H-E-B, Sprouts among new South Texas openings

Business is booming in South Texas. From the border at Laredo, over to Corpus Christi, and down south to the Rio Grande Valley, there are a whole bunch of new places to shop or grab a bite to eat. Here’s everything that’s on the way in deep South Texas.

The biggest border city in South Texas is about to get its first-ever major bookstore once Barnes & Noble opens its doors at the Mal Del Norte in Laredo. The country’s largest bookseller is setting up shop in a nearly 20,000-square-foot store space that was once home to a Forever 21 fast fashion store.

While construction was expected to be completed in June, according to a Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) filing, the store isn’t open just yet. But store leaders are starting to prepare for that first day, announcing in an Instagram post on Monday, August 3 that they are seeking new hires.

Orlando, Florida-based chicken tender chain, Huey Magoo’s Chicken Tenders, is planning several locations across deep South Texas, including one location in Laredo and another in Harlingen, according to TDLR filings. Other Huey Magoo’s restaurants are slated for Brownsville and McAllen, as well, according to trade publication Nation’s Restaurant News.

A Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based burger chain called Smalls Sliders will be opening at least four restaurants in the Rio Grande Valley. Smalls Sliders was founded by Brandon Landry, the same man who founded Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux, and has the backing of former New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees. The franchise specializes in serving bite-sized burgers called sliders inside restaurants built out of shipping containers. The first one is slated to open in Brownsville, with three other locations to follow in Harlingen and McAllen.

Construction is currently underway in the Valley’s oldest and largest city, which will get its first-ever Sprouts Farmers Market grocery store. The $10 million project in Brownsville is slated to open in August 2027 at a bustling retail center called North Towne Plaza, located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 77 and Ruben M. Torres Boulevard.

A few dozen miles away, Natural Grocers — an organic grocery chain headquartered in Lakewood, Colorado — is planning its first-ever store in South McAllen. Natural Grocers is investing at least $840,000 to transform a building that once housed a trampoline park and a discount apparel store a block away from McAllen City Hall into a store that offers USDA-certified organic produce.

Construction is almost complete on Edinburg’s very first Olive Garden restaurant, which is located in the heart of the Shoppes at Rio Grande Valley shopping center at Interstate 2 and Trenton Road. The fast-casual Italian restaurant chain joins a number of other national brands that have opened up at the popular retail center in recent months, including Bath & Body Works, dd’s DISCOUNTS, and James Avery. No ETA on the unlimited breadsticks yet, but construction crews have already installed Olive Garden’s iconic signs outside the building.

In another first, H-E-B is planning to open its first-ever True Texas BBQ in-store restaurant in the Coastal Bend. The restaurant is part of a massive $32.3 million overhaul of the H-E-B plus! located at the corner of Staples Street and Saratoga Boulevard in Corpus Christi. Once the renovations are complete, the store will boast both a True Texas BBQ and a South Flo Pizza.