Champagne flowed freely on a recent frigid Saturday afternoon, as customers and friends waded through aisles, some of them stocked exclusively with Goya products, while local dignitaries and business leaders gathered to celebrate the opening of Providence’s newest ethnic grocery store, La Gigante Meat Market.
For the owners, Zolio Garcia Sr. and Rafael Nuñez, it is their second business venture in the retail food industry. The pair successfully operated a smaller market in Providence for years, said Zolio Garcia Jr., the owner’s son.
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With demand for their products increasing, Garcia Jr. said they seized the opportunity to open a larger store, located at 49 Elmwood Ave.
“They’d like to accomplish bigger dreams,” Garcia Jr. said.
Garcia Sr. and Nuñez are not alone in chasing their entrepreneurial dreams.
Carmen Lorenzo, who works for the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, said when she arrived in Providence 20 years ago, there were only two or three ethnic grocery stores. Today, she said, there are nearly 150.
While her organization does not keep figures on the number of grocery stores owned by Latinos, Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce President Juana Horton said she has witnessed a great jump in the number of stores owned by Hispanics.
“It seems that the majority of Spanish-owned businesses are traditionally small markets,” Horton said, noting that there are 3,000 Hispanic-owned businesses registered with the secretary of state.
The boom in minority-owned grocery stores coincides with population increases in the communities.
Comparing Census data from 1980 and 2000, Providence witnessed a 109-percent jump in its Latino community, going from 24,982 Hispanic residents to 52,146.
In 2000, the figure represented more than 25 percent of the city’s population.
When the Latino numbers were added to the nearly 25,000 black residents and 10,000 Asian-Americans, Providence’s 94,666 white residents barely maintained a majority of the city’s population in 2000.
Other Rhode Island communities that witnessed large jumps in their Hispanic communities included Central Falls, which saw an increase of 76 percent, and Woonsocket, which saw its Latino community increase by 249 percent.
Even communities like Newport, which remain mostly white, witnessed increases in the Hispanic population greater than 50 percent between the two censuses.
The increase in stores also comes at a time when larger chain supermarkets have increased their marketing to minorities and people searching for ethnic foods.
“It’s one of our fastest-growing segments,” said Shaw’s Supermarkets spokeswoman Judy Chong, “both because of growing ethnic populations and the growing appeal of ethnic foods to the mainstream population.”
Chong said the company’s store on Atwells Avenue in Providence serves the second-largest Hispanic customer base in the entire chain. To attract ethnic customers, the company maintains signs in Spanish and Italian and works on various forms of community outreach.
But has the aggressiveness of larger chains detracted from the business of smaller, minority-owned grocery stores? According to supermarket analysts David J. Livingston any effect has been minimal.
Livingston, based in Wisconsin, said proximity to the chains may play a role in how well the smaller stores perform, but “generally, they do not go out of business.”
Charles C. Newton, administrator of the R.I. Minority Business Enterprise Center, said ethnic grocers are able to better serve their communities because they understand what their customers want and can afford. And they are native speakers. The minority grocers also are dedicated to their stores, working 70-hour weeks, and have a drive to create a business of their own, Newton said.
Garcia Jr., interpreting for Nuñez, said the larger markets do not impact businesses like La Gigante. While the store welcomes all of its patrons, Garcia said it has a specific customer base.
“This is for Latinos,” he said. “I don’t think they feel competition.”
