Austin councilwoman formally requests H-E-B build store in Del Valle
Published: Fri, 11/03/23
Austin councilwoman formally requests H-E-B build store in Del Valle
More than 16% of the Del Valle's roughly 21,000 residents reportedly suffer from food insecurity.
Photo courtesy of H-E-B
By Steven Santana
Residents of an Austin town have been pushing for a store from Texas' favorite grocer for years. Now, Austin Councilwoman Vanessa Fuentes is pushing H-E-B, officially, to prioritize building a store in the neighborhood where she says people face food insecurity.
Fuentes posted a letter she sent to H-E-B CEO Howard Butt III on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday, October 30. The letter is requesting San Antonio-based H-E-B build a store in Del Valle, a neighborhood in southeast Austin. Fuentes, whose district contains Del Valle, says in her letter that residents in the neighborhood are in a food desert.
She adds that residents of Del Valle have to drive 20 to 30 minutes to get to an H-E-B. The nearest two stores are northwest of Del Valle in Riverside and East Austin.
Fuentes goes on to say there are over 101 supermarkets in the Austin area, but none are remotely close to Del Valle residents. H-E-B has reportedly owned land in Del Valle since 2016, and residents have been asking for a store to be built since then.