San Antonio-based H-E-B finally accepting Apple Pay, other tap-to-pay options

San Antonio is the first city to benefit from the change, which the grocer plans to implement statewide.

click to enlarge San Antonio-based H-E-B, the state's grocery powerhouse, is coming around to accepting Apple Pay. - Shutterstock / Moab Republic
Shutterstock / Moab Republic
San Antonio-based H-E-B, the state's grocery powerhouse, is coming around to accepting Apple Pay.
San Antonio-based H-E-B is finally giving the people what they want.

Starting this Monday, Texas' dominant grocery chain rolled out tap-to-pay options at select locations with more on the way. The new payment options include Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.

The rollout is taking place by region, with clusters of stores implementing the new feature all at the same time, according to H-E-B officials. The chain's hometown of San Antonio is the first to benefit from the change.

The retailer says it will take about a month to make tap-to-pay available statewide.

It will take H-E-B about a week to fully implement the feature at all San Antonio stores, officials said. In addition to being able to pay with their phones' digital wallets, customers also will be able to use tap-enabled debit and credit cards at the register or self-checkout.

The tap-to-pay feature also will be available at H-E-B pharmacies and restaurants. For now, tap-to-pay won't be useable at the chain's gas pumps but will it will be accepted at fuel station payment windows.

“At H-E-B, we’re always exploring a broad range of technologies to enhance how customers shop and pay for products,” said Ashwin Nathan, H-E-B group vice president of marketing and payments. “This has been one of the most requested services we have received from our customers and Partners, and we are excited to now make this popular technology available at all our H-E-B locations.”