Two questions you might be asked in San Antonio: What high school did you go to, and which H-E-B do you shop at?
When you hear these, it means locals are trying to figure out which side of town you’re from and where you live now. After all, every H-E-B in the city is just a little bit different, and your choice of store does say a lot.
If your H-E-B of choice is at the corner of New Braunfels Avenue and Nacogdoches Road, you probably live near the Oak Park Northwood neighborhood, or you just love all things retro. This brick grocery store has a completely different look compared to other H-E-Bs, and that would be because it started out as something else entirely.
In 1927, the first Handy Andy grocery store opened in San Antonio at 1716-18 Broadway, and several more would pop up in the following decades. According to the Express-News, nearly 60 had opened across the state by the 1970s.
It’s hard to give an exact timeline on the lifespan of this store in particular, but locals on the Vintage San Antonio Facebook page reminisced on that bygone era. One said they remembered it being an empty lot in the 1950s, and another wrote that the store “was mall-like” with a drug store and other small shops on the east end.
Another local said there was a tree that grew inside the store with a train going around it by the bakery. “The tree had got diseased and for [health] reasons had to be removed,” they recalled.
Despite its charm, Handy Andy would be nudged out by price wars and competition as H-E-B became ubiquitous. The chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1981, and locations dwindled or changed ownership before the last six shuttered in 2012.
Find it: 1955 Nacogdoches Road, San Antonio, TX 78209