Pro's Ranch Markets Opens Its Seventh Latino Format Supermarket in Metro Phoenix, Arizona

Metro Phoenix, Arizona Market Region

Family-owned grocery chain Pro's Ranch Markets opened its seventh supermarket (pictured at top) in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona today. The new store, which like the chain's other Pro's Ranch Markets stores is a Latino or Hispanic format supermarket, is at 3145 West Glendale Avenue (35th & Glendale Avenue) in (western) Phoenix.

The new unit opened today makes nine the total number of Latino consumer-focused supermarkets operated by Pro's Ranch Markets.

Five of the seven Arizona Pro Ranch Markets stores are in Phoenix. Two of the units are located in the nearby cities of Mesa and Glendale.

There are two additional Pro's Ranch Markets supermarkets own by the grocer - one in Albuquerque, New Mexico and another unit in El Paso, Texas.

Pro's Ranch Markets is owned by veteran Southern California grocer Mike Provenzano Sr. and his four sons.

Provenzano, who's nickname is "Pro" and who's corporate entity is called "Pro & Sons," opened his first Latino format Pro's Ranch Markets supermarket in Phoenix in 2002. The grocer has opened a new store in the market nearly each year since then.

Pro's Ranch Markets is headquartered in the Southern California city of Ontario, even though the grocer no longer operates stores in California.

Provenzano and his sons originally operated stores in Southern California and in the Bakersfield area in the Central Valley, along with in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. However, the company recently sold off the last of its California stores, two in Bakersfield, to Southern California-based Vallarta Supermarkets, which like Pro's Ranch Markets is a family owned, multi-store grocery retailer.

Provenzano Sr. says the chain's future focus will be on Arizona, New Mexico and Texas - and perhaps one or two other western states where Pro's Ranch Markets doesn't yet have stores. However, the grocer says it has no plans to open stores again in California, where it's corporate headquarters remains. Pro's Ranch also has a regional office in Phoenix, Arizona, where it coordinates operations for the now seven stores in the metro area.

In addition to operating the nine Hispanic format Pro's Ranch supermarkets, the Provenzano's have diversified the company into other types of retailing. Under the Pro's Ranch corporate structure the family also operates two laundromats in Phoenix - Ranchie Laundromat Phoenix #3 and Ranchie Laundromat Phoenix #4 - which are named after the grocer's mascot, Ranchie The Bull; a restaurant called Tradiciones, which is also in Phoenix; and Ranchie Fuel, a gas station in Texas, which is also named after the popular in-house mascot.

The Pro's Ranch supermarkets are big and packed with product from every category - from fresh meats and produce to packaged groceries and all kinds of in-store, fresh-prepared foods, with a Mexican and latin flair. (Read the two past stories linked at the end of this piece for more details on the stores.) Although the markets focus on Latinos, they're also shopped by consumers from many different ethnic backgrounds.

The Latino format supermarkets are also colorful and festive. But you don't have to take our word for it. Click here to view a selection of photographs from today's opening of the new Pro's Ranch Market store at 35th & Glendale Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona.

Related Stories

April 26, 2009: Sunday Feature: Pro's Ranch Markets' Set to Open Sixth 'Phoenix Ranch' Latino-Focused Phoenix Metro Region Supermarket in Mesa, Arizona On Wednesday

June 26, 2008: Phoenix, Arizona Metro Market Report: More Competition in an Already Hot Market as Pro's Ranch Markets Plans Two New Stores in Phoenix Metro Market

90-Year Old California Man Who Lost Over $700,000 in Retirement Savings to Scam-Artist Bernie Maddoff Goes Back to Work -- At A Grocery Store

90-year old Ian Thiermann, who lost $738,000 in the $50 billion financial swindle conducted by Wall Street financier Bernie Maddoff, at work in his new job at the Ben Lomond Market supermarket in Ben Lomond, California. [Photo: KPIX TV, Channel 5.].

Sign of the times: It's a good thing grocers are still hiring

Ian Thiermann, a 90-year old retired businessman from Ben Lomond, California, a small town near the city of Santa Cruz on Northern California's coast, says he lost his entire life savings, $738,000, to the Wall Street financier and Ponzi Scheme crook Bernard Maddoff. The $738,000 was what Mr. Thiermann had saved and invested throughout his working life for his retirement.

As a result of losing it all, Ian Theirmann decided the only think he could do was to return to work at age 90, he told San Francisco-based KPIX, Channel 5 television for a recent report the station did about the Ben Lomond resident.

However, with the current job availability situation so poor, along with the fact he is 90-years of age, Ian Thiermann wasn't completely confident he could find a job in the small, coastal Northern California city where he lives.

But a local independent grocer, Ben Lomond Market, heard about Mr. Thiermann's plight and offered him a 30 hour a week job at $10 an hour as the store customer greeter, a position they created especially for the energetic and sociable 90-year old.

"This is not a woe is me kind of man. This is a community coming together and helping each other out in times of need," Barbara Loffer of Ben Lomond Market told KPIX.

In explaining his plight and decision to return to the work force as the official customer greeter at Ben Lomond Market, Ian Thiermann told KPIX reporter Kiet Do: "You meet a situation like this, what are you gonna do, fold up? Instead of crying, yelling or being mad about it, face it and move on."

That simple sentence and overall attitude from Mr. Thiermann, a man who at age 90 lost every cent he had saved throughout his working life and as a result did what he had to, which is to go back at work, is something we should all keep in mind as we struggle in the current bad economy.

Times are tough without a doubt -- but like Ian Thiermann, who was born in 1919 and has lived through wars and the Great Depression -- and survived -- says: "You meet a situation like this, what are you gonna do, fold up? Instead of crying, yelling or being mad about it, face it and move on."

That's a motto, and attitude, we all should follow. It's also the attitude that will get the country out of the current economic recession and malaise.

[You can read the report from KPIX Channel 5 here.]

[You can view video of Ian Thiermann at the Ben Lomond Market at the link below: http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=12126414&ch=4226713]

Fresh & Easy Buzz offers a major tip of the hat to the owners of the Ben Lomond Market for coming up with the job for Mr. Thiermann after hearing of his situation.

The grocer's doing so demonstrates what we often say about America's independent grocers -- that they survive and thrive in the U.S. food and grocery retailing sector in large part because they focus on being an integral part of the communities where they operate their stores. They focus on the local -- local customers, products and issues. Ben Lomond Market, in hiring Ian Thiermann demonstrates that independent grocer spirit in spades.

The grocer also demonstrates that the community focus we describe extends far beyond only selling groceries.

We wish Mr. Thiermann all the best in his new job. And we think he will be a great asset to the market, its owners, and its customers.

Despite Arizona Becoming the Land Where Retail Giants Are Opening Scores of Stores, Independents Fear Not - We Profile Two Such Entrepreneurs

Arizona Market Food Retailing Report: Small-Format Grocery and Fresh Foods Markets

Tesco is opening numerous small-format Fresh & Easy grocery and fresh foods markets (about 30 so far) in Arizona.

Wal-Mart operates over 30 of its Neighborhood Market smaller-format supermarkets in the state, and recently entered the market with its first four (and soon to be fifth) small-format Marketside combination grocery and fresh foods stores. More new stores of both formats are opening in Arizona.

Then there's Trader Joe's, which operates nearly 30 of its famous specialty markets in the state.

But these aggressive retailing giants, all operating their own versions of small-format, neighborhood oriented grocery and fresh foods markets, aren't stopping some independent food retailing entrepreneurs from opening their own new small-format fresh food and grocery concept markets in Arizona -- in these two particular cases in Tucson.

And, both new stores have a similar focus: They are neighborhood markets that put a major emphasis on locally-produced food products, fresh produce, convenience, natural and organic foods (but also conventional basics) and in-store fresh, prepared foods and beverages.

Local Harvest Marketplace - Tucson

Natural foods industry veterans (from the product marketing side) Philip and Sherry Ostrom-Luna recently opened there new small-format, natural and fresh foods market, Local Harvest Marketplace, at 3954 East Speedway Boulevard in Tucson.

Local Harvest Market features fresh produce, natural and organic groceries, ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat prepared foods all with a local focus, meaning most of the store's offerings are products produced locally in Arizona or nearby. The emphasis is on products produced and marketed by local companies, artisans and purveyors.

The market's prepared food and beverage offerings are extensive. There's a salad bar, sandwich bar, fresh smoothie bar, fresh juice and cider bar and cafe. All of the prepared food and drink items on the menu are prepared in-store using natural and organic products produced locally.

Local Harvest Marketplace also has an outdoor dining patio where customers can sit and eat and drink the store's fresh, prepared foods offerings. The store's owners say they will soon extend their fresh produce sales out into the patio, offering a farmers market for shoppers, featuring all sorts of local produce, from the afternoon and evening. They also plan to invite local artisans and craft makers to display and sell their handcrafted items at the open air market. Plans also call for having free entertainment on the patio in conjunction with the farmers market concept on Saturdays each week.

Since the market's emphasis is on local food, grocery and prepared foods items, they feel the patio farmers market will offer an additional opportunity to offer a greater selection especially of seasonal local fresh produce. Inviting the local artisans to sell their handmade items at the open-air farmers market also will enhance the local positioning and emphasis of the independent market they believe.

Maynard's Market & Kitchen - Tucson

A second new independent grocery and fresh foods market, Maynards Market & Kitchen, is set to open on December 12 in the Historic Depot in Tucson at 400 North Tool Avenue. The store is named after the famous San Francisco, California artist Maynard Dixon who lived for a time in Tucson. Some of his artwork graces the walls in Tucson's historic Depot building where the new market is located.

Below is how Maynards Market & Kitchen describes its format and philosophy:

THE CONCEPT IS SIMPLE. BUY LOCALLY WHEN YOU CAN. BUY RESPONSIBLY WHEN YOU CAN'T. WITH A SLANT FOR THE LOCALLY GROWN AND PRODUCED, MAYNARDS MARKET WILL CARRY AN ARRAY OF REGIONAL PRODUCTS ON OUR SHELVES AND AT OUR FARMERS MARKET. BUT WE DON'T STOP WITH VEGETABLES AND CHEESES. MAYNARDS IS A NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET WITH FRESH JUICES, PASTRIES AND COFFEES. HEALTHY GRAB AND GO AND SIMPLE NECESSITIES FROM ASPIRIN TO TISSUE. AND OF COURSE, GOOD WINES.

The new market is a combination basic grocery store and fresh and natural foods market, as the mission statement above describes. The store puts an emphasis on local products like Local Harvest Marketplace does but doesn't offer only food, grocery and non-foods items produced locally. Note the aspirin and tissue, for example.

The positioning of the new store is to be a neighborhood-oriented market where shoppers can get their basic essentials, along with being a more specialty and natural foods market where shoppers can find lots of organic and locally-grown fresh produce, in-store prepared fresh foods and specialty items.

The grocer is asking local residents for their ideas on its Web site prior to the store's opening on December 12, and plans to seek regular customer input as part of its operating philosophy. The market also wants to feature as much fresh produce and food and grocery products as is possible from local growers and purveyor.

Local dreams and independent means

Both Local Harvest Marketplace and Maynards are tapping into the increasingly popular local foods movement in the United States. While the current recession may have pushed aside "local" as a key priority for many consumers in favor of price at this particular point in time, it remains a fast-growing movement and concept. In addition, in many cases, including fresh produce, local actually is cheaper than non-locally produced foods.

Local is an important concept in Arizona because the state produces lots of fresh market crops as well as has numerous specialty and natural foods companies. The concept is growing from one that originally touted primarily eating locally-produced foods for the quality and taste factors to a much larger concept of buying and eating locally-produced because of the economic benefits doing so brings -- more jobs in the region, tax money for local governments, greater economic development, ect.

The fact that the entrepreneurs we've profiled in this piece have and are opening their respective small-format, independent food and grocery markets in the current recession shows the dynamism of food retailing in the U.S. It also shows food retailing entrepreneurs are willing to stake their money and future on a retail concept they believe in -- in these cases neighborhood stores with a local focus -- even though grocery retailing giants Tesco (Fresh & Easy) and Wal-Mart (Marketside) are opening their own versions of small grocery and fresh foods markets all around them.

Welcome to the Phoenix, Arizona Metropolitan region food and grocery retailing market, which is fast becoming one of the most interesting, dynamic and competitive markets in the U.S.

Reader Resources

Related posts from Fresh & Easy Buzz:

>Friday, October 17, 2008: Phoenix, Arizona Metro Market Report: Gilbert, Arizona Independent Liberty Market Fears Not the Tesco and Wal-Mart Invasion of its City

>Wednesday, April 30, 2008: Raising Arizona and Getting Local in the Neighborhood: State's First 100% Locally-Produced Wine Offers Win-Win for Tesco's Fresh & Easy Arizona Stores

>Monday, October 27, 2008: Category Management Report: Fresh & Easy Conducting Wine Category Review and SKU Rationalization; We Offer Some Analysis

>Wednesday, October 8, 2008: Putting the 'Neighborhood' in Neighborhood Market: 'Localism' and Tesco's Proposed Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in Sacramento's Oak Park

>Friday, March 14, 2008: Is Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Venture Fledgling Even Further? More Analysis and Commentary

Phoenix, Arizona Metro Market Report: Gilbert, Arizona Independent Liberty Market Fears Not the Tesco and Wal-Mart Invasion of its City

Tesco recently opened it second Fresh & Easy grocery and fresh foods store in the Phoenix, Arizona Metro region city of Gilbert. Fresh & Easy markets are about 10,000 -to- 13,000 square feet.

On October 4, Wal-Mart opened one of its first four small-format (15,000 -to- 20,000 square foot) Marketside combination grocery and fresh foods markets in the city. The mega-retailer opened three other Marketside stores the same day in nearby Chandler, Mesa and Tempe. Tesco has Fresh & Easy stores in each of those cities as well.

Both Tesco's Fresh & Easy and Wal-Mart's Marketside stores put a major emphasis on selling ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat fresh, prepared foods, ranging from full dinners and side-dishes to sandwiches and snack items. Marketside makes its fresh, prepared foods items right in the store. Fresh & Easy's prepared foods items are produced at the retailer's central kitchen facility in Southern California and shipped to the stores.

Both Tesco's (the world's third-largest retailer) Fresh & Easy markets and Wal-Mart's (the number one global retailer) Marketside stores also sell a selection of basic and specialty food and grocery products, fresh produce and meats and related items.

In other words, two of the biggest retailers in the world have invaded Gilbert, Arizona with their respective small-format food and grocery stores. That's enough to give pause to any supermarket chain or independent grocer anywhere.

But the Gilbert invasion by the two big guys of food and grocery retailing hasn't scared off Gilbert's historic Liberty Market, an independent grocery store that's been open in the city since the U.S. Great Depression.

Liberty Market owner Owner Joe Johnston and his partners have just completed a major remodeling of the supermarket located in downtown Gilbert's historic Heritage District, transforming the grocery store into what Johnston calls an "urban marketplace."

The inside of the historic market features a mix of the old and new. There are modern-style clear exposed bulbs hanging from rustic ceiling beams built in the 1930s. On the same concrete floor originally poured in 1958 sit modernist tables with smooth black surfaces. Clean and sleek.

The remodeled market also features an in-store demonstration kitchen where shoppers can see what the chefs are doing through two large glass windows.

Among the modern equipment in the in-store kitchen is a Vulcan Oven in which artisan pizza's are baked for sale in the store.

A major part of Liberty Market's new urban flair includes lots of fresh, prepared foods from the kitchen. There are full ready-to-heat dinner entrees and side-dishes as well as ready-to-eat grab-and-go foods prepared right in the store.

The market also features an in-store espresso bar/cafe which owner Johnson says he wants to become a downtown Gilbert social hub as well as a place where the city's many commuters will stop off on there way to work. Also returning often after work to pick up prepared foods items for dinner produced by the in-store chef.

Professional chef David Traina is Johnson's partner in Liberty Market. He will be running the in-store kitchen, creating what he says will be a combination of basic comfort foods along with more adventurous offerings such as sweet potato salad and authentic Sicilian pizza's, among other offerings. There are fresh baked goods as well.

The market also has a retail section offering shelf-stable food and grocery products, perishable items and additional fresh foods.

Joe Johnson owns three successful restaurants in Gilbert. Therefore focusing on in-store-made prepared foods along with retail food and grocery items in the revamped Liberty Market is a natural for both him and chef Traina.

The historic market has had four owners since it opened in the 1930's. Johnson is the fourth and says he wants to be the last.

Although he has done extensive remodeling to Liberty Market, owner Johnson says it still retains its historic core. He's referring to the historic elements such as the concrete floor poured in 1958, the 1930's wood ceiling beams and other historic elements which have been retained in the store's remodeling.

The fresh food and grocery market is part of the revitalization of downtown Gilbert and its historic district.

Johnson and Traina say they fear not the big chain outlets that have recently opened in Gilbert. They believe their upscale yet historically-grounded Liberty market and its downtown location offer residents and shoppers not only convenient food and grocery items but restaurant-quality prepared foods items supported by Johnson's reputation as a successful restaurant operator in the city.

Additionally, It's also the only market in the downtown core of Gilbert. Downtown Gilbert been adding various new amenities like Water Tower Park, which is slated to open next month, and the Western Canal Trail, which is being completed and is scheduled for an early 2009 opening, according to Johnson.

These new public features, along with a number of new retail shops that have opened in downtown Gilbert in the last couple years, are expected to draw local residents as well as residents from outside the city to the downtown core., the market's owners believe.

Johnson and Traina say they are prepared for those new customers when they come, along with serving the residents of the entire city of Gilbert.

One of the unique aspects of food and grocery retailing in the U.S. is the independent grocer and his or her ability to survive and thrive in many cases right next door to mega-chains by finding one or more specialty niches, focusing on local tastes and styles, and offering superior service, along with a few other key things.

For example, it isn't likely you would find an independent grocer spending big bucks to remodel a store in a city in the United Kingdom, where Tesco (UK's number one retailer) is based and where Wal-Mart owns the number two chain Asda, where there are two Tesco stores and one Asda unit. The chains today overwhelmingly dominate the UK food and grocery store business and market.

But independent retailers like Liberty Market open and remodel stores in such cities everyday in the U.S.

Gilbert, Arizona has units of other major chain grocers as well as the Tesco and Wal-Mart-owned stores. But that isn't stopping Liberty Market either.

The independent grocer believes it's found a niche, and that it will not only survive in a very competitive Gilbert, but that it will thrive. That's why the market's owners have taken the risk and invested in historic Liberty Market's remodeling, creating that "urban marketplace."

Tesco in the United Kingdom: Small Grocery-Postal Shop Fires Back Against Tesco's Competitve Pricing on the UK Island of Bressay

Fresh & Easy Buzz Editor's Note: When it comes to competition, Tesco, the United Kingdom's leading food and grocery retailer with about a 31% overall market share, has a "take no prisoners" approach.

UK-based international retailer Tesco, which is the third-largest retailer in the world, is the parent company of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA.

However, that Tesco focus is normally reserved for its competing chain store retailers, ranging from number two Asda (owned by Wal-Mart), number three Sainsbury's and number four Morrisons, to other significant competitiors like the Co-operative Group (now the UK's fifth-largest grocery retailer), Waitrose, the small-format discounters Aldi, Lidl and Netto, and a few others.

However, it seems Tesco also has had a ressesive "Goliath" gene hidden within its corporate culture, as the story reprinted below (in italics) from yesterday's Sunday Mail.co.uk seems to suggest.

Tesco recently opened one of its supermarkets on the small UK island of Bressay, which is just a seven minute ferry ride away from the island village's long-established independent combination post office/grocery store. The Isle of Bressay is one of the nation's scenic Shetland Islands.

Such mail/grocery shops are common in small English towns. In fact, we've run a number of posts from the Village Postmaster, who runs a similar shop in the village of West Essex. The Village Postmaster often writes in his blog, Village Counter Talk, about being an independent retailer in what he calls the land of Tesco.

In fact, we wonder what the blogger-postmaster-independent retailer thinks about this latest competitive battle, pitting Tesco against one of the UK's fighting independent small shop retailers and postmasters. Something tells us we will find out in the comments section when he reads this piece.

We know how Brian Law, who runs the independent postal shop on Brassay Island feels, based on the Daily Mail story reproduced below.

Mr. Law, 65, fired back at Tesco when it ran a full-page newspaper advertisement undercutting the prices on a number of food and grocery items sold in his store, by matching the Tesco prices with the exception of being 78-p (Pence) higher, which he says in his media piece--a huge poster on his store window--makes his ~20-p (British Pound) market basket actually cheaper than Tesco's because shoppers save on the cost of taking the ferry to the Tesco store seven minutes across the water.

That's pretty good gorilla marketing on shopkeeper Law's part we think. And, as we recall, David beat Goliath in that particular historic fight. History suggests David did so not because he was mightier than Goliath--far from it. But rather to a large degree because he had the support of the locals who generally love to see an underdog win.

From yesterday's Daily Mail-UK:

Bressay shopkeeper takes on Tesco
Aug 3, 2008 By Billy Paterson

THEY have 270,000 employees, 2300 UK stores and their turnover last year was £46.6billion.

But supermarket giants Tesco have sparked an amazing price war with their smallest rival...the post office on Bressay Island (employees: two).

The David v Goliath battle commenced when Tesco began trading in Lerwick on the Shetland Islands last month.

Brian Law, who has run the village shop for 15 years, saw customers lured by deals that have made Tesco Britain's biggest supermarket.

While they placed full-page colour ads in the local paper, Brian's marketing budget only stretched to a homemade poster in his shop window.

It claims £20 of goods advertised by Tesco - a seven-minute ferry trip from Bressay - can be bought from his Mail Shop for £20.78.

But Brian, 65, says their shopping will cost less as they will save on transport costs.

He said: "My catchment area in Bressay is 160 odd houses and 400 people.

"In the run-up to opening their store, Tesco ran an ad showing a shopping trolley with food, many their own brand, which cost less than £20. I decided not to take this lying down and got the magnifying glass out, listed the goods and went round our wee shop checking the prices we charge for the same items.

"The total cost came to £20.78. That may be more than Tesco but for someone to take their wife and car over to Lerwick on the ferry costs £11.10. By shopping with us, people will save £10."

Brian's poster states: "The same goods in the Mail Shop, Bressay, £20.78.

No travelling. No ferry fares. No queueing. No hassle. The choice is yours.

No Tesco own brands."

Brian, who runs the shop with his wife Ann, 57, said: "It was all a bit tongue in cheek. It is not as if we are in direct competition with Tesco but the locals had a laugh and we had a good positive response."

A Tesco spokesman said: "This shows competition is alive and well in the retail sector and the true winners are the customers in the Shetland Isles."

Shetland Islands Council have hired a consultancy firm to carry out a survey on Tesco's impact on the islands' retailers.

SHOPPING LIST

The £20.78 Mail Shop shopping list of equivalent items in the £20 Tesco trolley is:

>Kellogs Corn Flakes £1.89
>Twin-pack kitchen roll £1.09
>Walkers crisps, six-pack .99p
>Hovis loaf £1.48
>Birds Eye garden peas £1.35
>Fabric softener 85p
>Bleach ..79p
>Washing-up liquid 75p
>Del Monte orange juice 89p
>Robinsons fruit juice £1.09
>French stick 92p
>Litre of milk 84p
>2 kilos potatoes £1.45
>500g mushrooms £1.41
>500g Flora margarine 95p
>1 kilo bananas 1.50
>Twin-pack toilet roll 89p
>Six eggs 90p
>Sponge cake 75p