VALLARTA ON SCHEDULE TO OPEN IN OCTOBER SARAH DE CRESCENZO | 10-Aug-2009
Vallarta on schedule to open in October
By SARAH DE CRESCENZO 2009-07-31 01:05:04
Eastridge Plaza will soon boast a new occupant, filling the 36,000-square-foot space that Save Mart vacated more than 13 years ago with Vallarta Supermarkets.
Realtor Jose Chavez, who represents the supermarket chain, said the grocery store is on schedule for a projected October opening.
Though the Plaza still has a few empty spots, Chavez said the presence of Vallarta will improve the area. He said he expects the locations to fill quickly.
"I've been keeping my eyes open in Porterville for some time now, and an opportunity presented itself," Chavez said. "It will be a great addition. Vallarta will offer a lot of specialty items that people in the area look for."
The supermarket, which caters to the Hispanic community, will offer a full-service restaurant, a fresh tortilleria and specialty items.
The restaurant, a taqueria, will have tables for sit-down dining and approximately 50 different traditional Mexican dishes.
At the tortilleria, fresh masa, tortillas and tortilla chips will be sold daily.
Other items that will be available fresh on a daily basis will be the store's own chorizo, guacamole, salsas and tortillas.
"The Porterville store will be key to our expansion in the San Joaquin Valley," Vallarta Senior Vice President John Marquis said.
Vallarta opened its first store in Bakersfield in 2003 and has been opening stores throughout the Valley since then at a steady pace.
Plans for the next store, which will be located in Fresno, are already under way.
"We chose Porterville because it is a growing community with a large Hispanic population," Marquis said.
He said he believes Vallarta is popular with its customers because the freshness of their offering and their pricing.
Their meat department turns over meat so rapidly that many stores receive deliveries five to six times per week, Marquis said.
"We sell a lot of cuts [of meat] for the Hispanic market like carnitas and carne asada," he said.
Marquis said he takes pride in Vallarta's special offerings, like a dessert bar next to the restaurants called "La Isla" that serves ice cream, shaved ice and other sweets.
Cakes sold at Vallarta are either baked, decorated or both on site - Marquis referred to the popular "tres leches" cakes that they sell as "fabulous."
Chavez said he believes the lack of a central store has been a contributing factor in the number of empty storefronts in Eastridge.
"I believe the store will impact the shopping center in a positive manner. It has needed a grocery store for a quite some time," he said. "Once [Vallarta] is up and running, it should create more interest for those smaller spaces."
Chavez said Vallarta Supermarkets will encourage shoppers to visit the Plaza with greater frequency.
Though there are no plans as of yet for partnerships with local businesses or organizations, Marquis said that is a distinct possibility.
"We try to be a good corporate citizen in all the communities that we are in," he said.
For example, a lot of Vallarta stores make sausages for local restaurants, he said.
The Porterville store is another link in the chain of Vallarta stores spreading across the Valley, which currently tally up to 27. The Porterville location will bring that count to 28 stores.
"[Our Porterville location] has been in the plans for quite some time," Marquis said. "We're committed to the San Joaquin Valley."
