Public Record, The: Cardenas Market gets Sears spot in Fashion Mall

Cardenas Markets, a Southern California-based chain of Latino-themed grocery stores, is about to expand-and there's a local connection.

Cardenas' 14th store is going to be located in the Indio Fashion Mall. Richard Weintraub, the Malibu Beachbased developer who owns the mall, last week announced that Cardenas has signed a lease to take over the space left vacant when anchor tenant, Sears, relocated to Westfield Palm Desert last year.

The chain was started 24 years ago by onetime migrant worker Jesus Cardenas and his wife, Luz. Jesus came to the United States as a teenager and worked during the crop seasons in areas around Indio and Coachella. He opened the first Cardenas store in 1981 in Ontario, the current site of corporate headquarters.

"I think Indio needs a bit more diversity in the grocery stores they have," said Jose Cardenas, Jesus' son and the company's vice president of operations. He noted that the company plans to broaden its inventory at the Indio store, offering its normal range for the Hispanic market, but adding a bakery, juice bar, coffee bar and delicatessen.

Cardenas officials indicated the company has engaged in preliminary negotiations to establish another store in Coachella at a site that used be a Vons.

Weintraub did not respond to phone messages left at his office requesting comment on the development.

Speaking at a BizNet 2005 symposium April 5 at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino, Weintraub reaffirmed his intentions to transform the mall into a mixed-use, open-air lifestyle center that would offer more than restaurants, cinema and retail stores. The new complex also is to include residential units and at least one hotel. Extensive water features on the order of what The River in Rancho Mirage offers also are likely, according to Weintraub.

Weintraub's vision is expected to pick up speed once more than 20 acres of land south of the mall that's needed for the project are acquired by the city from private interests.

CARDENAS MARKETS

Onetime migrant worker Jesus and his wife, Luz, founded the chain of Latino-themed markets in 1981. Headquartered in Ontario, the company has 13 stores in the Inland Empire.

Desert connection: Cardenas will open its 14th store early next year, at the former site of Sears in Indio Fashion Mall. Cardena's outlets cater to the Latino community with a multitude of Mexican and Central and South American products.