Wal-Mart Opens First 'Hispanic Community' Store

Garland, Texas Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s original Hypermart USA, the precursor to its Supercenter concept, closed on Tuesday, according to the Dallas Morning News. Wal-Mart is replacing the historic store on Garland Avenue with a new location it's calling its first "Hispanic community" store, the report said.

With an estimated 14% of its U.S. shoppers being Latino, Wal-Mart in recent years has been tailoring stores, such as its I-30 and Cockrell Hill location in Dallas, to meet the needs of Hispanic families, the report said. It has added specialty bakery items, expanded varieties of chile peppers, and printed store signs and advertising circulars in Spanish.

But the new Garland store at 1801 Marketplace Drive is the first designed from the ground up to meet the needs of Hispanic shoppers, said Daniel Morales, regional spokesman for Wal-Mart.

As with the old store, the new store's customer base is more than 50% Hispanic, the report said. Wal-Mart said that more than 1,000 of its stores are in predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods.