A Guide to the Best HEB Stores in Houston

Located in Houston’s largest Jewish neighborhood, Meyerland’s dedicated HEB offers the grocery chain’s largest selection of kosher foods. All of the store’s certified kosher products are approved by the store’s full-time mashgiach and range from store-produced items to dry goods sourced from kosher sellers around the world, including Israel.

The bakery prepares pareve cakes, breads, bagels and tortillas daily, and the store’s seafood section includes a selection of kosher sushi. Meat and Deli Market Custom Cuts offers ready-to-eat kosher sandwich meats in addition to many options for the home cook.

Wine lovers will appreciate the store’s extensive wine section, which includes more than 2,000 varieties at different price points. And yes, there are Israeli kosher wines.

Centrally located in the Third Ward, Museum District, Med Center and Riverside Terrace, MacGregor Market HEB caters to a wide range of neighborhoods and shoppers. Before its opening in 2019, the predominantly African-American Third Ward was often described as a food desert due to lack of access to good quality, fresh food. A large and diverse food department, as well as fish and meat counters, now offer shoppers plenty of fresh options.

Additionally, a wide selection of heating and dining options HEB Meal Simple appeals to University of Houston and Texas Southern University students and medical center staff who deal with busy work schedules, 24 hours a day.

The store’s diversity of shoppers is evident in the dry goods selection and the store’s international aisle, where Jamaican products like Tastee cheese, a pasteurized processed cheese spread, are in the same aisle as fufu flour plantain and Indian spices such as black mustard seeds in sachets.

Just west of Beltway 8, one of the city’s most diverse neighborhoods showcases the cultures of West Africa, India, Southeast Asia and America Latin. The HEB located here offers products influenced by each of these, but is particularly useful as a source for Mexican and Central American customers in the region.

Fresh hierba buena, chipilín and verdolaga (also known as purslane) are just a few examples of the edible leaves available in the case of products containing refrigerated greens and vegetables. Nearby, bitter melons, Indian and Thai eggplants and banana leaves are just steps away from African yams and boniato sweet potatoes, as well as a pallet containing 25-pound bags of Thai jasmine rice.

The bakery’s house-made products include bolillos, conchas and fresh tortillas, as well as bags of duros de harina, a Mexican snack made from puffed wheat.

Head to the international aisle to find bottles of palm oil in various sizes in addition to dried Nigerian herbs, like bitter leaf, ukazi and senna leaf.

Located in southeast Houston along I-45, the influence of the area’s Mexican population is evident at this Gulfgate institution, where a tent resembling a circus tent welcomes shoppers to this grand store that looks like a mercado.

A precursor to the brand’s Mi Tienda stores in Houston, the location offers a wide variety of Mexican ingredients and products, from dried chiles to Diet Guanabana nectar and dizzying displays of Mexican candies.

The large bakery offers a wide selection of hand-baked treats, as well as classics like tortillas and bolillos, including gingerbread cookies and marranito, pumpkin empanadas, chamuco pastries and conchas with bright colors.

Notably, it’s the only place in the Houston area with a Flaming Bird restaurant, which makes chicken pollo asado, grilled over an open flame. Customers have the option to order a single plated meal, a family combo or simply purchase a whole bird with sides like ranchero beans, Spanish rice, mesquite corn, coleslaw and potato salad.

In a city known for its sprawl, this centrally located store between Rice Military, Montrose and Heights serves residents living and shopping in its urban core. As one of Houston’s newest HE-Bs, and given its location below a mid-sized apartment complex, it includes features that appeal to young adults with disposable income and who shop to enjoy the finer things in life.

The large takeout section appeals to shoppers who have more money than time, and a wine and beer tasting counter is available for those who want to try before they buy.

Its international section offers a wide variety of items from around the world, but the store really shines in its charcuterie area, offering European cheeses and a serve-your-own olive bar. Additionally, the bakery offers a wide selection of bread styles for the sandwich-conscious consumer, including German options like Bauernbrot rye bread and pumpernickel.

The most exciting feature of this Mission Bend HEB is undoubtedly its in-store family-friendly Filipino restaurant: To Go Cafe. With an all-day breakfast menu in addition to a variety of traditional dishes like fried banana rolls and fried milkfish, its combination plates are reason alone to venture to the store.

But if shopping is in order after a hearty plate of lechón and halo halo for dessert, it’s worth taking a look at the international aisle, where West African produce, Caribbean and India line the shelves. Dried crayfish brings umami to Nigerian soups and stews, and bags of fufu flour go from oats to rice. Mango pulp and boiled brown chickpeas accompany large bags of Indian spices like green cardamom and bottles of pure mustard oil.

Upon entering the HEB store in Almeda, shoppers are greeted by a produce section brimming with various tropical fruits. Given Southeast Houston’s large population of Mexican, Central American and Salvadoran residents, it makes sense that red and yellow pitayas, also known as dragon fruit, along with an assortment of banana varieties like red and the borros are exposed.

Nearby, the bakery offers an assortment of baked goods like conchas, pan de polvo and buñuelo chips. Lovers of Central American products will be delighted to find pacaya – brined date palm – and pickled cabbage from El Salvador on the shelves, alongside Kolashanpan sugar cane soda and Guatemalan guava in light syrup.

Check out the meat section for specialties like Mexican longaniza salt pork and marinated pork skins.