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Shoppers wanting to avoid traffic and check-out lanes will be able sit at home or in the office and order just about anything online, including wine, or some fresh seafood or take-out meals from Central Market, and have them delivered to their homes. Testing will begin this fall, with the official launch set for early 2001.

Although there has been a lot of national interest in online grocery shopping, the practice has not soared like other e-commerce efforts such as Amazon.com Inc. and Dell Computer Corp.

But H-E-B says it will bring its own expertise to the concept.

"Always before, online grocery shopping businesses have been either brick-and-mortar or e-commerce ventures," said Kate Brown, Austin-area H.E.B. spokeswoman. "We feel like we are putting together an approach that has not been done. No one has ever approached this from a brick-and-mortar and e-commerce combination."

H-E-B, which began planning for the service in January 1999, believes that Austin is the right place at the right time for grocery shopping by computer.

"Austin is one of the most wired communities in the United States and the perfect place to alunch our online services," said Hal Collett, vice president and general manager of the company's Central Texas region.

H-E-B is looking at matching in-store prices with those on-line, but has not set a delivery fee or even determined whether there will be one. While there are still a number of other details to be worked out, there will be a minimum order required. And although planners aren't sure how long the turnaround time will be, the company is planning for same-day delivery for orders placed in the morning.

The groceries will be delivered out of a distribution center on North Lamar Boulevard. Shoppers will need to be at home to receive their grocery delivery.

Online grocery delivery isn't new to Austin. Peapod Inc. delivered for Randalls supermarkets in Austin for the past three years. This spring, Safeway Inc., the parent company of the Randalls chain, ended its relationship with Peapod and hooked up with Dallas-based GroceryWorks.com.

Randalls has no plans to resume online deliveries in Austin.

Albertson's Inc. and Whole Foods Market offer online grocery shopping, but use United Parcel Service to ship groceries to customers in the Austin area, with deliveries ranging from overnight to up to five days. And while it's not supermarket-sponsored, www.pcfoods.com of McNeil will shop and deliver from any store in the area.