Posted on 03/14/2009 4:05:39 AM PDT by Man50D
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-Marts 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-Marts Sams 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-Marts 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-Marts 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-Marts 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.
Interesting. Fiesta closed a store here after only a short time. Nobody but Mexicans would shop there because they didn’t feel safe. The customers had major racist attitudes towards whites and blacks so the community finally ceded the store to the Mexicans. Unfortunately the Mexicans didn’t spend enough to keep it in business. Racism at its finest.
"I luv ya', man!"
Excellent news for your family.
Sure. Quaint, isolated, most everyone speaks English as well as Chinese.
So far, we don't have the Chinese taking over large parts of our country and requiring Mandarin billboards and Chinese Wall-Marts.
At the moment, we have large waves of people entering illegally and demanding separation in language and culture.
Businesses that facilitate that process betray their country and should be boycotted.
Businesses that facilitate that process betray their country and should be boycotted.
I don't see a problem with that, at all. When you come to the realization that your time would've been better-spent doing the things I'm suggesting, don't bitch.
Boycotting businesses for their part in facilitating these attempts to change our country is a really good start.
Nothing bothers a "profit before patriotism" type more than losing money.
You are treating the symptoms of the disease, and not the disease itself. Anyone who thinks that a boycott of Wal-Mart will solve (or even address) our illegal immigration problem is engaging in wishful thinking of the highest order.
Imagine a corporation providing a large segment of society with goods and services they want. A sure route to failure. Now a business model to follow would be say GM that for years gave us products we didn’t want.
Sorry - I'll keep at it. The letters and e-mails against McDonalds' spanish-language billboard here in Virginia worked fine. They pulled the billboards and they're using English again.
And how many illegals were deported?
We won’t have fence climbing if we make one little change...let companies like Walmart -who knowingly hire illegals -execs up to the CEO go to jail. This would stop all the trouble. Make them pay for their illegal behavior. I would have more sympathy for Walmart if I as a taxpayer did not have to subsidize their low paid workers for insurance, housing and even food while Walmart makes billions;if any company ever deserved unionization, it’s Walmart.
There would be little unhappiness if they assimilated but this insistence on using Spanish and retaining the old culture is divisive and wrong.
If WSall-Mart want Spanish-language stores, they have openings in Mexico/el Salvador/Honduras.
McDonalds would not hire my son in Georgia...they wanted a Spanish speaking employee...we no longer eat at McDonalds
Plenty of people bought GM cars and you are ignorant of the facts. As for a Hispanic Walmart...one more reason not to shop there.
That’s right, stick it to ‘em. All those people working at Wal-Mart aren’t working there by choice, anyway. Only the United Food and Commercial Workers can save them!
Yes, we will have to see how it works out...thanks for your good wishes. It’s a terrible time to be out of work.
I’ll tell him...he will probably return the favor..wet sloppy kiss soon...How are you doing?
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