H-E-B — Local services in Plano

First time H-E-B shopper here. I had to check out this famous Texas spot everyone keeps talking about. I visited the Plano location today around 9am. It wasn’t crazy busy, but more busy then other stores I would say for 9am ha! I made sure to give my self some time, and patience before entering this new spot. Let’s start with I walked the whole store! Each row! For it being a Thursday maybe is was truck day for them because I seen several pallets through out the store. It was a little hard to navigate through some of the rows with the pallets, and customers but everyone made it work. I passed several employees, but none seemed to look my way. All kept to themselves and looked to be stocking shelves, and organizing shelves. I would think for a new store employees would be engaging in customers with a simple hello, but I understand they’re busy and that may not cross their minds. Or they tried to dodge crazy customers which I came across a few crazy customers. Ha! Definitely pack your patience coming out because some customers have no common sense and will push you out the way to grab that cheese!

Anywho as I stroll through this famous store.. I get over to the bread row. Yikes there’s few expired loafs chilling on the shelf. Not seeing any employees on that side of the store I push it to the front in hopes it will be tossed when the employees make their way to that row for organizing. You would think employees would be spread out throughout the store but I seen most of them in groups together.

Moving along to the prepackaged items. Not sure the sale dates but most of the items I seen showed to be needing to sale the day of or 1 day remaining. So it must of been sitting on the self for some time. Not sure on the refresh of stocking but I would hope to see more fresh items with more then 1-2 sale by date when buying groceries for the week.

Now to the famous butter tortillas everyone keeps telling me to buy. Sadly they wasn’t hot when I got my pack. There was several packs on the heating plate. Maybe the heat plate was off when I came but they wasn’t hot. I still bought some to try. I got home and heated one up to try, and they was indeed yummy. So yay!

From my first experience at H-E-B the talk is definitely over rated. I would try again, but will give it some time to get the high down. In hopes to more fresh dates on items, and more friendly service. So many items I’ve been told to try I was unable to find in store due to it being so new I’m sure, but also it was hard to find H-E-B brand favorites. You all need just a section for H-E-B brand products to make it easier for us newbies! Ha! Will definitely check out again after...

UPDATE 6/7/2025

Deli counter team member Vienna continues to impress us with her outgoing personality, warmth, kindness, efficiency, and professionalism. She remembers us every time we visit. And we're not alone in our appreciation for this team member. Today, several other people greeted Vienna with big smiles on their faces. Vienna is a true brand ambassador, and H-E-B is fortunate to benefit from her.

Delighted that the drive through BBQ is now available. Tastes very good -- especially the burnt ends. A few minutes after we drove off, we were disappointed to discover the burnt ends portion was lighter than the half pound we bought. Marcus not only gave us the original order of half a pound, letting us keep the quarter of a pound (which we originally given to us in error), and added in a fruit cobbler, too. Our reaction was "Wow, thanks." They solved the problem, and did something nice for us.

UPDATE 5/24/2023 We returned for more burnt ends and briquet. This time we added the ribs. BBQ is tasting even better. This H-E-B's BBQ is now competitive with my other favorites like Pecan Lodge, Cattleack, and Smokey John's. About the sauce: The spicier sauce was too "hot" for my taste buds, but this is up to the user.

The drive through was quite convenient again. And Marcus thanked us for our kind words. He said several diners saw my last review, shown above, and wanted him to know about his new "fame." He also wanted us to know that his boss, a lady by the name of "Dee", deserves a great deal of credit. He learned alot from her since taking on this assignment. Marcus definitely loves his job. He's a "people person" at a time that many people are soured by their work. Good work, Dee!

That reminds me about two team members who were very helpful. Chris and Bridgett guided us through the so-called "Texas Backyard" which was full of eye-catching flowers and plants with vibrant colors that jumped right at you.

UPDATE 6/12/2023

Another bright spot. This one at the cheese counter. We didn't bring a cart, appeared overloaded. So Wendy, a team member cutting cheeses, volunteer to bring my wife and me a shopping cart -- and she...

Awesome store. Massive, with a selection that's out of this world. Great house brands. Excellent prices. Wagyu and prime beef. Huge seafood selection. In-house bbq. Friendly associates. Large parking lot.

In short, the finest grocery store I've ever seen, and I know groceries.

It was extremely busy, but even the checker was fast and personable.

Please come to the city of Dallas!

Update 12/23/23 My sister and I returned to buy for Christmas dinner, ~ 2 p.m. yesterday, Friday. We knew it would be busy—I've been shopping Central Market around the holidays and the Super Bowl for years. You need to put on your game face before pulling into the parking lot.

H-E-B yesterday was on a whole different level. It was near-chaos, but a controlled chaos. Aisles jammed with people, many of their carts filled with beautiful standing rib roasts. I could not comprehend the money that was being spent.

At one point, someone had dropped a jar, broken glass all around. Two people worked quickly to clean up the mess. I saw guys restocking chicken broth. One minute, there were no fresh tortillas. The next, an associate passed me with a cart full of replacements.

We found everything we needed, but then, there was the checkout. EVERY line was backed up five-to-six deep, with FULL carts. It was so time-consuming that even the lady ahead of us, who took 5 mins to unload her overflowing cart, bagged her own groceries. The guy ahead of her bagged his. I bagged mine and my sister's. Together, we spent well over $400.

We chatted up a manager keeping an eye on the situation. He told us today, Saturday, would be busier.

I know this is their first holiday season, but I also know this store, IMO the best "regular" grocery store I've ever shopped, is a roaring success. They will learn how to deal with the prosperous clientele in Plano and the area.

(correction - store opened in Nov. 2022)

Request: Bring in baggers.

Get ready, guys. NYE is coming, then the Super Bowl. DFW is thrilled you are here. We waited, and...