H-E-B’s press release announced the new stores would be Joe V’s Smart Shop, which offers “a price-conscious shopping experience.” Both will be located in southern Dallas; the first store opening next summer at the corner of West Wheatland Road and Highway 67, and a second store opening in 2025 at the corner of Buckner and Samuell boulevards.
The idea formed a few years ago, when UNT Dallas biology professor Kelly Varga took her students to the Mill City neighborhood to help clean up a community farm. The woman who ran the farm told Varga she saw a need in her neighborhood for quality food and a healthy outlet for young people.