LATINO SUPERMARKET SET TO MOVE IN SOME HAVE PROTESTED VALLARTA'S PLANS FOR ABANDONED ALBERTSONS.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE Staff Writer

VALENCIA -- Ending months of speculation and some protests, a Latino supermarket plans to move before the end of the year into the abandoned Albertsons grocery store on Lyons Avenue in Valencia's oldest shopping center.

Vallarta Supermarkets plans an extensive remodel of the inside of the 34,000-square-foot store, general manager John Marquiss said.

``Obviously, we are a chain that is oriented toward the Hispanic audience, but we have a lot of non-Hispanic people that shop in our stores,'' he said, adding that the time is right to build in Santa Clarita. ``We found some of our best stores are in communities that serve the Hispanic and non-Hispanic communities.

``Right now there's not a lot of competition in the marketplace, (while) there's a large Hispanic population in Santa Clarita.''

Vallarta's competitor, Tresierras Market, which opened a store on San Fernando Road in 1981, is continuing to build a second 30,000-square-foot store just down the road.

Carrie Rogers, the city's economic development manager, said Vallarta's favorable reputation precedes it.

``We look forward to that same good neighbor in (this) city,'' she said.

The store could be open as early as Thanksgiving, she said.

A group of local residents has vocally opposed Vallarta's rumored arrival since October, when residents met to air concerns and began devising a strategy for warding it off, saying it wouldn't fit in the surrounding neighborhood. Marquiss has met with local business owners and has plans to do more.

``As we get further along with this we will become more active (with the community),'' he said. ``We continue to think the Valencia-Newhall (area) would be a good market for Vallarta, and we're trying to work with the community to become a good neighbor and a good citizen.''

Statistics suggest Santa Clarita's Latino population will continue to grow. In 2005, about 24 percent of the valley's population was Latino; a 2005 report from the California Economic Forecast predicts the number will increase to 30 percent by 2015. Nearly 31 percent of babies born in the valley in 2004 were Latino, Rogers said.

The aging Albertsons that had anchored Valencia's first large shopping center closed in July, and a new 52,000-square-foot-plus store opened several miles away in Saugus. The property owner, not Albertsons, would be the lessor. Vallarta does not control the premises yet, but expects that to change in the next couple of months, Marquiss said.

In the next few weeks Vallarta is expected to submit revised remodeling plans to the city's building department. The floor space is average for the Vallarta chain, though smaller than desired, Marquiss said.

The market will have a full-service bakery, its own freshly made tortillas and cheeses, a restaurant and a large full-service meat counter.

Vallarta has applied for a license to sell beer, wine and hard liquor, which barring complications will be issued in the coming month, said Kathleen Barnes, district administrator for the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control.

Eighteen of the chain's 21 stores operate in Los Angeles County, including 12 stores in the San Fernando Valley, one in Lancaster and two in Palmdale. Vallarta owns a handful of markets in Ventura, Kern and San Bernardino counties and will open one soon in Fresno County.

judy.orourke(at)dailynews.com

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