ATWATER -- The pounding of nails and the staccato of jackhammers are welcome noises at the Atwater Plaza Shopping Center.
The old Save Mart building, empty for years, is being refitted. It's scheduled to open in mid-May as a Mi Pueblo Food Center.
Mi Pueblo has a number of grocery stores in the Bay Area and recently extended into the Central Valley, with stores in Modesto.
Merced Sun-Star - From left, Adam Garcia, project manager Luis E. Jimenez and Juan E. LuJano look over the plans of the new Mi Pueblo Food Center under construction on Bellevue Road in Atwater. The grocery store is expected to open in mid-May.
Merced Sun-Star - Macial Denis, center, and Israel Hernandez, left, secure rebars on the walls of the new Mi Pueblo Food Center in Atwater. At right, Tino Aragon uses a jackhammer to remove cement from the doorway of the new store.
People interested in applying for a job at Mi Pueblo Food Center in Atwater can go online to the store's Web site at www.mipueblofoods.com and put in an application. When the store is closer to opening, there will be a trailer on-site to take applications at the Atwater Plaza Shopping Center.
"We have six new locations opening in Northern and Central California," said Perla Rodriguez, vice president of public affairs for Mi Pueblo Foods.
According to the chain's Web site, Mi Pueblo grew from a small meat market in San Jose opened in 1991 by Juvenal Chavez. He had emigrated from the Mexican state of Michoacán seven years earlier. He cleaned test tubes in a laboratory at Stanford University before starting a grocery with his brother in Redwood City, then taking off on his own.
Mi Pueblo's 14 stores had $250 million in sales in 2009, up from $100 million in 2006.
"We believe there is a good match for the community of Atwater," Rodriguez said.
The store will be about 30,000 square feet and will include produce, meat, a deli, a bakery and a tortilleria.
Rodriguez said there will be at least 150 jobs at the new store, most of them full-time.
Once the store is closer to opening, there will be a trailer on the grounds to take applications, Rodriguez said. Until then, she said, people are encouraged to use the store's Web site to put in an application.
Greg Wellman, city manager for Atwater, said the city of Atwater has been working with Mi Pueblo for about a year.
"We are delighted to have Mi Pueblo making the investment in the city of Atwater," Wellman said. "This is consistent with the City Council's direction that we explore not only new projects but in-fill projects as well."
Wellman said the chain employs about 2,300 people in 14 locations. He added that the company presents itself as a family-oriented business.
"They sell no alcohol in single-serving containers, and they sell no malt liquor," Wellman said. "They have store security inside and outside, with one to three per store at all times."
Wellman said the store also has initiated strategies to prevent loitering, graffiti and any accumulation of trash.
"Mi Pueblo will certainly be a welcome addition to serving the residents of Atwater," Wellman said.
"Mi pueblo" in Spanish means "my town." Now Atwater can claim one of its own.
Reporter Carol Reiter can be reached at (209) 385-2486 or creiter@mercedsun-star.com.
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