Heidi Beth Garcia

I started my career at Kroger when I was just 19 years old as a contract employee. The director at the time later told me he didn't think I would last 3 months because I didn't have any experience, but I picked up quickly and really came to love it. I ended up staying for eight and a half years, becoming a team lead and coordinating an equipment database with the Procurement department to streamline ordering. After that, I took a leap and moved to St. Martin in the Caribbean, and during summers I would come back and work for an architectural firm doing a variety of work including banks, houses, churches, and site development. After three years, I took a job in Tampa at a firm that specialized in grocery store design, where I was a consultant to Walmart, Hannaford, Bloom, and we did some designs for stores in China and South America, and a really cool Hispanic store, Carnival, in Dallas. We would do full sets of drawings, including decor and design, and it was such a great learning experience. But when the recession hit, my husband and I were both designers and we both got laid off. When our insurance and money were running out, I called Kroger up and ended up back there at the end of 2010. I'm currently in the store planning department working mostly on remodels, collaborating with divisions like Dillon's in Kansas and Mid-Atlantic in Virginia. I work with their executives and merchandisers to determine what needs to be done during a remodel based on the budget is and keeping the latest company standards and cost in mind to create the most effective and cost-efficient plan possible.