b'C o m m u n i t yshop, fish market and pharmacy, opened in a Corpus Christi location that, for the life of us, we cannot nail down. The best guesses are Leopard St., Ayers, or maybe South Staples. By 1985, the HEB mothership outgrew us, and the head-quarters was moved to San Antonio.HEBs remarkable growth of the last 25 yearsis the real story to be ap-preciated. The companys sales in 1998 totaled about $7 billion, and in 2023 will reach over $40 billionall while still operating only in Texas and North-ern Mexico. HEBs one and only venture outside the state was in Louisiana, where an outlet of its failed HEB Pantry concept operated for a while. In 1997, the first HEB in Mexico opened in Monterrey, and the first high-end, Central Market store opened in Austin. Now with 420 stores, its results versus the rest of the United States grocery industry are what is setting HEB apart from everyone else, and what reassures us former refugees of what we were really missing during our time in supermarket exile.In Hell, there would be only Vons and Ralphs. Oh waitthats life in South-ern California, where the average person cannot typically afford Whole Foods, Trader Joes, or (God help you) Pavilions, but instead must do their daily shop-ping at these impolite, undersized, stinky, and expensive, Soviet-esque feed lots. Its just, generally, awful, compared to shopping at HEB, where each store is customized to the neighborhood it serves. At Vons and Ralphs, it was the same exact crap, at the same bloated, crap price, wherever you went, or wher-ever you lived in SoCal.Therein is another of HEBs secrets to successeach store reflects the neigh-borhood it serves. Its obvious, in Corpus Christi for example, that the store Above: The very first HEBclosest to the island sells beach towels and boogie boards, and as a mega-store, supermarket, locatedjust about anything you can think of. But if you venture over to the Kostoryz in Corpus Christi.Right:or Port Avenue stores, you will find Mexican grills that cook up charo chicken Former HEB headquartersand roasted corn. Youll see a more refined wine and cheese selection at the building, recently reno- Robert/Alameda location. And yes, the pace is a just bitmore patientat the vated.Below: Charles C.Alameda store near Texan Trail, where so many of our grandmas reside. A ma-Butt, now age 85, ran HEBjor element to understanding the communities a company serves is making the for 50 years and retiredeffort to know them, and at this, HEB has excelled like no other grocery chain. to Chairmanship in 2021.Anyone who has worked at HEB knows the drill. First, its not that easy to get Below/Right: Charlesin, but once you do, it really can become a career. Raises are guaranteed if you mother, Mary Elizabethstay, and the benefits are pretty good. Its a great place for students to work, Holdsworth Butt, the lastas they will often accommodate for school schedules and events, and will even HEB matriarch, for now. transfer employees who change schools. Some workers have reported online that HEB appears frequently in their dreams, which means, to this former employer of several, that they do a good job impressing their culture into the very souls of their workers.That culture, one based on taking care of customers like familyas some inev-itably arehas been with the Butts since the beginning. No private company in the country does more for its communities than HEBplease reference the aforementioned statement on our journalistic independencebut its absolutely true. Howard Butts first big emergency relief effort was after a hurricane hit the Valley in 1933, and theyve been there to help people in every natural di-saster that has hit Texas, since. Theyve built campsite complexes (remember Leakey?), community centers, tennis centers, ball fieldsyou name itin just about every city they serve.In 2012, when HEBs annual sales hovered around $18 billion, the San Antonio Express News warned of impending new competition coming from all direc-tions, while we were still unaware of new grocery sellers to come in the form of Amazon and others online. Walmart Supercenters were opening like wild-firethe company set a record of three in one day in, yes, Corpus Christithe super part being Walmarts entry into the grocery business. At the same 34THE COASTAL BEND GUIDE TheCoastalBend.com'