Javier Carrillo got way more response than he expected at Wednesday’s grand opening for the family-owned Azteca Fresh Market in Portage.
More Top Picks Ninja Fit Compact
Carrillo said he was led to believe 20 to 30 people would show up for the ribbon-cutting, but the parking lot was overflowing.
“I think Portage is an amazing community,” he said. His family moved there in 2021.
In 2018, he opened his first grocery store in Hammond but sold it last year to a family friend.
The new store, at 5714 Central Ave., is 8,630 square feet. Carillo said he plans to expand in the future.
That location was once an industrial site. Several prospective buyers toured it, Mayor Austin Bonta said, but Carrillo looked at it and decided it was perfect for a grocery store.
The store has a taco bar and fresh meat counter as well as a selection of Hispanic and other foods.
“I’ve always been an entrepreneur,” Carrillo said, beginning with selling candy while in school. His family also used to sell tacos at various events.
Portage Economic Development Corp. Executive Director Andy Maletta said the small grocery is a good fit for the city. “There’s been a huge demand for something like this in Portage,” he said.
Like Carrillo and others, he was surprised by the number of people Wednesday. “I’ve never been to a grand opening and ribbon cutting with this much turnout.”
Greater Portage Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jamie Gore, holding a giant pair of very sharp scissors, said it was her first official ribbon cutting. “It’s refreshing,” she said of the new store. “It’s part of the environment that the city is trying to cultivate,” putting new businesses into old spaces.
More Top Picks Best Bottle Sterilizers For Babies
“Walking around, being here in this high-energy setting, talking to families, it’s incredible, all these people coming up to me and introducing themselves and saying how long they’ve lived in Portage,” Bonta said. “There are people in this crowd who have been here 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years, 51 years. It speaks to not just the power of all this; there’s a demand in our city for locally owned fresh, good places run by really good people.”
Carrillo said he’s involved in the Portage Recovery Association and the Hobart Humane Society and hopes to be able to donate to both of them.
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.