By Lorenzo Salinas

l.v.salinas@panews.com

 

The age-old quest for food has just become a little easier for Port Arthur and Mid County residents.

H-E-B Mid County held a ribbon cutting for its new Curbside Grocery Pickup on Monday at its location on Highway 365. The service is one already in place at roughly 138 of the company’s other Texas stores.

“It’s all based on the e-commerce of H-E-B and the future we see ourselves in,” Tinnie Gillard, unit director, said. “We see that electronics is the kind of future we’re embracing.”

Curbside Pickup is an online service that allows consumers to select their groceries from the store’s website for a scheduled pickup from the brick-and-mortar store. It is a service designed to be convenient and timesaving.

H-E-B Mid County will also be debuting a home delivery service courtesy of grocery delivery service Shipt on July 11.

Gillard noted that customers often lead busy lives where finding the time for grocery shopping could become a challenge.

“Customers are very busy, so everyone is on the move — the faster the better,” he said.

The price for curbside service is $4.98 for each trip, with a 3 percent selecting fee added to each item. For now, customers could enjoy their first four trips free of the $4.98 service price.

“It’s a great experience,” Gillard said. “They have been successful, saving people tons of time. The feedback we’ve received from customers has been a great thing to have.”

Gillard was quick to point out the company’s brick-and-mortar stores would always be there for customers; the customers would just have more options now when shopping at the Mid County location.

“The system holds everything for you,” Gillard said. “You could just add to it every time you go online.”

There will be a certain number of slots available to Curbside customers every 30 minutes. Once they’ve arrived at the store, the customer would text the number of the Curbside sign they’re parked in front of to the number designated on the sign.

An associate would then bring the customer’s selected groceries to his or her car without the person having to leave the vehicle.

Both the store’s curbside and soon-to-be home delivery services are just the most recent ways in which the H-E-B company seeks to stay competitive with online retailers like Amazon and Whole Foods — two companies that offer similar services.

“That’s the competitive edge,” Gillard said. “H-E-B will never let anybody get the edge on them.”

Gillard said the initial feedback from Mid County residents was strong.

“We’re Texans. We take care of our customers. We will always do that.”