Sep. 8—The aisles at the new flagship El Paisano Supermarket are stocked with dried chiles from the Mexican states of Merida, Campeche, Vera Cruz, Tabasco and Chihuahua; bulk botanas — the Mexican equivalent of chips; cactus fruits, Mexican Coke and Mexican Fresca.

The $8 million store on Airport Road was 16 years in the making.

Owners Carlos and Sandra Andre purchased a 1.9-acre lot at Airport and Zepol roads in 2006 with plans to expand on the selections of Mexican and Central American goods they offer at another El Paisano location in Santa Fe and one in Española. The couple weathered a global recession, financing challenges and the coronavirus pandemic before starting construction on the more than 17,000-square-foot building.

They will celebrate its opening Thursday, with performances planned by Mexican singer and actor Pablo Montero.

"We have achieved better service, better quality of products, more variety, bigger kitchen, bigger meat market and better produce section," said Moises Tarango, El Paisano's executive director.

Carlos Andre said he hopes the expansive store, which has a license to carry alcohol, will cater to the Central American immigrant community in the neighborhood.

"All this aisle is going to be Central America," he said, indicating half an aisle dedicated to foods imported from Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Honduras and Peru.

"The spice and grade of chile" differ in Mexico and Central America, Andre noted.

City Councilor Lee Garcia, who represents the city's southwest side, credited the business owners for bringing a needed service to the area. "He's bringing something that is very vital to our community," Garcia said of Carlos Andre. "We often speak of a food desert on Airport Road."

At least two proposed supermarkets have been scuttled on Airport Road, and the land instead is slated for housing. Casa Azul apartments will be built at the southeast corner of Airport and South Meadows roads on property long owned by Smith's Food & Drug. Casa Verde apartments are proposed at Airport and Agua Fría Street on land once eyed for an Albertsons.

A smaller incarnation of El Paisano shut down on Airport in 2014. The new store — nearly three times bigger than the Andres' store on Cerrillos Road — is the first the couple have designed and built from the ground up.

They expected to start construction in August 2019 and open in April 2020, but the permitting process and then the pandemic shelved their plans for two years.

Carlos Andre opened his first El Paisano in 1996 on Cerrillos Road, at a different site than his current Cerrillos Road store. He has since operated stores in Española, Santa Cruz and Las Vegas, N.M. His daughter, Alicia Padilla, owns an El Paisano in Rio Rancho.

Carlos and Sandra Andre are not settling down with their three stores, which employ 70 workers — 45 of them at the Airport Road location.

They're thinking of franchising El Paisano in New Mexico and Colorado.

The new store's kitchen — the largest yet for El Paisano — offers a wide selection of burritos, gorditas, platillos, enchiladas, tacos, tortas, menudo and tamales. An adjacent dining area has eight two-top tables and four four-tops; Carlos Andre is willing to expand seating out into the store if more tables are needed, he said.

The store holds entire aisles of spices and house brand beef jerky that has been made at the Andres' Española store but will now be made at the new flagship.

The carniceria carries beef tomahawk — the beef equivalent of a pork chop with a bone up to 20 inches long.

There's a nook for medications.

"This is a classic Mexican medicine," Andre said.

Among the imported offerings are Tempra for baby fever and pain, anti-inflammatory Mafena Retard, Treda for diarrhea and Artribian for arthritis.

Outside, there are covered areas set aside for chile roasting and a paleteria that serves Mexican popsicles.

The only thing still missing is a bar.

Carlos Andre hopes to put a bar on the roof of the new store.

"The rooftop bar, that is my dream," he said.