San Marcos opened its third H-E-B at 6 a.m. today, Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 1074 E. McCarty Lane. The store covers 114,000 square feet and is expected to create more than 400 jobs. Community Impact reports it will also improve food access for residents on the east side of I-35.
The grocery store is the first project at I-35 and McCarty Lane to actually open. State construction filings show a Home Depot, a Rooms To Go and an AutoZone planned around it, with target completion dates running from August 2027 to January 2028. If you live on this side of town, your Saturday errands will keep changing for at least another year.
Two Hopkins Street Stores, and Now a Third Across the Interstate
Until this morning, an H-E-B trip in San Marcos meant Hopkins Street. The city's two existing stores are at 641 East Hopkins Street and 200 West Hopkins St. The McCarty Lane store moves the H-E-B map away from that one street and out to the interstate.
The build went fast. Community Impact covered the groundbreaking in November 2025 and listed the opening date as TBD. H-E-B held its ribbon cutting on Oct. 6 and opened to the public the next day, less than a year after construction started.
What's Inside the McCarty Lane Store
The headline feature is San Marcos' first True Texas BBQ. H-E-B says the restaurant has indoor seating and smokes all-natural meats over Texas oak. Brisket is on the menu, and sides include brisket beans, creamed corn and homestyle potato salad. The San Antonio Express-News described the same brisket, sides and seating in its opening-eve report. That gives the east side a sit-down barbecue lunch inside the place you buy groceries.
The rest of the store, based on H-E-B's announcement:
- Fresh food counters: a bakery and tortilleria, deli, meat and seafood, floral, and Sushiya hand-rolled sushi made in the store
- Everyday shopping: organic and Healthy Living sections, beer and wine, and Meal Simple, H-E-B's chef-inspired meal options
- Ways to skip the aisles: curbside pickup with its own parking spaces, home delivery, and a pharmacy drive-thru
- On the way out: an H-E-B Fresh Bites with a fuel station and a car wash
Fuel, a car wash, prescriptions and dinner at one address is the main draw for people east of the interstate. Before today, every one of those errands meant a drive to Hopkins Street or somewhere else.
The Hours Worth Saving in Your Phone
The store and pharmacy run on different schedules, and the pharmacy hours are the ones that can trip you up on a weekend. These come from H-E-B's store page:
| Service | Monday–Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
|---|---|---|---|
| Store | 6 a.m.–11 p.m. | 6 a.m.–11 p.m. | 6 a.m.–11 p.m. |
| Pharmacy | 8 a.m.–8 p.m. | 9 a.m.–6 p.m. | 10 a.m.–5 p.m. |
The store page doesn't list separate hours for True Texas BBQ. Check before you plan an early or late barbecue run, because the restaurant may not keep the full 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. store schedule.
Who the Opening Money Went To
At the Oct. 6 ribbon cutting, H-E-B gave $10,000 each to three local organizations: the San Marcos CISD Education Foundation, the Hays County Food Bank, and the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University. The company also paid for native shade trees at San Marcos High School through its Trees for Texans program. The trees are meant to support outdoor learning and wildlife on campus.
That's $30,000 in grants, split among a school foundation, a food bank and a Texas State water research center. All three serve the whole city, which fits a store built in part to fill a gap on the east side.
The Corner Around It Runs on Filing Dates
Community Impact has called I-35 and McCarty Lane a "development-heavy" intersection. Three more large projects are filed for that corner with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
| Project | Location | Size | Planned start | Planned completion | Filing status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Home Depot, the city's first | Northeast quadrant of I-35 and McCarty, next to Embassy Suites and the San Marcos Conference Center | 107,797 sq. ft. plus a 28,120 sq. ft. garden center | Sept. 7, 2026 | Aug. 9, 2027 | Project Registered |
| Rooms To Go | Near I-35 S. and E. McCarty Lane | 52,460 sq. ft. | June 1, 2026 | Sept. 1, 2027 | Review Complete |
| AutoZone, the city's third | S. I-35 and McCarty Lane | 7,147 sq. ft. | Aug. 7, 2026 | Jan. 6, 2028 | Not reported |
Read those dates for what they are. They're the start and completion dates the developers entered on their filings. They aren't progress reports from the job site, and they aren't store opening dates. The Home Depot record, which you can look up on TDLR's project search, is still marked "Project Registered" a month after its planned Sept. 7 start. That status shows the project is filed. It doesn't show that construction has begun. The Rooms To Go record reads "Review Complete," which also describes where the paperwork stands, not the building. Community Impact reported the Home Depot as a $13 million project and Rooms To Go at $7.869 million.
Taken together, the filings point to a corner that grows in stages. The grocery store opened first. A home improvement store with a garden center and a furniture showroom are filed to finish in 2027, and an auto parts store follows in early 2028. Once all of that is built, someone who lives near McCarty Lane could buy groceries, mulch and a sofa at one interchange. Right now, only the groceries are done.
How This Fits the Rest of the Year on I-35
The McCarty opening is the second big I-35 frontage opening in San Marcos in two months. Buc-ee's opened Aug. 12 at 3245 N. I-35. The 74,707-square-foot travel center is projected to employ 200 to 225 full-time workers. Buc-ee's sits on the North I-35 frontage road. The McCarty H-E-B was pitched in part around food access for residents east of I-35. Two of the year's biggest openings in town have landed on the interstate.
For anyone who lives off McCarty Lane, the new routine starts today. The store at 1074 E. McCarty Lane is open every day from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., and its pharmacy opens at 8 a.m. on weekdays.
This is what we track at the Bailey Group: which corners are done, which are still on paper, and how that changes daily life on a given street in San Marcos. If you're weighing a home near I-35 and McCarty and want to know what's actually filed around it, schedule your white-glove consultation and we'll go through the latest records with you.
