The Magnolia Place H-E-B, located at 13663 FM 1488, Magnolia, opened its doors at 6 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, welcoming dozens of shoppers.

The grocery store, which celebrated with gift cards for shoppers and confetti cannons, is 112,000 square feet and includes 13 traditional checkout lanes, eight self-checkout stations and two flex checkout stations—which are similar to self-checkout but can handle more items, according to a press release.

In an interview the morning of the opening, General Manager John Beardsley said they expect to see thousands of customers opening day.

Beardsley also said they hired about 434 people and are still hiring for positions.

“My plan is to have, by the new year, about 450 partners,” Beardsley said. “I could see definitely over the next few years hiring another 100 or 200 partners on top of what we initially have. The demand for jobs out here was quite high—over 5,000 applicants. So [we’re] really proud of the team we’ve assembled.”

The store also handed out gift baskets—one for the first customer at the store and one for the first curbside order.

Magnolia resident Angel Guebara was the first customer to arrive at the store and received one of the two gift baskets. He said the new H-E-B is three minutes from his house.

“All the traffic from new Magnolia, it gets to be a lot, and I go to H-E-B maybe four [to] five times a week,” Guebara said. “So this is going to be nice and convenient for us.”