Christmas arrived early for shoppers at an H-E-B grocery store in Burleson when a computer glitch halted checkouts on Monday, prompting the chain to hand out free groceries to those waiting in line.
Video footage from shopper Shelley Browder showed a store manager named Destanie speaking to the gathered crowd.
“We love having you as our customers. Thank you for waiting with us. Unfortunately, the computers are not coming back up right now,” she said, before adding the welcome news: “Today, everything that you have, we are going to bag you up. And we hope every one of you have a very Merry Christmas and continues to shop with us.”
The announcement drew cheers and applause from the lines of customers.
“This is why we love our H-E-B!!” Browder exclaimed in the video.
One shopper described the giveaway as a “Godsend,” telling Dallas ABC affiliate WFAA she had waited two hours and filled her cart with items to feed her children and grandchildren over the holidays.
Another customer, Melinda Brown, shared her reaction online: “(It) brought tears to my eyes (and) we all gave them a round of applause.” She added, “I asked the checker, ‘for real?’ and she said ‘yep! Merry Christmas.’ What a gift!”
In a statement, H-E-B emphasized its dedication to patrons during peak times.
“During this busy holiday season when our registers were temporarily down at one of our stores, we gave all those with full baskets their groceries for free,” it said. “The customer experience is at the heart of what we do!”
The incident comes as H-E-B pushes further into North Texas, where it has built a fervent base. The chain currently runs stores in Allen, Frisco, McKinney, Plano, Prosper, Melissa, Rockwall, Fort Worth, Hudson Oaks, Mansfield, Burleson, Waxahachie, Cleburne, Granbury, and Corsicana, along with Central Market and Joe V’s Smart Shop outlets. More sites are slated for Dallas, Murphy, the Mid-Cities area, and Denton.
