Jack Moraglia
Audio By Carbonatix
It seems impossible that for decades, H-E-B had no footprint in North Texas, save for its upscale, higher-priced sister concept, Central Market. The San Antonio-based retailer and rockstar of Texas grocery stores opened its first store in these parts in 2022 in Frisco. Now, there are nine stores from Mansfield to Melissa, with seven more under construction, including one in Dallas proper at Hillcrest Road and LBJ Freeway.
Denton, home of the University of North Texas, is getting two new stores. One is located in the city’s far southwest corner, 15 miles south of campus along Interstate 35 West at Robson Ranch Road. This store will serve the burgeoning communities in the area a wee bit too far for those living around the campus or downtown.
However, the grocer with a savvy sense of growing communities invested in a plot of land in Denton proper years ago, and according to state filings, will finally start construction next year. The store will be located at 2210 W. University Drive at Bonnie Brea Street. H-E-B confirmed the new site to the Denton Record Chronicle this summer.
According to paperwork filed Oct. 13 with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, construction for the new store will begin in June 2026 and be completed in August 2027.
Denton, once a somewhat quiet college town, is now one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. A 2024 U.S. Census Bureau report found that Denton had the 16th-largest one-year population growth rate in the country, gaining more than 8,000 residents from 2022 to 2023.
