H-E-B — Attraction in Austin

Objectively, this is the worst HEB. Unfortunately, it’s also the closest one to my house.

However, it takes so long to get out of the parking lot that I’m considering just driving to another location instead.

As other customers have commented, this place has been changing their freezers and fridges for I believe five months now. It’s… uncanny how long it is taking and how disruptive it is.

First of all, large parts of both the front parking lot and the back area for pedestrians are taken up by giant shipping crates, some of which appear to be refrigerated. This sucks, because the parking situation is already dire.

Second of all, they are moving things around all the time and it’s hard to know if you’ll get what you went in for. One time, and I cannot make this up, I was going to buy some bread that was in the freezer, and someone walked in front of me, opened the freezer door, and unloaded all the bread to move it somewhere else. Could I have said “hey, I want that bread?” Sure. But why is it even happening during prime shopping hours anyway?

Third of all, about 20% of the bagged produce I buy here has gone bad within the next day or so. The worst is the bagged broccoli, which I stopped buying completely.

I am now trying curbside because at least with curbside when they sell you food that has gone bad, you can easily report it. I’m not going to bring $3 of green beans back to the store for a refund, but I shouldn’t be getting home with spoiled green beans.

I even called corporate about all the renovations because it is just so weird that a store would agree to do something disruptive - HEB corporate had no idea of any kind of renovation. I spoke to store employees in October when I called to try and see when this massive disruption would be over. An employee told me she had been told December. It’s now January and it’s still going on.

I do not know what is going on here, why corporate somehow doesn’t know about it, or why it would be happening in the first place. Frankly, I suspect graft or self-dealing. There’s no way that these management choices are what’s best...

Oh, where do I even start with H-E-B, the beacon of grocery shopping innovation? First off, hats off to their payment systems that seem to have been handpicked from the golden era of dial-up internet. It's always a delightful guessing game: Will my credit card work on the first try, the fifth, or is today the day I embrace a barter system? Ah, the suspense is what really spices up my grocery runs.

And then there's H-E-B's heroic bag policy – a true stroke of brilliance. Forgot your reusable bags? Prepare to shell out for a hefty plastic one destined for the landfill. Because nothing says convenience like fumbling for change while the entire checkout line glares at you. Even Central Market envies this level of customer inconvenience in the name of innovation.

It's this forward-thinking that has me pondering, "What if there were such a thing as efficient checkout processes with tap or mobile payments and ‘single use’ bags that you could reuse in a hundred different ways at home?" But alas, we wait on divine intervention for such miracles. One star for keeping the dream of the 90s alive and well!

Update: October 2024 In a turn of events, even California is seeing the error of their ways, banning the sale of "reusable" plastic bags because, as it turns out, they're worse for the environment than the so-called "single use" plastic bags. You know, the ones people actually reuse for things like trash can liners, organization, or, dare I say it, as bags! But here we are, H-E-B still steadfast in its baffling stance against these multifunctional marvels. A mystery for the ages.

However, I will give credit where credit is due – after what must have been a grueling 13-year development cycle, they finally applied a software update to allow for 2011's tap-to-pay technology. Bravo! Progress in the slowest of lanes, but progress nonetheless. So, in the spirit of optimism (and modern payment methods), I’ll graciously bump it up by 1 star.

Final score: 2/5 – for embracing some innovation, however...

I really like this heb. I lived by the 7th street HEB then the Hancock HEB for decades, and I prefer Far West over both. My 3 stars are for the pharmacy: they’re always kind and work fast. There’s rarely a line. I’m taking 2 stars off because of what others have said: it’s a bit dirty and there’s frequent construction, which doesn’t bother me, but my negative feedback is that the aisles are too narrow since curbside has taken off. Today I had an employee (who was polite) reach around and over my head to do his curbside work in produce, and it scared the heck out of me. I don’t blame the employee — but I do feel like this store is for the curbside shoppers and those who shop inside don’t matter. Curbside employees are in a rush, they push through shoppers with huge racks, they don’t excuse themselves so we can’t know they’re coming, and they have long conversations in front of product so in-person shoppers can’t reach what they need. I don’t use curbside because I don’t want to sometimes… not sure why but it really seems like Far West wishes we’d all use curbside and not come indoors. It’s frustrating! I won’t stop shopping here, and I have no clue how management could improve, but I wanted to give feedback in case it could help. — I’m changing this to 4 stars because honestly I was having a bad day when I wrote my earlier review. They do not have fresh tortillas at this H‑E‑B. There is a ton of parking and both the library and post office are nearby. I do wish they’d stop moving the shredded cheese!!! If you’re a straight girl, Sunday nights the store is filled with...