Posted on 03/13/2009 11:51:11 AM PDT by angelcindy
Wal mart plans to open its first Hispanic-focused supermarkets this summer in Arizona and Texas as the largest US retailer continues its drive to expand its dominance of the US grocery business.
The pilot stores, named Supermercado de Walmart, will open in Phoenix and Houston in remodelled 39,000 sq ft locations occupied previously by two of Wal-Mart’s Neighborhood Market stores.
The retailer said that the stores were in “strongly Hispanic neighbourhoods” and would feature a “new lay-out, signing and product assortment designed to make them even more relevant to local Hispanic customers”. The staff will also be bilingual.
Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club warehouse store also plans to open a 143,000 sq ft Hispanic-focused store called Más Club in Houston this year.
Several leading regional US supermarket chains already operate Hispanic store brands, including Publix in Florida, which operates three Publix Sabor markets, and HEB in Texas, which opened a Mi Tienda store in Houston in 2006.
The markets include elements such as cafés serving Latino pastries and coffee, and full service meat and fish counters.
Leading retailers are also pursuing Hispanic consumers online, with Best Buy and Home Depot having launched Spanish-language versions of their e-commerce sites in recent months.
Eduardo Castro-Wright, the head of Wal-Mart’s US stores since 2005, has also been an advocate of testing new smaller, more focused formats, and raised the idea of turning the Neighbourhood Market into a Hispanic-style bodega concept several years ago.
He has also developed Wal-Mart’s efforts to customise its larger Supercenter stores, which have been grouped according to differing community profiles, such as urban, suburban, Hispanic and African-American, with customised merchandise.
A 195,000 sq ft Supercenter that opened in Texas last year included a tortilleria bakery, Hispanic foods and a larger selection of Spanish-language music and DVDs.
Mr Castro-Wright was previously head of Wal-Mart’s Mexican subsidiary, whose store network ranges from large US-style Supercenters to small local bodegas, an upmarket supermarket chain and two restaurant chains.
Last year, Wal-Mart also began testing four new 10,000 sq ft Marketside convenience grocery stores in the Phoenix area – its first new format in a decade. Tesco, the UK retailer, also has more than 25 of its small Fresh & Easy markets in the Phoenix area.
The first WalMart I ever saw was in south Texas, very close to the border. All the signage was in English, if I recall correctly, and it was clearly an American store. Still,the Hispanic population shopped there easily.
I know this is a business decision and WalMart is very business savvy - still, seems like American stores on American soil should be - well - American. But this is just one more brick in the wall. It’s not the first and it won’t be the last.
I don’t really eat traditional Mexican food, preferring Tex-Mex. But enough of the ingredients are common between the two to make me miss a decent hispanic foods section.
Um...I know how to post pics properly, I can’t help it if “preview” doesn’t show the pic in that size... ;)
LOL--"Mr. Walton, our figures project a profit of x% if we go after this market." "Basta! Leave it for the competion."
I sympathize. We had years when we couldn’t get any Latin foods, it seemed like. At least tortillas have caught on in a big way, although I should probably bite the bullet and make my own, with as many as we use.
We cook Tex-Mex, Mexican, Caribbean, Central American ... whatever suits our mood. I’ve been practicing Cuban dishes for several years, waiting for Fidel Castro to die so we can have a major fiesta!
So you think that a Spanish themed store is aiding illegal immigration? Good luck with that theory!
Some how i do not believe that all Hispanics send all their money back to Mexico. Instead, they spend most of their money in the USA and Wal-MArt would be stupid if they did not go after those dollars.
And could you please explain to me why the dollars that you spend are more valuable that the dollars spent by Hispanics?
I ask this rather sarcastically because I see nothing wrong with stores catering to any particular group. It is capitalism. I am completely against illegal aliens. That is not the topic here.
Why doesn’t wal mart open their stores in mexico..
“Gee lets just make them feel right at home.... “
You got to be kidding with that statement. There are many wonderful hispanic people in this country, most natural born U.S. citizens. What gives you the right to deny them the opportunity to shop in a themed grocery story. Yes, I hope they feel right at home.
.....Bob
Wal-Mart does have stores in Mexico.
Well, I screw up, but you screw up in a big way. LOL
Yea when you know it will hire all illegals...you know that the mexicans in the southwestern states are 99% illegal!
Prove it, or take your bigotry somewhere else, please.
It is apparent that some believe that only those dollars spent by white folks have value.
Then why doesn’t wal mart open one in every state!!!! and how many in texas and arizona are natural born citizens???in every state!!!!
I visited the Walmart in Laredo, TX approximately 20 years ago. I needed help finding something and could not find one English-speaking employee. I was incensed. When I finally found a manger that COULD speak English, I voiced my concerns. He merely scoffed at me and said that his customers speak Spanish and that I should learn the language if I persist in shopping in Laredo, TX.
oh I see you’re all for the illegals!!
I see no problem with this. Seems to me to be a solid business move.
SnakeDoc
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