Northgate Brings Mexican Flavors to Riverside, Calif.

Northgate Gonzalez Market, a family-owned supermarket chain with 40 stores in Southern California, opened its first location in the Inland Empire, a metropolitan region in Southern California, on Nov. 20. The new 42,000-square-foot store from the Anaheim, Calif.-based grocer is located at 10391 Magnolia Ave. in Riverside, Calif., at the site of a former Toys R Us.

The Latin grocer’s move into Riverside was driven by “a growing shift eastward by much of its customer base,” reports The Press-Enterprise. “The demographics of Riverside County, with more than half its population now with Latino roots, makes the area attractive."

Competitor Cardenas Markets, which announced ambitious expansion plans for Los Angeles and Orange Counties last week, is moving in the opposite direction. With the majority of the Ontario, Calif.-based Cardenas’ stores located within the Inland Empire, the grocer is set to open its first in a series of stores west of Pomona. Its new 34,642-square-foot Whittier store will open in May 2020.

Cardenas Markets, which currently operates 59 stores in California, Nevada and Arizona (52 Cardenas locations, plus seven under the Los Altos Ranch Market banner), is one of the country’s largest Hispanic grocery chains.

Northgate Gonzalez is hoping to bring its unique value proposition to the Inland Empire. “Before the sun rises each morning, our bakery and our kitchen are afoot preparing the day’s meals and most authentic sweets and breads,” says the grocer’s website. “Every piece of produce you touch is ripe. Unlike other markets, new produce arrives daily. We put forth to the floor only what’s ready for your family.”

The new store, which features traditional products imported from Mexico, also includes a meat department, bakery, tortilleria and community room, according to The Shelby Report, which says Northgate plans to partner with community organizations to host educational sessions teaching diabetes control, yoga, cooking and more in the community space.

Northgate’s Riverside store also houses a medical clinic, Clinica Bienestar, which will allow shoppers to receive wellness checks and other medical services, notes the The Press-Enterprise.