Kroger has revamped a Signature store in Houston to include several features geared toward the area’s majority Hispanic population, according to reporting from the Houston Chronicle.
In addition to bilingual signage, the newly remodeled store also includes some unique product offerings, including the chain’s first-ever assortment of fresh, store-made ceviche. The ceviche offering is in test and could be rolled out to additional locations, according to the report.
A Kroger spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
A search of the store’s website by Supermarket News for a pick-up order of ceviche yielded four varieties — Mango Habanero Ceviche, Coconut Ceviche, and both Mild and Hot Aguachile Ceviche. All were priced at $6.99 for a 14-ounce portion.
The store is also the first Kroger to offer a juice bar — or bar de jugos — featuring fresh-squeezed, bottled juices such as green smoothies and spicy mango, according to the article in the Chronicle. The juice bar also features fresh-cut fruit, including some marinated in traditional chamoy and tajin seasoning.
The store has added more than 900 products in all, the article said. Other products geared toward Hispanic consumers include store-made tortillas; an assortment of Mexican cheeses, including cojita seco and queso Oaxaca; and pre-seasoned meats such as pollo asado and adobe. The store also offers expanded assortments of chicharrónes (often made with fried pork skins, but also with other meats), helados (ice cream), and candies, as well as more Mexican produce varieties, such as guava and nopales (cactus pads).
Although the store might be the first Kroger location to feature some of these offerings under the Kroger banner, Kroger’s Fry’s division in Arizona has long operated a format called Fry’s Mercado. It debuted the Fry’s Mercado concept in 2006 at a remodeled 66,000-square foot store in Phoenix, complete with an in-store tortillaria and leased space for independent merchants selling clothing, jewelry, and accessories, much like some other traditional Mexican supermarkets.
Several other traditional supermarkets have sought to rebrand some locations to appeal to Hispanic consumers, including the United Supermarkets division Albertsons in Texas and New Mexico, which operates several stores under the Amigos banner, and Publix Super Markets, which at one time operated several locations under the Publix Sabor banner.
In Arizona, the Bashas’ division of Raley’s has long operated the Food City chain, which carries “aisles of traditional Mexican foods” to serve the local Hispanic communities where it operates, according to the chain’s website.
In Houston, the newly remodeled Kroger store will compete with several established retailers that appeal to Hispanic consumers, including H-E-B and its Mi Tienda format, and La Michoacana Supermarket, which is the largest Hispanic-focused grocery chain in the U.S., according to its website, and operates several locations in Houston, where it first opened in 1986.