Update: Latino Store Owner Transitions to a Healthy Food Business

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UPDATE: Garcia’s grocery store, Alba Snacks & Services, officially re-opened in March 2014, offering several new options of fresh fruit, like bananas and oranges, and healthy snack foods like applesauce. Because his crowd-funding goal was met, Garcia will eventually add more fresh produce as well as a stock of student supplies, a computer lab, and a remittance service where people can transfer money to their home countries.

The grand re-opening event held March 30th was well attended by local leaders and folks from the community. With a school two blocks away, health advocates (including Garcia) hope that the store will encourage youth to make smart, healthy snack choices.
Read more here. 

From February 18, 2014: 

After college, Nelson Garcia moved from his home town of Guatemala City to Los Angeles to fulfill his dream of owning his own grocery store. After working at many stores and with the help of family and friends, he opened his first market the summer of 2003. About half of his customers are junior and senior high school students; the other half are made up of Latino immigrants, and about a third of customers are African Americans.

Now, the South LA store owner has a new goal: to transform his community market into a healthy food business that serves the community with diverse products and services. He hopes to replicate this model into a chain of small stores across Los Angeles to meet a pressing need for improved healthy food options in his community.

Over a year and a half ago, a local non-profit, Community Services Unlimited (CSU), conducted a food access assessment of their neighborhood in South Los Angeles and found the need for more healthy food retail options. Nelson’s store was part of the assessment, and he expressed interest in providing healthier food options right away. Since then, CSU along with the Los Angeles Food Policy Council have worked with Nelson for many months on a comprehensive re-design and re-brand of his store that will feature new healthy food products and a new store name and identity, including a unique design, colors, and logo.

Garcia is pursuing a loan through Kiva Zip, a pilot program launched by Kiva that enables individuals to make direct loans to entrepreneurs in Kenya and the United States. Garcia says this loan will help launch Phase 1 of the store re-design, and will pay for new shelving, displays, signage, flooring and a refrigeration case for the “Healthy Snack Zone.”

Learn more about Garcia’s big plans here.