"I'm looking for a … Caucasian Superstore to cater to whites."
"What a way to assimilate - isolate yourselves into ethnic enclaves, trade at Hispanic-only stores, continue to speak Spanish. Then blame racists when you can't get a good job or move up the ladder of success in America."
"Wake up and have kids America, or else this will be Latin America."
This is a sampling of some of the comments posted to the Houston Chronicle's website in response to an article by Jenalia Moreno about the opening of Houston's Supermercado de Walmart, a Hispanic themed superstore opened on Wednesday by the retailing giant.
According to the article, Wal-Mart Stores converted one of its 39,000 square-foot units and "ditched the ethnic aisle, shrank the frozen foods section and stocked few brands of peanut butter, a food not popular with Latino immigrants. At the same time, it enlarged the trés leches-stocked bakery, added a kitchen that serves tacos and put up signs in Spanish and English."
According to José Antonio Fernandez, Wal-Mart vice president of business development, the company has learned how to serve Latinos from its experience in Latin America, where the retailer runs 2,346 stores, half in Mexico. "I think this is a natural evolution of what we've been doing for years,” he told the Chronicle. And let's not forget that Wal-Mart has learned a ton from serving Hispanics here in the United States.
In other words, Wal-Mart is following the lessons taught in any marketing school anywhere that is worth its salt. Listen to your consumers. Stock what they buy. Merchandise the way they shop. And speak the language they speak. And lesson number one: be in tune with their demographics.
There are currently about 49 million Hispanics in the United States with nearly a billion dollars in purchasing power. They make up 16 percent of the U.S. population. By 2050 they are projected to make up 30 percent, eight years after Whites are expected to fall below less than half the population. Our country is witnessing a demographic revolution that is largely driven by Hispanics.
Wal-Mart is in touch with where America is going. Or are they? By catering to a booming Hispanic population does Wal-Mart stand to alienate its core consumer? A consumer that is Middle American, more suburban than urban, English speaking, and well, white.
Clearly, the Houston Chronicle readers do not consider themselves racist. They would tell you that Hispanics should assimilate like other immigrants before them (our research says that they are). They would tell you that as Americans, Hispanics should speak English (our research says they do - at least those who have lived most of their lives in the United States). They would probably say that no race should be extended special treatment (even though Hispanics do not comprise a race; they just happen to be our country's largest and most recent immigrant group).
Is Wal-Mart wrong to be building Hispanic format stores? They wouldn't be the first in Houston. Three years ago, H-E-B opened a 48,000 square-foot Mi Tienda store there; Kroger transformed a 59,000 square-foot store to a Hispanic format a few years before that.
Discussion Question: In times of such transformative demographic change, should retailers be more sensitive to those non-Hispanics who may not represent the majority but are certainly the most vocal? How should Wal-Mart respond to those who have criticized it for opening a Hispanic-focused store?
[Editor's Note] Wal-Mart Stores was contacted by RetailWire and asked to comment for this story. As of press time, there was no comment from the company.