![]() ![]() He had a lot of ideas and was eager to implement them. After a two-year tour he returned to Kerrville to take over the store. Shortly after the United States entered World War I, however, Howard joined the Navy. At the age of 22, in 1917, Howard was still working in the grocery store. However, it was Howard who took an early liking to the business, and was even described in company annals as a 'grocery man' from the beginning. ![]() Nevertheless, bread deliveries increased, initiating what would become a legacy of innovation at Butt Grocery.Īll three of the Butt brothers-Charles, Eugene, and Howard E.-worked in the family business while they were growing up. The market for fresh bread was relatively new at the time because many women were hesitant to buy bread for fear of being considered too lazy to bake their own. She arranged for bread to be delivered by train from San Antonio and then immediately delivered to residences by her sons. Also, Florence was building a profitable fresh-baked bread business as a sideline. Florence's young sons delivered the food via baby carriage until they could afford to buy a little red wagon.īy 1908 the Butt store had established itself within the local community as 'dealers in staples, fancy groceries and fresh meats.' The boys had even been able to buy a horse and wagon to make deliveries. ![]() They began selling food in bulk as a charge and delivery operation. With investment capital of $60, the family opened the C.C. The family purchased a two-story house, planning to live upstairs and operate the store downstairs. Once the family was settled in Kerrville, Florence was faced with supporting the family herself. Charles was suffering from tuberculosis, and they hoped that the drier climate would improve his condition. and Florence Butt moved to Kerrville from Memphis, Tennessee. H-E-B started out as a single store in Kerrville, a small town in the Texas Hill Country. The company also makes its own plastic bottles and operates a photofinishing laboratory.Įarly Decades: From Kerrville to San Antonio Among the products that the company makes or processes itself for sale in its own stores are milk, yogurt, sour cream, cottage cheese, ice cream, baked goods, tortillas, meat, orange juice, and fruit drinks. In addition to its units in Texas and Louisiana, H-E-B runs six stores in Mexico in states that border the United States. Approximately 60 of the company's stores feature self-service Gas N Go gasoline islands. About 90 of them are H-E-B Pantry Stores, which are smaller-sized, feature extra low prices, and are designed to be particularly convenient these are mainly located in rural areas between southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana. Of the company's 269 units, most are large-format, combination food and pharmacy stores. Butt family since its early 20th-century founding. The largest private company in Texas, H-E-B has been owned and operated by the H.E. Butt Grocery Company (H-E-B) is the nation's 15th largest grocery chain in revenue terms and is one of the leading chains in Texas, with number one positions in Austin, Corpus Christi, and San Antonio. I think Gibson's, which was a discount store similar to WalMart, might have sold groceries also I remember one on Dyer at Annette and another on Viscount.Īs far as I know, El Paso never had an A&P I think that's a Northeast (New England and Middle Atlantic) regional supermarket chain.H.E. Also Smith's, which occupied the same place in the Rushfair mall that the Piggly Wiggly had once occupied (northwest corner), but that might not have come along until 1980. There was also a Safeway on Fairbanks at Shenandoah in Rushfair Center that was still there when I moved away in 1985. There was a FedMart on Dyer at Manila and a Piggly Wiggly on Fairbanks at Rushing in Rushfair Center that both closed when I was little (I'm talking about sometime between 19 it seems to me that FedMart departed its Dyer location sometime while Gerald Ford was president while the Rushfair Piggly Wiggly became defunct before Richard Nixon's second term as president started). The first three were big chains and the last was a local chain. I remember Piggly Wiggly, FedMart, Safeway, and Big 8. ![]()
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