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December 1940. Corpus Christi, Texas. "Sign announcing new grocery store in community springing up about five miles from the naval air base under construction." Medium format negative by Russell Lee. View full size.
I just moved to northeast Texas after living in the central part of the state for the last 12 years, where HEB is synonymous with "grocery store." No HEB's in this part of Texas and I miss them greatly.
Couldn't resist chuckling at Butt and erection. I wonder if people in 1940 had dirty minds and laughed at it too.
He'd love to have a go at this with a can of spray paint.
The H.E. Butt Grocery grocery chain started in the 1920s, but became a Piggly Wiggly franchisee to use P-W’s name recognition to grow faster. After WWII, the name of the company changed to H-E-B, and it found a winning formula with air-conditioned, stand-alone supermarkets. The company now has 340 stores in Texas and Mexico.
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