H-E-B announced this week that it will open two new locations of its low-cost grocery chain, Joe V’s Smart Shop, in the Houston area next year.
One of the new stores will be located in Humble at 19611 US-59 the company said, and will open in early 2027. The other will be in south Houston, at 1227 W. Orem Drive near Highway 288, and is slated to open later in the year.
The new locations will offer grocery deliveries, tortillas made in-store and be the first to include H-E-B’s South Flo Pizza.
Each will cover around 57,000 square feet, H-E-B said in a statement, and have about 200 employees.
The first Joe V’s Smart Shop opened in Houston in 2010, and the chain has since expanded across Texas to include 11 locations in the Houston region and three in north Texas.
The new locations are being planned as grocery prices strain household budgets across the region.
Inflation cooled slightly in June, according to federal data released this week, but it remains higher than policymakers, or families, would like.
“Every month of above-target inflation has compounded the strain on Americans’ budgets. Another month of expensive grocery bills for parents feeding their families,” said Lorie Logan, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, in remarks at the Houston branch of the Dallas Fed on Thursday. “One month of relief is not enough.”