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This Texas H-E-B allowed customers to pick out groceries for free during winter freeze

The H-E-B logo is seen at a store in Houston on March 16, 2020. (KPRC)

AUSTIN, Texas – An Austin-area H-E-B lost power during the historic winter storm last week, allowing customers to leave the store without paying for groceries.

A Facebook post from Tim Hennessy went viral nationwide, praising the Texas grocery chain for their generosity. He was in the store with his wife trying to stock up for the next “historically, crazy weather.”

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The power went out halfway during their shopping, according to Hennessy in his Facebook post. He then heard an employee asking customers to bring their carts to the checkout lines. About a hundred shoppers, including Hennessy and his wife followed.

*** The Heart of America *** . Today, Deb and I went to our local grocery store called: H.E.B. . We wanted to pick up a...

Posted by TR Henny on Tuesday, February 16, 2021

“We waited in line for about 15-20 minutes and barely moved up 1-2 slots,” Hennessy said on his post. “Then all of a sudden we started moving faster. (My wife and I) thought: Wow, they are checking out people quickly. Must be all hands on deck.”

Reaching to the end of the checkout line, an H-E-B employee asked if Hennessy had any alcohol in their cart. Then they were told, “Please go ahead, we can’t bag anything up for you. Just go ahead and be safe driving home.”

Many customers, including Hennessy and his wife were felt by H-E-B’s gesture to allow shoppers with full carts to leave the store during the storm, where millions were left without power and/or water for the majority of the week.

“We will never forget what you did when no one would have blamed you for taking a different action and when no one expected such a wonderful gesture,” Hennessy wrote.


About the Author

A graduate of the University of Houston-Downtown, Ana moved to H-Town from sunny southern California in 2015. In 2020, she joined the KPRC 2 digital team as an intern. Ana is a self-proclaimed coffee connoisseur, a catmom of 3, and an aquarium enthusiast. In her spare time, she's an avid video gamer and loves to travel.

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