Presidente Supermarkets opens new store in Lake Worth Beach, its 10th in Palm Beach County

Valentina Palm, Palm Beach Post
·3 min read
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LAKE WORTH BEACH — Presidente Supermarkets, a Hispanic-owned grocery chain, is expanding its footprint in Palm Beach County and has opened its 10th local store, this one in Lake Worth Beach.

The Miami-based grocer inaugurated on Sept. 13 a new 44,000-square-foot store on North Dixie Highway that features its signature "homestyle-food" cafeteria. It is the chain’s third storefront in the Lake Worth Beach area, a region that much of the county's growing Hispanic population calls home.

"We pride ourselves in providing underserved and immigrant communities with the products they need and use every day, and that remind them of home, at the best prices,” said Omar Rodriguez, the company's founder and owner.

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Presidente Supermarket, which in September 2023 opened its 10th Palm Beach County store, prides itself 'in providing underserved and immigrant communities,' says Omar Rodriguez, the company's founder and owner. The store is on North Dixie Highway in Lake Worth Beach.
Presidente Supermarket, which in September 2023 opened its 10th Palm Beach County store, prides itself 'in providing underserved and immigrant communities,' says Omar Rodriguez, the company's founder and owner. The store is on North Dixie Highway in Lake Worth Beach.

Presidente Supermarkets moved into a commercial space in the Arbor Square Center at 2505 N. Dixie Highway that had been vacant for years. It once was occupied by a Sedano's Supermarket, the United States' largest Hispanic-owned supermarket chain.

Presidente Supermarkets said in a news release it wants to bring new life to the area that has a big Caribbean and Hispanic population.

The grocer stocks its shelves with the typical selection found in any other supermarket, but it also offers a wide variety of ethnic foods and products from Caribbean, Central and South American countries.

As clients walk inside the new Lake Worth Beach store, they can sniff the aroma of freshly brewed coffee, pick up warm, fluffy Cuban bread and shop brands from their native countries while the tunes of salsa and merengue reverberate throughout the wide aisles of the store.

"La Cafeteria," Spanish for the cafeteria, is a staple in most supermarkets in Latin America and the Caribbean, where people usually stop to sip on coffee and nibble on pastries.

The newly opened Presidente Supermarket has a bakery that serves a wide variety of breads, croquettes, empanadas and cheese sticks. It also serves breakfast and lunch plates featuring dishes cooked with Latin and Caribbean spices, such as tilapia smothered in a thick garlic and pepper sauce, a juicy chicken fricassee and "rabo encendido," which is beef oxtail.

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New Presidente Supermarket created 68 jobs in Lake Worth Beach

The Presidente Supermarket on North Dixie Highway in Lake Worth Beach that opened in September 2023 includes a cafeteria that serves breakfast and lunch, as well as pastries and takeout foods. The store is the South Florida chain's 10th one in Palm Beach County.
The Presidente Supermarket on North Dixie Highway in Lake Worth Beach that opened in September 2023 includes a cafeteria that serves breakfast and lunch, as well as pastries and takeout foods. The store is the South Florida chain's 10th one in Palm Beach County.

Rodriguez, a Cuban-American entrepreneur founded Presidente in 1990, and it has grown to be one of the largest Hispanic-owned grocers in the United States with more than 50 stores between Miami and Orlando and about 3,000 employees.

The chain attributes its success to its focus on serving neighborhoods otherwise ignored by bigger supermarket chains, according to a news release.

The Lake Worth Beach location is the third storefront Presidente Supermarket has opened this year. It also inaugurated one store in Miramar in Broward County and another in Orlando in Orange County.

Presidente Supermarket said it added 180 jobs among the three new locations, of which 68 are located in the Lake Worth Beach store between management, stocking, produce and cafeteria positions.

The chain also plans to open another location in Broward County this year in Pompano Beach and other stores in Miami-Dade County.

Store: Presidente Supermarket

Location: 2505 N Dixie Hwy, Lake Worth Beach, FL 33460.

Days and hours of operation: It is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 9:45 p.m.

Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Loxahatchee and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her at vpalm@pbpost.com and follow her on Twitter at @ValenPalmB. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Hispanic-owned Presidente Supermarkets opens Lake Worth Beach store