Texas Border Business –
On November 26th, 1905, Florence Butt opened the C.C. Butt Grocery Store with her savings of $60 to support her ailing husband and three children.
For $9 a month, she leased a 450-square-foot store on the ground floor of a small frame building on Main Street in Kerrville, Texas. She eventually came to rely on her youngest son Howard to help out at the store after school and make grocery deliveries to Customers.
When Howard took over leadership of the family business, he moved to a cash and carry operation and expanded across the state of Texas.
After trying five times to open a second store, Howard found success in 1926 when he opened a store in Del Rio, Texas. In fact, the success of that store ignited the rapid expansion of H-E-B in the Brownsville area and beyond.
In 1928, H-E-B moved its company headquarters from Kerrville to Harlingen, marking the company’s first major expansion from its Hill Country hometown.
Howard E. Butt, Sr. continued opening new stores in Brownsville, Edinburg, Harlingen, Mercedes, and San Benito. At this time, H-E-B officially adopted the corporate name, The H.E. Butt Grocery Company, reflecting Howard’s impact and vision for the business.
Between 1928 and 1931, Howard opened and acquired more stores in the Rio Grande Valley, including Donna, Raymondville, Beeville, Mission, Pharr, Laredo, Eagle Pass, Corpus Christi, Robstown, and Uvalde.
It was quite a feat that Howard was able to expand and thrive during the height of the Great Depression. He achieved this by closely watching every penny and putting in long hours.
In 1934, the Butt family continued the tradition started by Florence of giving back to the communities they serve in an impactful way by making a contribution in the amount of $3,000 to a minister in Brownsville who worked with underprivileged children.
