Despite San Antonio being home to H-E-B headquarters, there’s a lone Central Market on Broadway. It has a crazed fan base in the Alamo City looking for the company’s finer selections (or a Whole Foods vibe sans Amazon). But for the past two years, it’s been a confusing maze of construction that will take another year to complete.
When the surprise announcement came in early 2024 that Central Market in San Antonio would begin revamping its lone location at 4821 Broadway, work was slated to wrap up by June 2026.
“At this time, we expect the project to be completed by the end of 2027,” an H-E-B spokesperson told MySA.
As of Monday, June 1, the parking lot work seems to be mostly complete – except for a few large trucks still crowding the entrance and exit lanes. But half the storefront is still shrouded in fences, beams and construction crews.
Inside, things have shifted quite a bit. What was once a familiar series of neatly organized rows in a grid is now a confusing maze of isolated sections. The beer is where the prepared foods used to be. The kombucha and cold coffees are tucked away in the back right. The cheese is in a similar spot, but it’s barricaded by temporary structures and shutdown equipment.
Overall, it’s a manageable experience. But if you haven’t been in a while, don’t expect to make a quick stop. Essentially, nothing is where you remember it being.
But it’s all for the sake of a better Central Market by 2027, or 2028, really. Construction was divided into two phases. The first cost about $6.5 million and wrapped up in 2024, while phase two will cost H-E-B nearly $22 million and should now be finished at the end of next year.
When it’s all done, the store’s façade will be completely revamped, and the interior will undergo a full remodel. Plus, the café seating area will expand.
“For decades, at the corner of Broadway and Patterson, a special relationship has been built between our store, this community, and our Partners,” Stephen Butt, H-E-B’s president of Shareholder Relations and the Central Market Division, said back in March when plans were announced.
“When our work is finished, the newly renovated Broadway Central Market and our friendly Partners will be well equipped to continue serving our customers with the freshest and best specialty products the world has to offer, for many years to come,” he continued.
