City officials from Bedford and Euless joined together for the ceremony to signal the start of construction for a $40.8 million store in the southern part of the Glade Parks shopping center.
The store will located at 2105 Rio Grande Blvd. in Euless, though part of the store and parking lot will be in the Bedford city limits. Just beyond the hill, where the H-E-B hot air balloon sat during the groundbreaking event, are Colleyville city limits along Cheek-Sparger Road and Heritage Avenue.
What they’re saying
A sixth grade teacher in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD, Cogan said he learned an important lesson when he moved to Texas 12 years ago.
“People would often ask where I worked, and I would simply reply I worked for HEB, and you would see their eyes light up,” Cogan told the crowd. “That would be followed with excitement and ask where, where is it? Where is HEB? Well, then I had to watch the excitement slowly fade away and turn to disappointment as I tell them, 'No, I’m a teacher in the HEB ISD.'
"Well honestly, I’ve never seen so many people disappointed to learn that I was a teacher. But I learned something really important. The excitement is real, and Texans love H-E-B.”
The background
H-E-B opened its first Tarrant County location in the Alliance area of Fort Worth on April 10. The grocery store then announced it would be coming to the Bedford/Euless area in a news release April 22.
This store will be referred to as H-E-B Mid-Cities, though Mabrie Jackson, the H-E-B managing director of public affairs, said there was a push for the name to be H-E-B in HEB.
Euless Mayor Linda Martin said she remembers the news that H-E-B bought a tract of land in 2015. She said she didn’t know if H-E-B would build a store there, but remained hopeful during the wait.
“As mayor of Euless, I have to brag ... 70% of the store will be in Euless,” Martin said.
She said the cities approved an interlocal agreement in 2015 to outline roles and responsibilities for when the store is built. The goal, she said, was to have as a seamless process as possible for H-E-B when the time came.
Martin said the two cities agreed they would share the revenue equally.
“If you look at the land space, we’re pretty generous,” Martin said, which was met by laughter.
The details
Mike Jarzombek, H-E-B vice president of the northwest food drug division, said this was the 12th groundbreaking in North Texas for H-E-B in the past 3 1/2 years.
Jackson said this store would look to hire 600 employees and will feature the following:
- A 126,000-square-foot building, which is 7,000 square feet larger than when it was initially announced
- H-E-B fuel station and car wash
- True Texas BBQ within the store
- Pharmacy with a drive-thru
- Meal simple department for chef-inspired to-go meals
- In-house sushi chef
- Bakery with homemade tortillas
- Grocery pickup area
What else?
During the ceremony, H-E-B presented five $10,000 checks to local nonprofit organizations.
“Groceries are really a means for us to give back to the community,” Jackson said. “We want you to not think of us as just another store. We want it to be your H-E-B.”
The recipients of the checks were:
- HEB ISD Education Foundation
- The Clubhouse for Special Needs
- Serving Our Seniors
- Upright Theatre Company
- 6Stones Mission Network
