The fate of Grupo Gigante SA de CV’s Southern California grocery stores is clear now after the December sale of the Mexican retailer.
Gigante, which has its U.S. headquarters in Buena Park, is set to sell its seven Southland stores, including one in Anaheim, to Commerce-based Bodega Latina Corp., which runs El Super markets.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
The sale comes after December’s $1.35 billion purchase of Gigante by Mexican rival Organizacion Soriana SAB, Mexico’s second largest retailer.
The fate of the U.S. stores was unclear at the time of the acquisition. Soriana doesn’t have any U.S. stores.
The regional Gigante stores are set to become El Super stores. Like Gigante, El Super caters to Hispanics.
Gigante opened its first U.S. store in Pico Rivera in 1999 after setting up its U.S. headquarters in Orange County.
The deal with Bodega Latina marks a quiet exit for the Gigante brand from Southern California after early battles with the grocery union and the city of Anaheim.
In 2002, the company fought Anaheim to open its only Orange County store.
Anaheim Planning Commission officials at first rejected Gigante’s application for a liquor license for its store on Euclid Avenue and the Santa Ana (I-5) Freeway. Eventually the City Council voted to grant the license amid media attention and public pressure.
A bigger expansion in OC and the rest of the Southland never realized for Gigante.
