It was October 24th, 1942 when HEB entered the retail grocery field in San Antonio. Already a Texan institution, HEB began in Kerrville in November 1905, when Florence Thornton Butt invested $60.00 and opened her first store below the family home at 812 Main Street, which they rented for $9.00 a month. Her husband was suffering from tuberculosis, and Florence had to support the family. There are differing opinions as to the name of the first store.
Some say it was called the “C.C. Butt Grocery Store”…named after her husband Clarence C. Butt; however, there are others who maintain it was called “Mrs. F. T. Butt….Staples and Fancy Groceries.”
Photo: Florence Butt in her Kerrville store circa 1910…San Antonio Express News
Photo: The location of Florence Butt’s first store on Main Street, Kerrville in later years….dailytimes.com
Photo: Florence Butt, the founder of today’s H.E B….theclio.com
Photo: San Antonio Express News
However, even though there were 50 subsequent stores throughout Texas, the stores in San Antonio were the first to be called H-E-B after her son Howard Edward Butt Sr.
Photo: Howard Edward Butt as a student at at Tivy High School…..courtesy of C.White
He was the youngest of three sons, and assisted his mother by delivering goods from their store before and after school.
After serving in the U.S Navy during World War I, he returned to Kerrville to once again assist his mother and eventually to manage the family business.
Howard Butt was responsible for some major changes to its operation, and also the expansion of the business, first to Del Rio, and then by opening stores in the Rio Grande Valley. The business grew quickly, and soon there were stores in Harlingen (where the company bought out a canning business), Laredo, Corpus Christi (by acquiring a bakery), Austin, and eventually in San Antonio.
The two first stores in the Alamo City were opened simultaneously at 1802 Main Street and 4915 Broadway on October 24th, 1942, and they were the first stores in their chain to boast air conditioning and a frozen food department.
Photo: San Antonio Light
Photo: The day before the Grand Opening…San Antonio Light
Even though the 23rd shows as the grand opening in San Antonio, the San Antonio Public Library recognizes the 24th on Twitter as the anniversary of the chain’s first day of business locally in 1942.
Today, 80 years after the first stores opened in San Antonio, H-E-B boasts 46 stores across the city, and is one of the largest employers in San Antonio.
Photo: logos-world.net
Additional stories:
- In a 1936 interview in The Kerrville Times, Florence Butt revealed that in the first month of trading in 1905, their business took in $56.00….not a bad result from the $60.00 outlay.
- Her son Howard E. Butt first delivered the goods in a converted baby buggy, but after it was run over by a wagon, the deliveries were carried out using a child’s play wagon.
- During the wet weather, the little wagon’s wheels became clogged with mud, so Florence bought a horse for $20.00, a wagon for $5.00, and a harness for $2.50. As she said, “every month was growth, but hard work”
Sources:
heb.com
San Antonio Express News
Wikipedia
tshaonline.org
dailytimes.com
comanchetrace.com and Joe Herring Jr
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