Here in Frisco, “everything’s better” for some as H-E-B opens flagship store
It wasn’t quite the Beatles arrival in America.
Or even In-N-Out’s arrival in Texas.
But for many people in Frisco, Wednesday’s opening of San Antonio based H-E-B on Main Street in Frisco, was a grocery store dream come true.
“We’ve got The Star, Dallas Cowboys and PGA,” Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney said in the Dallas Morning News. “But I am not sure anything has had this level of excitement in this community.”
With a line of approximately 1,500 people waiting outside for the store’s opening at 6 a.m., the Frisco location is H-E-B’s first location in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex.
“It actually started about two and a half years ago,” H-E-B senior vice president of sales, marketing and merchandising Mike Jarzombek said. “So with the design of the store, there were several of us that had a lot of input. And then we did a lot of customer research.”
When it came to the store’s construction, a former Redhawk was there from the beginning.
“We partner up with H-E-B to build the grocery store itself,” project manager, and class of 2013 graduate, Eric Perez said. “We help manage all of the trade partners, stacks, the guys performing the work, and we’re also working with the city of Frisco as far as how inspections are, making sure we’re building everything for code.”
The building contains many features from an H-E-B pharmacy with a drive-thru, a True Texas BBQ restaurant with a drive-thru, H-E-B Fuel gas station, and curbside pickup. In addition, it also has the basics from a bakery, fresh sushi, a deli, and more.
Although there is this wide variety in products, H-E-B tailors each store to the community, with the Frisco store catering many of their products to the city’s large Asian population.
“We tailor that for the customer,” Jarzombek said. “Frisco has a heavier Asian population and South Asians. So if you go throughout the store, over in dairy, we have a four-foot set just of Indian yogurt.”
To Frisco Economic Development secretary treasurer Gary Carley, this connection to the community creates a positive company culture and work environment.
“So in my early years, I grew up in each of these stores,” Carley said. “So people will soon understand that their product line is absolutely the best. Their associates that work here, it’s like a culture. It’s family owned for generations, people that have the chance to come to actually do that. So the work environment is great.”
During their ribbon-cutting ceremony on Tuesday, H-E-B announced their first act of giving back to the community, a donation of $10,000 to Frisco ISD’s Career and Technological Education Center’s agricultural and culinary programs.
Acts like this, on top of what can be found inside the store, are why H-E-B has such devoted fans according to H-E-B petroleum operations Regina Lopez.
“It’s our community service stuff,” Lopez said. “We do a lot of volunteerism and we do a lot of giving. So I think putting that together with what we do as far as offering unique products, it brings everybody.”
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