Q.When I was a child there were many, many grocery and food stores in San Marcos. Many are now closed. My husband and I were trying to remember some of them. Also — when did HEB come to town?
A. The library has a history file for grocery stores in San Marcos. It contains original grocery receipts, photographs, advertisements and newspaper articles about grocery stores from the late 19th century to now.
HEB opened its first store at S. Austin and Comal in San Marcos on Jan. 26, 1955. This store was the 64th HEB in Texas, and the opening celebrations included a con-cert from the Light Crust Dough Boy Band at the high school, presentations of 216 baskets of groceries to lucky visitors, free coffee, cake, favors and free rides for the children (the news article did not specify what the rides were on.) This launched HEB’s dominance in the grocery trade in San Marcos. Other larger department grocery stores included Safeway, Appletree, and Kroger’s.
According to a “memory lane” article in the “Daily Record” and “Free Press” from March 1, 2001, there were seven grocery stores around the square in 1950. Most were general grocery stores, but a few were specialty ones like meat or produce. At that time there was a Piggly Wiggly on the square, then Wuest built a big store around the corner on San Antonio. However, before these larger stores, there were smaller ones like the San Marcos Mercantile Company, dealers in “groceries, hardware, farming implements, stoves, tinware, etc.” On an original receipt from Feb. 12, 1989, Charles Hutchinson’s signature is beautifully written in what was once the “norm” for business script. The Mercantile Company was formed on Jan. 1, 1897 with the incorporation paper posted in the “Hays County Times.” Some other groceries of note were D.L. Edwards & Company, B. Dailey & Son Grocers, Huffmeyer & Fourqurean – Staple and Fancy Groceries. The library files, along with an original receipt from the store, include a picture taken about 1909 of the Forqurean, at the corner of Hopkins and Austin Streets (LBJ Drive) with two horse-and-carriages parked out front. Standing in the picture are Mr. Bales, Mr. Riley, Mrs. Mathews and R.D. Fourqurean.
Women owned/run businesses were not common in years past, but San Marcos had its share of savvy businesswomen. Pauline Espinoza, for whom the City’s Community Hall is named, opened Pauline’s Groceries on the south side of town in 1928. Even through the great depression, Pauline kept the store open. Edna Zimmerly Parker started operating the San Marcos Produce Company in 1933, also during the heart of the depression. She kept the store open and running until 1965. Ollie Hamilton opened Hamilton’s grocery and ran it for 30 years before it closed in 1985. To learn more about the grocery trade in San Marcos, see the following:
How to see the files and photos from the library’s collection—
The file referred to in this column is part of the TTWC (Tula Townsend Wyatt collection) and is listed in the catalogue as “Grocery Trade.” The physical file is available by requesting it at the information desk in the library. Many of the photographs from that file are available to view online by searching the catalog at hank.ci.san-marcos.tx.us:8080/#section=home. Search the catalog for “San Marcos Grocery Stores” and see the list of photos and files. Click on one of the photos and bring up the information page about that photo. On that same page, scroll to the bottom and click on “Electronic resource.” This will bring up a bigger version of the photograph. A wealth of information on San Marcos grocery stores is, of course, reflected in the archives of the “Daily Record” which are also available through the library’s web page. For instructions on how to do this, call the library at 512-393-8200 or just stop by at 625 East Hopkins.
Suzanne Sanders is the columnist for the library. She is the Community Services Manager for the San Marcos Public Library and came from the Austin Public Library in 2015 after having served there as a librarian for over 20 years. She gratefully accepts your questions for this column.
