El Super, a Latino grocery chain, is coming to Indio, filling the vacant space left by Kmart

A new supermarket chain is cuing up the cash registers at the former Kmart in Indio.

El Super, a group of supermarkets catering to Latino communities in the United States, signed a lease at the 50,000-square-foot big box store at the beginning of this year, property manager Joseph Choi confirmed to The Desert Sun. Choi said the food retailer is due to open in the fall at the Highway 111 storefront.

That's good news to Carl Morgan, Indio Director of Economic Development.

“The new El Super is a great addition to the former Kmart property and it will bring much needed foot traffic to the adjacent retailers and create new jobs,” Morgan wrote in an email.

A representative of El Super declined to comment on the company's new store plans.

Indio's Kmart store went dark in December 2016 as part of a wave of store closings by Kmart parent company Sears Holdings. The Kmart had been a longtime anchor tenant at the Town & Country Center, where local business owners said the department store drew customers to their plaza.

PREVIOUSLY: Indio Kmart closing in December

With El Super, the shopping center will become home to a fast-growing chain operated by Mexico-based Grupo Comercial Chedraui, which has El Super grocery stores in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas.

The Indio location will push El Super further into the eastern Inland Empire, expanding from existing stores around the cities of Riverside and San Bernardino down into the Coachella Valley. The desert is already home to competing grocery chain Cardenas, which similarly stocks products from Latin America at stores in Cathedral City, Coachella and Indio.

As it has expanded in Southern California, El Super has met with push back from the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770 union, which accuses the company of blocking workers' attempts to win wage, hour and benefits guarantees.

El Super is also growing outside of California.

The chain more than doubled its footprint in March with the acquisition of Fiesta Mart, a Texas supermarket group. The deal gives the combined chain a total of 122 stores and $3 billion in revenue, according to a press release.

Chedraui reported U.S. EBITDA of $1.034 billion pesos in its 2017 fiscal year.

Reporter Amy DiPierro covers real estate and business news at The Desert Sun in Palm Springs. Reach her at amy.dipierro@desertsun.com.