Here Everything’s Tiny – Austin’s smallest HEB

Howdy folks, and welcome back to HHR. Today, we’re driving out to Austin to experience something I’ve been trying to get photos of for quite a while now: a tiny HEB. First, let me start by stating the obvious: this store is not in Houston; it’s in Austin, specifically at 2301 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704. So why is this being covered on HHR? Well, it’s still historic, it’s still retail, and most importantly to me, it’s an oddity, as this store is temporarily standing in for a full-size store across the street. It’s quite likely within a few years someone may try to look up what this tiny location looked like, and I want to be able to provide photos and a description of what was going on to help preserve retail history, regardless of location. Lets start off with some background info on this HEB in general. This location, which is normally over at 2400 S Congress, opened in October 1957. It was the ninth HEB in Austin and the 71st in the chain. The store was originally only 25k Sqft, with Walgreens and Kress taking up the rest of the space in the shopping center. Over the years, however, the HEB grew, finally reaching just under 70k Sqft. The store would serve its community well but gained a reputation as being outdated compared to other locations and a bit rough around the edges. To solve this problem, HEB proposed the current plan to demolish the existing store and build a new multi-story location on the original site. This idea was pushed back a bit at the start of 2020 but would take shape the following year. In the meantime, HEB would renovate a portion of the Twin Oaks Shopping Center, an equally old construction catty-corner from the original store, to hold a miniaturized version of an HEB, which is what we’re looking at today.

The portion of the Twin Oaks Shopping Center where HEB is located was most recently a CVS, library, and dance hall. The CVS’s lineage can be traced back to Eckerd, and it was likely a local pharmacy originally. However, the other storefronts are not as easily decodable due to my lack of Austin-based resources. So, how does the store work out? Well, in my opinion, quite well. It’s a unique space with three separate levels; a large concrete ramp exists between the different sections, allowing customers to bring their carts with them. The are no services offered in store other than a pharmacy, everything else is grab and go. The store has a good amount of selection for being as small as it is, which is likely in the neighborhood of 20k Sqft (even smaller than the original store!) A Houstonian might recognize some Pantry Foods tricks here, like the makeshift loading dock, and limited brand selection, but largely, this store is different from Pantry Foods. It manages to take the basis of a modern HEB and trim it down into a tiny space. It’s not a beautiful store by any stretch of the imagination, but it shows that at the end of the HEB still does know how to run a grocery store. With modern stores only increasing in size (the replacement location is nearly 200k Sqft), HEB is approaching Walmart sizes, and their additions of own-brand home goods and decor only help to reinforce that point. However, this is a nice aside. Anyone itching to visit this HEB, you’ve got a week left, as the replacement store is slated to open on December 12th, and this location will likely be demolished along with the rest of the strip center for redevelopment.