HEB used to be the “smaller brother” of the more numerous Handy Andy and Piggly Wiggly food stores in San Antonio.
I’m still not crazy about HEB-the local SuperS is closer and has organic local produce and grass fed free range meat-so I shop there.
There weren’t any chain grocery stores out in W Texas ranch country where I grew up, but when I was in college in SA, the Piggly Wiggly a few blocks from my apartment was the closest grocery store-I really liked their meat department-they sold the end cuts-and ground beef-in bulk really cheap, and there was always a special on hamburger helper, canned tuna, Spam, mac and cheese, etc-probably because there were so many students living nearby...
When my 1st hubby and I bought our 1st house, the closest store was an HEB, but we drove to the Handy Andy on West Ave to shop for groceries because their produce was better and fresher, and they had a good meat department where you could get something custom cut if you didn’t want what was already packaged-and it didn’t cost any more-they always had frog legs and fresh oysters in the shell too...