El Supermercado

Just read about Sedano's grocery store chain in the Miami Herald at http://www.miamiherald.com/business_monday/story/704935.html.

This is a Florida Latino grocery store chain that is shifting their new stores to better appeal to the second-generation Hispanic while attempting to retain the first-generation shopper. This includes changes in decor (high ceilings, new colors) as well as product line (more prepared Hispanic foods as well as general-market products). It really shows where the market's going (in some geographic areas, anyway) when a Latino chain shifts its focus like that.

Here in the Northwest, for the most part we're still working on the first-generation customer with our local retail. I remember Cost Cutters up in Everett, which underwent a complete makeover about four years ago. It had been a mainstream grocery store with some Latino customers, until the store manager got the brilliant idea that he could better serve his Latino customers' needs with more Latin American products and a festive ambience. Of course, that also included hiring more bilingual checkers and other staff to serve the customers he was expecting to shop at the new Cost Cutters.

Once he made the switch he was amazed, because not only did it appear that all area Hispanics were now shopping at his store, but that their shopping carts averaged 30% higher receipts! This was likely due to the generally larger households in the Latino community and the focus this group puts on food and home cooking. The manager mentioned that, while he did lose some of his regulars who were not Latino, he gained loyalty among the Latino community almost instantly, and word of mouth helped business boom in a way that surpassed prior sales. He was content with the shift.