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Grocers woo Hispanic buyers
By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer
There may be many ways to capture the business of the Lowcountry’s growing Hispanic population, but one is clearly standing out: Feed them.
Scan the produce section of many area supermarkets and a variety of root vegetables in unfamiliar shapes is nudging for space amid the okra and Carolina peaches. Jicama, taro and yucca root resemble Idaho potatoes gone genetically awry. Among the plantains and chipotle peppers are fat papayas that look like something between a melon and a squash.
Hispanic foods in local supermarkets are not anything new, but the segment is growing, and stores in areas highly populated with Latino customers are expanding their offerings.
Rita Postell, spokeswoman for Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co., said the company’s store at the intersection of Maybank Highway and Main Road on Johns Island has one of the largest sections of Hispanic food products in the 17-state chain.
“A lot of Hispanics live in the area,” Postell said. “There’s also Our Lady of Mercy Outreach Center very near the store, which caters to the medical, educational and child care needs of this community, so we have expanded the Hispanic offerings at this particular store. We’ve even gone so far as hiring a Hispanic-services coordinator.”
Monaca Martuscielo, a native of Venuzuela with a masters’ degree in agriculture and applied economics from Clemson University, was hired by Piggly Wiggly in the spring to act as a liaison between the Johns Island store and its Latino customers, many of whom speak limited or no English.
“They’re very shy,” Martuscielo said. “You just have to talk to them and make them comfortable. The first day, I found out that they like to have all the Hispanic products on one aisle. They want to keep the food for them and their children traditional.”
Martuscielo attends events and volunteers at the Outreach Center, where she helps spread the word that she is available at the store to assist Latino shoppers with whatever they may need. She also passes their requests for products along to management.
David Schools, president and chief executive of Piggly Wiggly, said the decision to create Martuscielo’s position came with the recent expansion of the 42,000-square-foot store.
“As we were going forward with that, we said, ‘let’s really embrace as much as we can the diversity of Johns Island,’” Schools said. “We came up with the idea of doing something extra to service the Latino, Hispanic community. Not only has Monica done a great job with that, but she’s been able to recruit some Hispanic employees.”
The supermarket chain most likely will create more Hispanic-services positions in some of its other stores in the future, Schools said.
The S.C. Commission for Minority Affairs plans to unveil this month what it calls the most comprehensive report on the impact of the growing Hispanic population in South Carolina.
The report will be released during the 2007 Statewide Hispanic/Latino Conference Aug. 30 in Columbia. Lee McElveen, the commission’s Latino coordinator, said the study should help provide a clearer picture of Hispanics in the state.
While the last U.S. Census estimated about 140,000 Hispanics in South Carolina, researchers at the University of South Carolina who conducted the study believe the number is closer to 200,000 and could be as high as 400,000.
Undocumented immigration makes the actual number of Hispanics tough to estimate, but census data have concluded that the growth rate of the S.C. Latino population between 1990 and 2000 ranked sixth in the nation.
Even in the most rural areas, businesses have begun catering to the Spanish-speaking population, McElveen said.
“Supermarkets have always carried things like Taco Bell products, but now they are having sections for products like Goya, which is a Spanish product,” McElveen said. “It really has been in the last 10 years that you’ve seen such tremendous growth.”
Chris Caldwell, category merchandiser for Bi-Lo supermarkets, said some of the chain’s stores carry more Hispanic products than others.
“In some of our markets with a high Hispanic population, we have expanded variety and sets within our main grocer aisle up to four times our basic offerings,” Caldwell said.
Food Lion is also merchandising its stores with the Hispanic population in mind, said spokeswoman Karen Peterson.
“We are also looking at increased advertising and Spanish language flyers,” Peterson said.
Harris-Teeter supermarkets source produce items seasonally from Mexico and South America, said the company’s spokeswoman, Jennifer Panetta. Other products sold include Jumex nectars, Don Marie mole sauce and Embassa chipotles in adobo.
Vivien Barajas, director of membership for the Greater Summerville-Dorchester County Chamber of Commerce, is also the correspondent for the chamber’s Hispanic Council, which is focused on meeting the needs of the county’s growing Hispanic population. Census bureau statistics show it nearly doubled between 2000 and 2004.
“If you drive down Ashley Phosphate Road you see a huge change from just about eight years ago in the number of Hispanic businesses,” Barajas said. “In Summerville alone, you find a lot more Hispanic grocery stores popping up. These businesses are only going to be established if there’s a demand.”
Doug Woodward, a research economist with USC’s Moore School of Business who helped conduct research for the Latino Migrant report, said S.C. Latinos have an estimated $4 billion in buying power, even thought they typically send money back to relatives in their native county and usually have lower incomes than the average S.C. resident.
“They come in with really no assets at all, so when they make money they’re going to go out and buy not only groceries but TVs and things they couldn’t get back home,” Woodward said. “Some stores are actually losing money if they don’t have someone who can speak Spanish when these customers walk into a store with cash in their pockets, ready to buy things.
“Most stores will figure this out…that they have to reach out if they want to increase sales. If you want to increase sales, you have to find the new, expanding population, and this is the biggest one out there.”
Kathleen Dayton is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail her at kdayton@charlestonbusiness.com.
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