H-E-B
In 1906 Florence Thornton Butt (1864–1954) risked $60 of her savings to finance a new business: a tiny grocery store on the first floor of the family’s two-story home in Kerrville. Her third and youngest son, .;Howard Edward Butt (1895–1991), returned to Kerrville after a tour in the Navy during World War I and attempted to expand the business. New stores failed in at least seven small towns until in 1928 a store in Del Rio proved successful. The company moved its headquarters to Corpus Christi in the early 1930s, and in 1941 opened its first store in San Antonio, where eventually its headquarters would also be located. Howard Butt was a devout Baptist and strongly opposed the sale of alcoholic beverages in his stores. Only after his staff convinced him in the late 1970s that it was necessary to add beer and wine to their shelves to compete with rivals did he finally allow this to happen. The firm, with expansion into Northern Mexico, is now run by Howard’s youngest son, . Jr.;Charles. Howard E. Butt Jr. runs the H. E. Butt Foundation, which is one of San Antonio’s most generous (and quiet) philanthropies.
