‘A Reinvention of What a Small Town Store Can Be’

HEB Ready to Cut Ribbon on Multi-Million Dollar Expansion Which Added 100+ Jobs in La Grange

After 15 months, the folks at the La Grange HEB are ready to cut the ribbon on their monumental expansion.

“I tell people it’s not a remodel but a reinvention of what a small town store can be,” said La Grange store director Donnie Lowes.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is set for 10 a.m. Friday Sept. 23, during which HEB officials will also make some charitable donations to local organizations. Friday there will be door prizes and demos in the store. Saturday they will be giving away breakfast tacos and sausage wraps to celebrate.

Lowes, a La Grange native, said the new HEB facility here is unrecognizable compared to the one he started working at back in 2002 as a sophomore in high school.

He’s now been the store director here for the past 2.5 years.

The multi-million-dollar renovation of the store, which Lowes said is now expanded by 10,000 square feet, began on June 12, 2020 and endured COVID, supply chain issues and the pains of staying open amid all the construction work.

“It has felt like it took a lot more than 15 months,” Lowes said. “But it’s been worth it. This store needed it.”

Among the new additions to the store:

• Full seafood counter

• Full bakery

• Doubled the produce and meat area

• Expanded checkout area, and added self-checkouts

• Added a “healthy living” section

• Tripled the beer and wine space

• Added a fresh floral department

• Added a sushi counter

• Now sell new things made in-store like juice, chips and tortillas

• Additional parking Maybe the most impactful addition to the store has been the number of jobs added because of the expansion

“We added more than 100 partners,” Lowes said. “That almost doubled our workforce.”