, which the retailer said will enable them to learn a variety of skills.

Joe V’s San Antonio-based parent said the phenomenal success of the region’s first eight stores have paved the way for its newest 61,000-square-foot location, which will follow a mission to make healthy food choices affordable for families with prices that the company said are consistently 15%-20% lower than that of competitors. Joe V’s value-driven format hangs it hat on “incredibly low prices” on fresh-cut meat and seafood, fresh produce, national, H-E-B and Central Market brands, organic selections throughout the store and a scratch bakery dedicated to providing the top 20 items purchased most by customers in the area.

A profile of Rodriguez—better known as “Ono”—on Joe V’s website discusses his “above and beyond” dedication that preceded his latest role as manager of the Pasadena store. As one of the original members of Joe V’s ground-floor team, Rodriguez transitioned from the retailer’s flagship H-E-B banner to help start the discount banner’s first store eight years ago. Recalling the “scary leap of faith” required of the new role offered to him, Rodriguez said the store quickly became “a place the community really gravitated to. It’s a really fast-paced environment, and it’s a lot of hard work, but it’s so rewarding at the end, when you see all we’ve accomplished at the stores and how great our prices are,” he said.

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Onofre Rodriguez 

Among Rodriguez's most beloved “smart buys” at Joe V’s are its “bone-in rib eyes when they’re on sale—no one else sells them at the prices we do,” and fresh produce, “an entire truckload” of which often sells out in one day. “From a quality and freshness perspective, you can’t get any fresher than that,” he said.

The profile also describes the adversity he, his family and his community faced last year during Hurricane Harvey, which hit his home with several feet of water: “The whole time Ono was working out the logistics of his house, and how to repair it and take care of his family, he never missed a day of work. And when he was off work, he would still be on the phone with his stores.” Rodriguez’s dedication and ownership, according to the profile, are part of what  “makes him the leader that he is today.”